[montanadolphin]

Ok, for those of you who haven't read my other post in this part of the forum...a quick introduction

I rescued two baby Boer cross baby girls that are 5 weeks old. They are severely underweight, infested with lice, and I'm trying to get them over scours. I am doing the best I can, being a first timer with goats.

That being said, I have a problem with my female Chocolate Lab, Kalli.

She apparently doesn't like them. Not surprising, though, because she doesn't seem to like anything other than people...at least, people who throw her ball for her. She snaps and growls at anything else. She did it to my chickens when they were day old chicks, and still does and they are three months old and a lot bigger. She does it with my 2 8 week old kittens. And now she's doing it with the baby goats.

I don't know what to do. I have to put Kalli in her crate whenever I have the babies in the house (they are named Butterscotch and Caramel). Even if I have the kids in their little enclosure I made for the house, Kalli will growl and snap at them through the screen.

How do I get Kalli to be NICE to babies? Baby anything? I see so many stories and videos of dogs that warm right up to tiny baby animals...kittens, birds, chicks, goats, fawns, squirrels...but my big dumb mutt wants to eat 'em.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I don't want to have to kennel her up every time the kids are playing in the house. Or worry about her getting them if one of my children accidentally lets the dog out and the kids or chicks are free ranging and playing in the yard. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Goats Rock]

To a dog, baby goats are squeeky toys! They smell funny, run around and generally look like prey!
Fortunately, the kids will get big, relatively fast and the dog won't see them as dinner! As far as
advice on making the dog behave- I better leave that to some of the folks here that are much more
knowledgable about dog training!

 

[nchen7]

I think for now when the babies are small and weak, to keep them apart. do they still have their horns??

I only ask b/c I have a LARGE dog that also likes to "play" with anything that squeaks. he's "played" with kittens, chicks, chickens.......needless to say he's a blood thirsty boy that's too thick headed to learn.

anyway, he chased our buckling when he was 5 weeks old...didn't do anything, but chased. I was NOT pleased and let him know it. and just yesterday, when I was clipping the buckling's hooves (he's 8 weeks old now), the dog went to "help"... nothing happened, but WAY too much energy near the buckling.

as for the other goats, he wont' go near the buckling's momma. she's his size and has these things on her head that look not nice. my yearling doe has shorter horns, and he wanted to be friends with her. until a few times she wanted to play with him, and poked his face a few times with her horns. he doesn't go near her anymore. she gets space when she walks near him b/c he doesn't like to be poked.

however, he never growled at anyone....he would just do the quiet predator thing, run and pounce.

for now, keep an eye out for your dog. maybe he feels threatened that there are these small fuzzy things taking over her territory.

not sure if this long story helped or not.....lol

 

[montanadolphin]

They do have their horns...little marbles on the tops of their heads . I do not plan on having them removed, either.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[emilieanne]

Also, I think if you get the button thing that if you press it only dogs can hear it, and press it when she growls barks or chances only, she will learn. Once she learns what it is, and all you have to do is show it to her, se should stop.
I don't know the name but I'm sure you could get one at petco.

 

[Huff_farm]

We train our dog with a training coler. She is bloodthirsty too, she has killed meny chicks. She doesnt mess with the critters now that we have a donkey!

 

[elchivito]

Sometimes one or the other has to go. I know what my choice would be.

 

[silveira_ranch]

I want to start off by saying I am a POSITIVE trainer. I teach agility lessons as well as obedience.

With that said, we have a personal protection/schutzhund Malinois who is aggressive with all the farm animals. He has an e-collar on at all times when out by the animals with us.

It has saved several of our livestock's lives.

 

[MsScamp]

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Well, from where I'm standing I would say you have 3 choices:

1) Re-home every animal on the place except the dog, and forget about ever getting any more until she passes.

2) Re-home the dog.

3) Keep the dog in a kennel/pen whenever the other animals are out and about.

Your dog has made it crystal clear about how she feels about other animals. Unless the dog is a pup, it is highly unlikely that she is ever going to change how she feels. How you handle the situation, however, is entirely up to you.

 

[montanadolphin]

Well, from where I'm standing I would say you have 3 choices:

1) Re-home every animal on the place except the dog, and forget about ever getting any more until she passes.

2) Re-home the dog.

3) Keep the dog in a kennel/pen whenever the other animals are out and about.

Your dog has made it crystal clear about how she feels about other animals. Unless the dog is a pup, it is highly unlikely that she is ever going to change how she feels. How you handle the situation, however, is entirely up to you.

Well, I guess it's gotta be option 3 then. We've had Kalli since she was 10 months old (she's 5 now), and she's my hubby's baby. There's no getting rid of her. It's strange...when we got her, we had another dog and a 15 pound cat. She never growled or snapped at either one. I lost my dog in January...right before we moved into this new home...so Kalli was the only pet in the house for a bit. Maybe that could be it, I dunno.

Getting rid of my chickens, the kittens, and my new baby kids is NOT going to happen. I have raised my chicks from day old hatchlings, and the kittens belong to my boys.

So in the kennel she goes if there is other animal interactions.

 

[nchen7]

she could just be stressed out from the move and then all the new things around her. she MAY calm down eventually...but it'll take work and a LOT of exercise! good luck!

 

[MsScamp]

It's strange...when we got her, we had another dog and a 15 pound cat. She never growled or snapped at either one. I lost my dog in January...right before we moved into this new home...so Kalli was the only pet in the house for a bit. Maybe that could be it, I dunno.

Was Kalli and your dog friends? If so, how close were they?

 

[WarPony]

Well, I guess it's gotta be option 3 then. We've had Kalli since she was 10 months old (she's 5 now), and she's my hubby's baby. There's no getting rid of her. It's strange...when we got her, we had another dog and a 15 pound cat. She never growled or snapped at either one. I lost my dog in January...right before we moved into this new home...so Kalli was the only pet in the house for a bit. Maybe that could be it, I dunno.

Getting rid of my chickens, the kittens, and my new baby kids is NOT going to happen. I have raised my chicks from day old hatchlings, and the kittens belong to my boys.

So in the kennel she goes if there is other animal interactions.

This can totally be handled through management if the dog doesn't respond to training or doesn't become accustomed to the other animals with time. It will just take very careful and conscientious attention.

We have a dog who is super aggressive toward livestock. he is fine in the house with cats and other dogs but one look at a goat or chicken and he WIGS OUT. Luckily he is small, so the damage he can do to the goats is limited to scaring the daylights out of them and running them in to the fence, but even still... we manage him by having a SECURELY fenced dog run, never letting him out unleashed outside the fence, and crating him or the kids/chicks if they are going to be in the house. One or the other is always in a crate. If they are in a crate he lays by the crate trying to stick his nose inside for a nibble, the evil little snot. I have attached a picture of evil-serial-killer-poodle-mix-dog, Dexter, in his standard position when we have a baby in the house, plotting to see if he can just rip off an ear or something, since it won't really ruin the goat to lose an ear.

I wouldn't get rid of my dog in this situation either. Around here we don't get rid of family members just because they don't like other family members (if that were the case several of our human relatives would be outta here, lol!!). We either find a way to make it work with training/management/separation or we just don't bring home new animals who will have to share the space until the aggressive animal is no longer with us. Since our dogs are house pets and the goats and chickens are barn animals it works out well. It was harder when i had a severely aggressive dog and couldn't have any other house pets, dogs or cats. That was miserable. I loved her, but i was just relieved when she finally passed and I hope to never be in that boat ever again.

 

[montanadolphin]

Was Kalli and your dog friends? If so, how close were they?

Oh yes, they were very close. Kalli went through a few weeks of depression when we lost her. It happened right in the middle of our move, so I couldn't bury Shelby right away, so I put her in a chest freezer (don't judge...I didn't know what else to do. I wrapped her in plastic). Kalli would just lay by the chest freezer day in and day out.

 

[montanadolphin]

This can totally be handled through management if the dog doesn't respond to training or doesn't become accustomed to the other animals with time. It will just take very careful and conscientious attention.

We have a dog who is super aggressive toward livestock. he is fine in the house with cats and other dogs but one look at a goat or chicken and he WIGS OUT. Luckily he is small, so the damage he can do to the goats is limited to scaring the daylights out of them and running them in to the fence, but even still... we manage him by having a SECURELY fenced dog run, never letting him out unleashed outside the fence, and crating him or the kids/chicks if they are going to be in the house. One or the other is always in a crate. If they are in a crate he lays by the crate trying to stick his nose inside for a nibble, the evil little snot. I have attached a picture of evil-serial-killer-poodle-mix-dog, Dexter, in his standard position when we have a baby in the house, plotting to see if he can just rip off an ear or something, since it won't really ruin the goat to lose an ear.

I wouldn't get rid of my dog in this situation either. Around here we don't get rid of family members just because they don't like other family members (if that were the case several of our human relatives would be outta here, lol!!). We either find a way to make it work with training/management/separation or we just don't bring home new animals who will have to share the space until the aggressive animal is no longer with us. Since our dogs are house pets and the goats and chickens are barn animals it works out well. It was harder when i had a severely aggressive dog and couldn't have any other house pets, dogs or cats. That was miserable. I loved her, but i was just relieved when she finally passed and I hope to never be in that boat ever again.

Kalli is strange. She can be left out of her kennel if we are right there with her. She listens very well, especially when hubby is home. We've been trying to teach her the word "baby" and "babies", which are the terms we used when the chicks were inside in a brooder. Did it with the kittens too. Now the goats. We are trying to associate "baby" and "be nice" and reward her when we feel she is obeying...although it takes a LOT for her to obey...she trembles, like it's taking everything in her power to hold back. But, we're working on it. As long as my husband or myself are right there with her, she is fine. It's the other times that aren't.

 

[nchen7]

WarPony, i find it funny that your "evil-serial-killer-poodle-mix-dog" is named Dexter...like the serial killer guy on tv!!!

 

[WarPony]

WarPony, i find it funny that your "evil-serial-killer-poodle-mix-dog" is named Dexter...like the serial killer guy on tv!!!

Hehehe!! That was where we got the name, because when we first got him we were watching that show and the puppy had the same colour hair as the character. So we thought it would be funny to name him after the character (plus I liked the way the name sounded. I had narrowed it down to Cooper, Topper or Dexter and when i gave my short list my husband and daughter both yelled "DEXTER! WE LIKE DEXTER!!!").

He has done his best to live up to the name ever since, haha!! He is attractive, charming, manipulative and destructive and doesn't seem to care the least little bit that he is a very naughty boy. We are making a lot of progress now that he is out of the puppy stage, but he is just reallly reallllly smart and it takes a lot to keep him occupied. He is actually my husband's dog (MY dog is a good dog, lol) and every time he does something Dexter-ish I tell my husband, "Do you see what YOUR dog did??"

 

[MsScamp]

Oh yes, they were very close. Kalli went through a few weeks of depression when we lost her. It happened right in the middle of our move, so I couldn't bury Shelby right away, so I put her in a chest freezer (don't judge...I didn't know what else to do. I wrapped her in plastic). Kalli would just lay by the chest freezer day in and day out.

I totally understand why you put your dog in the freezer - if it had been mine, I might have done the same thing. I'm wondering if Kalli isn't snapping at all the other animals due to stress or a kind of self-protection thing - if that makes sense. Losing her best friend would have been stressful enough for her, let alone having it happen in the middle of move and her world being turned upside down, only to find herself in a new home with unfamiliar surroundings. Couple that with both you and your husband dealing with the move, stressed out yourselves, dealing with the loss of Shelby, and trying to get things straightened out and put away, and Kalli could have developed a type of coping mechanism or some kind of defense because of it. Unfortunately I have no idea how to help you overcome it, and I'm sorry for that. I'm not even sure who to call to ask. I know I haven't been very helpful, but maybe something in my response gives you an idea of how to proceed or where to go from here. I hope so.

 

[dezak91]

I have been training dogs for 33 years. I train dogs in obedience and protection as well as Schutzhund and police dogs. The use of the "E" collar (electric collar) is a Godsend.

Without this collar there is yelling and or a lot of hands on with the dog, and usually the hands on stuff includes a lot of yanking and tugging on the dogs neck. This to the dog is just nagging and actually increases the undesirable behavior. To the human, the tugging and yanking increases the frustration which then becomes more intense and you want to kill the dog.

Bring in the E collar and there is no hands on after one or two lessons. Everyone's stress levels go down. Also with the E collar you can be a distance away from your dog and still achieve results.

All my working dogs have had their lessons with the goats and horses. Some get it and never need a reminder from the E collar. Some are more dense and need an occasional reminder.

You can over do it with the E collar and this is when it becomes abusive. Done correctly and it's the best training tool ever invented. I would encourage you to seek out a trainer knowledgeable in the use of an E collar and you will be pleasantly surprised. This can be controlled so there is harmony in the household!