GP Chasing Goats

[greenfamilyfarms]

Our 9-month-old male Great Pyrenees has started to chase the goats in order to play with them. He is scaring them even though he means no real harm. The dominate doe will charge him, but that just eggs him on. He knows that he should not chase them because when I go out to get after him, he stops for a while. What can I do to discourage this behavior? I do not want this to turn into more aggressive behavior later on.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would also read through this thread http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3097

Same problem is being discussed.

 

[foxywench]

i do NOT reccomend shock collars...
before using one, please put it on yourself at the voltage reccomended for your weight and see how it feels.
it often doesnt SOLVE a problem but instead simply masks it...(like correcting a dog for growling...eventually itll just stop growling all together and simply bite without warning...)

i realy suggest looking through the post linked above, it sounds like a very similar issue.

remember, hes a PUPPY at his age...a big one...but still a puppy, and he NEEDS interaction, training and something to help quell that energy...

how would you feel if at 15 years old (the aprox age he would be in human years right now) you had to sit in a feild all day with a bunch of boring goats who wouldnt play with you?
youd be bored out of your mind...

 

[cmjust0]

I would also read through this thread http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3097

Same problem is being discussed.

Seems to be a common theme, doesn't it?!?

And notice how it's cropping up more and more (I've noticed it here and elsewhere) now that cooler weather's come along. A big, young, fuzzy dog loves nothing more than to run and romp and play when it gets cold. Not to mention, lots of goats are acting weird right now from being in heat..

Needless to say, there's a lot going on.

So long as he's not injuring anybody, all you can really do is correct him when you see it and try to give him an appropriate outlet upon which to expend some of that extra energy -- you! Play with him.. Get him running..

The good news is that his behavior won't likely turn into anything more aggressive, as it's unlikely that he's practicing at being predatory or trying to hone any killing skills..

He's probably just energetic and bored.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Thanks for the responses! We were not sure if this was a red flag warning. I kinda figured it was just him being a puppy.... a boy puppy! He has not tried to catch or bite one and hope it doesn't progress to that. The cooler weather does seem like it has boasted his energy level consideribility and many times I will find him standing in his water dish with ice hanging from his face. Silly dog.

 

[Roll farms]

Puppies are puppies, regardless of breed. They will play too rough and want to chase things that run from them.

I never let ours around little goats until they're around 2 yrs old. Until then they live w/ the meanest, biggest does we own, who just won't mess w/ puppy foolishness.

We've had a few ripped ears, but since I live in Coyote country and 'idiot neighbors w/ dogs running loose' country, I know I'm better off w/ the LGD's than I would be w/out them.

Not every LGD pup will make a good LGD, just like not every bird dog will hunt...but I do believe a lot of them are 'given up on' before they get a chance to mature.

I had a friend call me desperate a year or so ago, his yearling Pyr was chasing his goats and he'd hurt a few. He told me he was going to try a last ditch effort of chaining him to a drag so he couldn't chase anything...
if that failed, he was going to shoot the dog.

Now he says he's a great dog, who doesn't hurt / chase / bother the livestock anymore...and he's killed a few coons and possums who've gotten in the pasture / barn area.

I'm not advocating a drag, I'm just saying that if he'd shot the dog he wouldn't have an LGD now.

I've heard of people using 'time outs' w/ their LGD's...maybe chain him to something heavy if you see him being "bad", and let him know (with body language / voice) that you're not happy. He'll hate the scolding AND being tied up, and possibly make the connection after a few times and stop.

 

[Grillo]

The moral of the story is .... Pups will be pups. The biggest problem I have seen with LGDs "to be" is that pups get thrown into flocks and are expected to act as mature, experienced LGDs. The little experience and the much I have read in this subject is that LGDs don't just happen. You can see the instincts there, but LGDs really "grow" into their role as guardians. In my own experience I instantly saw those instincts in the very fact that a pup LGD will not outright try to chase and kill a chicken (my dogs are chicken dogs in training), instead they wagged their tails and would make that "vow" to try and entice "CHICKENS" to play with them. Therein lies the problem and also the very thing that will make the perfect guardian out of the pup. The problem is that "chickens" (and I'd guess goats and sheep) don't like to play with dogs, and what's worse is that "play" for a dog can mean death to a chicken. My female has dispatched two small pullets by literally licking them to death (talk about too much love) They didn't have a single a puncture wound, no blood and were not eaten. They were however soaked in slobber. While the play is not good for livestock and can become a nasty habit if not corrected, it also signals a "bond" to the livestock. It tells you that the pup does not see them as "prey", but rather as littermates. And as the pup he/she is, she tries to play/interact with them like he/she would another pup, and that means trying to wrestle lambs into the ground. Grabbing an ear or going for the legs in a mock fight are just run of the mill. The good news is that play is mostly a pup/adolescent behavior and as the dog matures, he/she will outgrow it. And because the dog sees the livestock as its littermates, it will WANT to be with them and follow the flock as a wolf would follow its pack. Of course no good guardian dog would ever let harm pass to members of its pack and so if anything will come to threaten the pack the dog will come out in its defense and voila, you have an LGD. It takes time for that playful pup to grow into an LGD just like it takes time for a boy/girl to grow into man/woman, but as someone else put it in a previous post, you're better off with a pup wrestling and slobbering your livestock than with a stray dog or coyote that really wants to kill it. Good luck.

 

[Dakotasgurl]

Dogs age at 7 dog years to 1 human year.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Dogs age at 7 dog years to 1 human year.

This is a common misconception but it isn't very accurate. It's more like this:

1=15
2=24
5=37
10=62 etc.

Obviously this varies some by size/breed. A large dog is slower to mature, but at 2 years old would be considered an adult. If the 7 year rule were true that would make a 2 year old dog the equivalent of a 14 year old child rather than an adult human. Also, by the age of 7 most giant breed dogs are considered senior citizens and the age equivalent in human terms would be somewhat older than 49.

 

[foxywench]

This is a common misconception but it isn't very accurate. It's more like this:

1=15
2=24
5=37
10=62 etc.

Obviously this varies some by size/breed. A large dog is slower to mature, but at 2 years old would be considered an adult. If the 7 year rule were true that would make a 2 year old dog the equivalent of a 14 year old child rather than an adult human. Also, by the age of 7 most giant breed dogs are considered senior citizens and the age equivalent in human terms would be somewhat older than 49.

ABSOLUTLY correct, im not quite sure where the 1=7 rule came from origionally but it doesnt work for any dog breed.
as was also said diefferent breeds develop differently.

the chihuahua for example, at a year old woul be about 14 in human years, ready to breed at 2 years being the equivalent of 22-24, isnt considered a "senior" untill 10-12 yrs old which would be the equivalent of 60, and can live 18+ yrs.

whereas a great dane is still considered a puppy at 24 months with maturity on a great dane at aproximatly 28-30 months old (meaning 2 1/2 years before there the 22-24 yr old equivalent...), and there Seniors by 6 being the equivalent of 60 odd, and most dont live past 7-8 yrs old...

LGD's generally follow "large-giant" breed rules, they are puppies for a good 2 - 2 1/2 years of age! but they are typically longer lived than the true giants.