WindyIndy
Loving the herd life
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2016
- Messages
- 146
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My dog is very protective over her food towards other animals, she will growl, and even nip if her warning doesn't get through. She never growls at me though and I can pet her and take away her food no problem. There was one time that one of my ewes wouldn't back off and she nipped her a little, no big deal.
The sheep (mostly the goat, he never learns ) will sometimes still try but tend to back off now with her warning . I wen't out there one morning and noticed one of them got bit on the nose. Her babies were in the dog house though and later in the day found her and the babies in there laying down. My guess was that over night the babies slept in there and then when mama went to get them my dog (Maggie) thinking she was protecting them wouldn't let mama near. She usually doesn't seem to mind when they're in her house. But of course I wasn't there so I have no idea.
But then just two days later I fed Maggie in her house and left her to finish up other things (one of my other ewes were in the main sheep shelter). All of a sudden I heard this nasty growling/fighting noise. I figured someone was after her food as usual (she's usually all sound), but then I noticed Maggie was in the sheep shelter. Panicking I ran over there yelling at her. I saw a lamb run out, then mama with a bit ear fallowed by Maggie and another terrified lamb in the shelter. Maggie ran into her house and I scolded her. Again I wasn't able to see the full scene, but my guess is Maggie wanted to go into their shelter and mama wasn't going to let her (protecting her lambs) and Maggie didn't like that and so tried to 'put her in her place'. She does that with my ram and I let her being he's a ram.
Is this normal? Should I still keep her? My sheep just got infections because of those bites, but I should have kept them cleaner too. My goat is always stealing her food, even gets mouth fulls and she has never bit him that I can tell! Even lets him eat it sometimes! When I first got him as a kid she kind of 'took him in' though as the others would pick on him, not sure if that makes a difference or not.
The sheep (mostly the goat, he never learns ) will sometimes still try but tend to back off now with her warning . I wen't out there one morning and noticed one of them got bit on the nose. Her babies were in the dog house though and later in the day found her and the babies in there laying down. My guess was that over night the babies slept in there and then when mama went to get them my dog (Maggie) thinking she was protecting them wouldn't let mama near. She usually doesn't seem to mind when they're in her house. But of course I wasn't there so I have no idea.
But then just two days later I fed Maggie in her house and left her to finish up other things (one of my other ewes were in the main sheep shelter). All of a sudden I heard this nasty growling/fighting noise. I figured someone was after her food as usual (she's usually all sound), but then I noticed Maggie was in the sheep shelter. Panicking I ran over there yelling at her. I saw a lamb run out, then mama with a bit ear fallowed by Maggie and another terrified lamb in the shelter. Maggie ran into her house and I scolded her. Again I wasn't able to see the full scene, but my guess is Maggie wanted to go into their shelter and mama wasn't going to let her (protecting her lambs) and Maggie didn't like that and so tried to 'put her in her place'. She does that with my ram and I let her being he's a ram.
Is this normal? Should I still keep her? My sheep just got infections because of those bites, but I should have kept them cleaner too. My goat is always stealing her food, even gets mouth fulls and she has never bit him that I can tell! Even lets him eat it sometimes! When I first got him as a kid she kind of 'took him in' though as the others would pick on him, not sure if that makes a difference or not.