Before and After

I know what you are thinking. These are some fine, lovely little goats. The best goats EVER!! But this picture is not about the goats, even though they are fabulous. What I want you to take notice of is the door behind them. This is the before shot, when the goats had been here only for about 24 hours.

THIS:
This picture is from today. A mere 2 weeks later. Notice anything different? These goats are literally eating our house. They have chewed this doorframe to shreds. We have spent the past week or so trying to come up with a solution. One that does not involve goat kabobs on the grill.
I tried a cayenne pepper/water spray solution that apparently only enhanced the flavor of the wood. Then I tried spraying straight bleach. The bleach made them pause periodically to take a drink of water, but other than that, they kept right on munching.

The man at the local feed and seed store recommended something called "Don't Chew" that will stop horses from nibbling on things, but again....the goats seem unfazed by it. Now we are looking into a fence. My house is a big U shape, and this unfortunate door opens up in the middle of the U into what could be called a courtyard. Of course, the word "courtyard" implies a beautiful landscaped space, and the dogs have destroyed everything we ever tried to put out there. But whatever. If we could just figure out a way to keep them out of the courtyard, off of this little porch stoop and away from this particularly tasty door everything would be fine and dandy.

We are actually considering an invisible fence that runs just along the outside line of the courtyard. The backyard beyond that is fenced in already. It might just work. If we put the transmitter collars on the goats so that they would stay out in the yard area where they have not only a hay-filled shed, but a covered shelter as well, the dogs could continue to roam freely all over the fenced in yard. We don't necessarily want to have to confine them to the courtyard. Or have to run outside every 5 minutes to open the gate for them to go in and out. I don't know.....I have never been a fan of using an electric shock on animals. But this situation calls for something beyond the norm. We have to do something, and we have to do something fast. We hope to have something installed as early as this weekend. Before they eat their way through the door and we have goats rampaging all over the house.

I love them. I really, really do. They are so cute when they are out there playing. They jump and leap and head butt each other and its so fun to watch them. But.....my goats have proven to be a real handful. This is tougher than I thought it would be. Still, I am optimistic that we can figure it all out somehow. If you had asked me Tuesday morning, I might have had a different opinion. I woke up to pouring rain, had trouble getting the dogs to go outside to do their business. I ended up getting soaked. The dogs were soaked. And at some point in that whole unholy ordeal, the goats pushed that door open (yes, the tasty door), and were running through the house. Only briefly. My screams of primal rage drove them back outside in a pretty big hurry. But when my husband got out of the shower and came down to the kitchen to get his first cup of coffee, he found me in tears saying how "I just don't know if I can do this!" My goats made me cry. But I am determined to make it all work. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
As long as it doesn't involve a grill, or a fork, or anything culinary.