Remember the neighbors dogs chasing my horses

[christina_ski]

Oh boy, I am afriad the trama of the dogs chasing my minis has had an unexpected and unwanted result. Long story short my nieghbors dogs were, And occasionally still due, but they are going to get rid of them they promise

,They try to chase the horses, but the horses are no longer afraid and chase them out of their pen, fine. I am ok with that. The dogs are now too scared to go into the horses pen and instead just get into the trash. Taking care of that situation now tho, got the law involved again.

Anywho, I brought a friends dog (Austrailian Shepard) over to the house today, and he was kept on a very short leash next to me at all times as I did not want him adding to the horses fear. I thought he would be ok to be right next to me while in the horse pen, since we needed to trim the hair around his neck so his collar would fit better and the clippers are in the barn, and thought the horses would stay away since they don't like dogs. Anywho, afterwards I took him out og the barn into the horses pen (have to cross the horses pen to get to the barn and to leave) And my filly Queenie would not leave us alone, she was literally right next to me, trying to figure out why I had this evil thing with me and was not shooing it out. I petted her and tried to assure her he was not going to anything, he was simply minding his own business right next to me. She got it into her head to attack the dog all the sudden, and ran between him and me, caught his leash and pulled his collar off. He freaked out and took off, and before I could grab him Queenie was chasing him, and all the other horses (weanlings) took off after him too. I was calling him trying to get him to come to me but everytime he did Queenie would chase him harder and get him away. He takes off trying to get away and runs to the nearest person at the top of the pasture with Queenie on his tail. She had to hold him still while all the while Queenie is still trying to get after him. Queenie gets the dog away from the person and luckily he ran to me before she could get him. Got his collar on and got him the heck outta there

I quickly penned her up but she just sat at the fence trying to break through and get to the dog to attack him even though we were out in the yard

I am afriad now she has a HUGE resentment towards all dogs (as he looks nothing like the neighbor dogs, nor did he ever bark or even look at the horses, he was simply at my side in the horse pen walking back out with me on a leash) And I am worried about horse shows, as everyone has their dogs around, and I do not want her to hurt a dog or hurt someone trying to get to the dog. I feel like I need to put a sign on her stall to beware of horse and warn all dog owners near her at shows. I am not sure how to get her over this, if she can get over it. Any suggestions of what I can do to help her with this problem? Or is it just something she is always going to do now. She is the "Boss Mare" now since she is the oldest/biggest in her group, so maybe she is just being protective. But I would hate to find out at a show with someone well behaved dog that she just wants to kill them

Christina

 

[~Dan]

What I would suggest is (not very experienced here BTW) take an older quite dog and walk him back and forth some yards from pasture fence when she sees you doing this for a few days, walk closer, and continue until your right next to the fence, then try it with a different dog when shes comfortable with the first dog. do the same until shes comfortable, and then use another dog. Eventually have someone hold a dog with you holding the horse walk them near eachother, and if she starts, turn her around and wlak the other way, do this until she quietly walks by the dog then reward her with a treat, do this for some time, and then try it with another dog (when shes comfortable) and continue as such, then try approching her stall, let them sniff noses, and if either start to show agression, use a loud sharp noise and immediatley turn away, and when she accepts the dog, give her lots of praise, and then go from their

hope this helps goodluck

 

[dangerranger]

I have a mini that will not tolerate dogs in her pen. we also have a well behaved lab that does not chase horses, bark at them, or provoke them. at first Phebe [ our mini ]would paw at the fence, or charge at the dog . after about 3 to 6 mo she has accepted our dog as part of the family. she no longer chases after "our dog" but will still chase off outsiders. I have taken her to shows and parks and she shows no aggresion when shes out of her home area. but I still watch her carefully. Im also still careful not to let the dog get cornered eather. most of our fences are barbless wire with hot wire allowing the dog an escape. but the drylot and barn area has 4' no climb so Im afraid that one day the dog will get traped in a corner [ shes getting up in age.] hopefully yours will also be OK with dogs outside of her home also. DR

 

[BannerBrat]

[SIZE=12pt]Considering what they've been dealing with, with your neighbors dogs, you can't blame the horse, she's protecting herself.

However protecting herself is fine, but when you are there in the pen & she should respect your space & stayed farther away. (if she did you would've seen her getting ready to go after the dog.) So I'd have a helper, with a well behaved dog do something with him off to the side, while you ask her to do something. Work on her ground manners & make sure her attention is on you, if it's not, get it on you. Once she's fine with keeping her attention on you & not throwing a fit, you can move the dog closer. & Continue to do this till you can walk her by the dog & etc, without her freaking out. Be careful though, you don't want her to flip out & be able to make contact with the dog. So don't get closer until she's ready. Like I said protecting herself is fine, but when she's with a human she should be respecting your space & doing what she's asked. Good luck, I have a mini gelding that hates dogs, it's just how he is, but when he's on lead you'd never know, except of course he grinds his teeth if the dogs are obnoxious to come up & sniff him.

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[Maple Hollow Farm]

My mare attacked my corgi male when we were out in the pasture checking the mares out...she chased him from one end to the other and managed to catch him and stomped on him but he yelped and scared her off and by that time I caught up to them and when she tried to take off after him again I whopped her over the head with the halter and lead I was still carrying (don't yell at me I didnt hit her very hard). It was either that or she probably would have killed him, it just told her that it was not a good thing and would not be tolerated. If it is with me than it should be ok but I have noticed if the dogs go in there on their own they still chase them but at least in the pasture they are in now there is a known escape route.

 

[Sanny]

We have a couple of horses that will react the same way toward strange dogs and basically lead the charge with the whole herd following behind and the leader clearly means business because if he catches up with the dog he will attempt to stomp and kick it. They ignore our dogs except when we brought our poor mini aussie puppy home and out to the barn for the first time (so she was a strange dog) they took off after her and she ran for her life and just barely made it under the fence to safety. Now that they know her they are fine with her and she helps bring them in from the other pasture and when we are lunging horses she chases them and keeps them going.

I'm fine with them being aggressive toward strange dogs because you never know what the dogs intent is and we also have coyotes in our area and I feel better knowing the horses can take care of themselves. I saw a coyote early morning one day and though he could have gone under the fence and cut across the pasture he chose to stay outside the fence and go all the way around the fenceline which tells me he probably has had a run in or two with the horses.

 

[TN Belle]

Both my gelding donkey and gelding mini chase, fight, kick any animals in their area. I have seen my mini pick up a cat by the head and sling it like a toy. They have both "snaked" animals out but lowering their heads and chasing at the same time. BUT they are both too curious about animals at shows and I have not seen any attacks there.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

If you have her attention and respect on lead you probably don't need to worry about her behaviour at shows. She should look to you for what is acceptable behaviour there just as a stallion would understand (should understand ) that a show is NOT going to be a breeding situation. If you get a dog of your own introduce her to it outside her pen with both animals on a lead. After a while (days/weeks) of meeting it and seeing it outside she should tolerate it passing altho she may never really accept it in her pen. It depends on her personality. I've owned mules which are notorious for attacking dogs (as are donkeys and both are often used around here as guardians for sheep) and all of them eventually accepted MY dogs altho they would tolerate no other.

 

[Dorrie & Frank]

We rehabbed an arabian gelding who was fine with the minis until he got healthy and we had two dark brown minis come out of the barn. He had been abused by dark colored rotweillers and when he saw the minis he went after them - open mouth trying to break their necks. Our anatolian stopped him before anyone was hurt. We found him a happy home with other arab geldings near by.

 

[christina_ski]

I am also thinking like some said that she is protecting her area. And she should be ok at shows. She is very calm/repectfull on lead and she is very well behaved. I think she was thinking of me as part of her herd and was trying to protect me since the dog was near me. This was a strage dog to her so she probably took it as a bad dog not a wait and see what it does. I am glad she is very protective of her area/other horses. Helps to ease my mind when I am not home or in the middle of the night. I think what happened was my gelding Krackerjack HATES dog and will also attack them if they get into his area (He use to be this way with cats also, but now accepts them) and I kept him in with the babies when the dogs were getting loose multiple times a day chasing the horses. Maybe he instilled some of his hate/protectiveness onto her. I know the first day with him in the pen she would run from the dogs too, but the next day charged them right along with Krackerjack.

I guess I need to get her around well behaved horse friendly dogs while she is haltered so she can see not all dogs want to hurt/chase her.

Thanks everyone for the replys!

 

[End Level Farms]

I have dogs and minis and my minis attack dogs if they don't get out of the field/paddock they are in. However they have been taught that my dogs and my family dogs are allowed anywhere they want to on the farm. INCLUDING in the mini field and paddock so long as they are with us. The minis leave them alone and the dogs leave the minis alone.

That mare who is the worst offender in attacking dogs is an older herd mare she is also the boss mare. And she was protecting her baby. Your filly/mare might be seeing the others as needed protection. And that you may have needed protection as well. To see what would happen while you controlled her go for a walk take her out of her environment and arrange to meet some dogs on your travels. Be on your toes and watch her closely but don't be overly aggressive or defensive until there is a need for it. Because you don't want to set her up to attack the dogs. If she does make a move bust her for it badly. What ever it is that you let her know there's no way you will tolerate that behavior. Then forget about it and move on doing the same thing until she doesn't make a move towards attacking or chasing dogs while you hold her or control her.

 

[Jean_B]

I wish I had a whole herd full of mares like her!! Then I would be a little more relaxed about the entire herd's safety. I wouldn't worry about her at shows....though if there are loose dogs at a show and she goes after them....the OWNERS of those loose dogs should be the ones she stomps on!

By the way, like the nickname you gave the new palomino gelding!!

 

[christina_ski]

I wish I had a whole herd full of mares like her!! Then I would be a little more relaxed about the entire herd's safety. I wouldn't worry about her at shows....though if there are loose dogs at a show and she goes after them....the OWNERS of those loose dogs should be the ones she stomps on!
By the way, like the nickname you gave the new palomino gelding!!

I am taking it as more of a good thing now that I think about it. The dogs have still not dared to come near her or pen since she has been this way. So I am very releved not to worry about the 2 small weanlings at night as she protects them too.

BTW, Scooby is mellowed out SOO much in the past few weeks. Him and Queenie and are best buds and constantly playing and bucking and stop once in awhile to groom one another. I need to get you some new pics of him, he is darn near in show shape right now from playing with Queenie.

 

[HGFarm]

I personally have never been concerned if my horses chase dogs, and would rather have them do that than run with fright. My own dogs are never allowed in my horses lots- that is off limits and always has been. When I have horses out working with them, the dogs dont bother us and visa versa. All animals are not going to always 'get along' and live happily ever after. I would let your horses intolerance of dogs right now just stay that way so the neighbors dogs dont start chasing them again.