Goats and dogs together?

[helmstead]

I know every dog and every situation is different. In our situation, my dogs are NEVER in the goat yard. My goats are too much of an investment, both emotionally and financially, to risk a dog injury. We have a working Aussie who helps herd them back into their pen when they escape - but he knows his job and is very careful - and he knows he must stop at the gate. Still, he would never be in the pen for any reason. Accidents happen. Playful dogs can kill a kid in a split second. A running goat can awaken the dullest dog's preditory drive.

Additionally, my alpha doe, Sugar...will kill any dog if given a chance. Because our DOGS are also emotional and financial investments...we have to take care to keep them out of danger.

 

[EmmyGirl]

Is there any way you could put up a temporary fence to keep them separated for a little while while they get used to eachother? A little separation is probably best until you see how your dogs react. Our Great Dane/Dalmatian mix is obsessed with our two new goats (just brought them home on Sunday night). She's a little too exuberant for their tastes right now and will try to head-butt her if she gets too close. We're letting her visit them once a day on a leash to see if she can learn to control herself around them and play nicely. I'd never forgive myself if any of them were hurt. Our older Great Dane sniffs noses with them at the fence first thing in the morning and then wanders off without another thought of them all day. Maybe your dogs will have that kind of reaction! I hope everything works out for you! Best of luck!!

 

[bbRedMom]

Four of my five dogs can stay with the goats. One cannot, and she stays crated during the day.

I'm glad I have dogs that stay with the goats-we had an attack from another pack yesterday, and still have 2 of our three goats. But i go by the Cesar Milan Example-I am the pack leader, and my dogs do what I say.

 

[tvtaber]

My dogs are petrified of the goats and will not go near the pen!!

 

[HnkyDnkyZZFarm]

Old thread, but I surfed in on it... I'm debating on throwing a leash on the dog at the moment and letting him indulge his curiosity from inside the goat pen.


Lots of good thoughts, I will add a tad;


There's a bit more to it than training. In a perfect world we could completely defeat instinct through repetition, but in all reality there are more factors than how badly you want it to work in play. Our dog's a Mcnab-bully cross, so his Mcnab side instinct is to run, get close and drive them, but to stay out from under their feet. His obsessive love/fear of them is what would keep him alive herding cows. Experience might turn that fear to caution or even skill were it not for his bully side, but meantime he's just neurotic. There is no degree of training that will take away that drive. Add the terrier and double that. Short of electricity and I find that to be solving a non problem, since the goats just find him stupid, since he runs towards a fence and skids to a halt about fifty times a day. They graze the fence line just to mess with him now. He's having kittens and they're playing goaty games on the other side of the fence to freak him out more - there is no undoing what he is. Goats don't always "flock" to way other stock animals do. They've got a stubborn streak and flight isn't always the choice. Might be less an issue though if your dogs don't have working breeds in them. I'm thinking a less high drive dog would probably be better able to be a companion to them than my crazy.


How tolerant are the GOATS. I worry more about the DOGS than the goats. We have a small herd of nubian/ nigerian dwarf crosses - roughly same shoulder height as the dogs, and I will have to say, the buck will give any dog second thoughts about whether they want to make the goats run. Our buck will let himself out and head for the back yard if I don't get them in the pen they prefer during the day, and if I'm slow about it he'll take himself to visit the dogs. He plays with his lady friends often and sometimes a bit rough. He'll take a running start and give em a good slam if there's high value treats or scritchies to be had.

The girls are goats. They're built to take what he dishes out, but the dog is not. If he did to the dog what he does to the girls, we'd be looking at vet bills and at the very least broken ribs.

The dog has self preservation on his side, in their one accidental meeting - free range goating incident, I wasn't up and at em as fast as the goats would have liked; and our boy ended up in the back yard with the dogs. When I got to him, the dogs were on the other side of the yard. They wouldn't let him past a certain point, but they weren't getting within twenty feet of him, so I have a sneaking suspicion he may have been teaching them about goats. The dogs wouldn't get in range of horns or feet. Now that he's on his side of the fence he's been doing that horizontal goaty jump run on the fences threatening the dogs, so I think he thinks he has street cred now. Everybodys a tough guy. haha.

We had a boer wether and he decided to visit the dogs - he could pop any latch, and with size on his side, when he came a calling, it was an unquestionable run to rescue the dog.

The dog is notoriously stupid though. He got skunked repeatedly because he couldn't get it through his head that the skunk wasn't intimidated by him and wasn't going to run and kept repeating the error. if it moves, he's going to run at it. Once he starts running, the only things in his head that still work are instinct. Run, bark, don't get stepped on.

The nubian cross girls might tolerate him trying to herd more, but they prefer to follow than to be chased when we move them. If your goats know they're goats - as opposed to horn people, and have an established group and pecking order, there's a pretty good chance that the head goat may decide to get cranky about being pushed around by this obnoxious "goat." Seasonally exacerbated if you have intact male goats.

They goats get along hunky dunky with the ducks though. I'll put them in together just to see the puzzled looks on the goats. The ducks are so bossy the goats will follow them.

 

[ExoticBunnyLover]

Is it fine to have a lifestyle where there are one dog and one goat, or is it necessary to have two or more goats?

 

[Animals45]

I lived in Texas and I had 2 goats and 1 dog and my dog got around great with them!
My dog and goats would always play together and it worked out getting the goats so I think you could get goats.