Our Dogs Killed our Goats - Looking for Support

Welcome to the forum.

I'm going to put a word in on this thread for dogs because there are too many posts encouraging death as a solution to the livestock dog problem. Even though it is true dogs are the greatest threat to livestock, they also offer one of the best, secure farm experiences. Dogs are a very advanced farm animal to have and need close monitoring and training. A farm or homestead is a different world altogether than a city dwelling with an entirely different set of realities. Different breeds come with various levels of challenges, but still all canines have prey drives. In fact, it is this prey drive that enables us to train them to do work. This is true even for LGDs. Dogs need strong leadership. If they don't have a pack leader and they are left to their own devices, they will act on instinct for the benefit of their pack in that moment.

The situation we have here with the original poster is a very difficult one. If a dog's reality is life without livestock and then is suddenly put in a situation where they have to cope with livestock. This is one of the more difficult situations to handle. It's easier if you bring a dog into a world where there is already livestock.

With dogs, the best tip I can give is to do what you can to avoid setting them up for failure. It's never the dog thats fails, it's the owner. Consider fencing, normalization time with leashes, and livestock time after walks or other types of exercise. It can take multiple years worth of this kind of effort before you can trust your dog unsupervised with livestock. I'll second what a previous poster said about normalizing homestead livestock with dogs by socializing them with young livestock. It's a sound strategy we've used with success. If they consider a livestock animal as part of the pack, you are most of the way there.

In my opinion, there's no better asset on a farm than a properly trained, working dog, but if you aren't willing to put in the effort that will prevent opportunities for them to fail, it's probably better to choose livestock or dogs; one over the other.

E Sager wrote:I'm going to put a word in on this thread for dogs because there are too many posts encouraging death as a solution to the livestock dog problem. Even though it is true dogs are the greatest threat to livestock, they also offer one of the best, secure farm experiences.

Helo E!

Thank you.  I think this is really important. When I was getting started with gardening and livestock I had no dogs and I had a lot of problems with wildlife eating my gardens and losing lambs and chickens to predation.  

When I got dogs everything changed.   Gardening became so easy.  I have no threats to my garden now except my own animals and that is just a matter of fencing.  

E Sager wrote:
Dogs are a very advanced farm animal to have and need close monitoring and training.  

I was not fully aware of this when I got my dogs.  I watched videos of sheep dogs being raised with lambs and I thought that was about all there was to it.   I made mistakes and lost some stock.  They were my mistakes though.  There were times in the beginning, when I had to say "Bad Dog!"  

 To me, when I have a problem it points to a flaw in my design.   It is not necessarily that the element needs to be removed but that the system needs to be upgraded.    
Dogs have a strong desire to please us.   They want to do the right thing and once they know what that is they are a team member.   I would not be able to do what I do without my dogs.   We live in an area with a large coyote population, bobcats, cougars, bears even the occasional wolf.   My dogs are essential and I trust them.  It took time and I feel it has been a solid investment.

E Sager wrote:In my opinion, there's no better asset on a farm than a properly trained, working dog, but if you aren't willing to put in the effort that will prevent opportunities for them to fail, it's probably better to choose livestock or dogs; one over the other.

Whatever the discipline, a well trained working dog is a joy to watch!  

Jordan Czeczuga wrote:This is my first time posting on this forum, and unfortunately it is under a sad topic.

Me and my wife have two dogs a German Shepard and a Staffordshire Terrier.  We have had them for almost 5 years.  It was through our dogs that we meet at the dog park.  They actually introduced us, and we have been married now for almost two years.  We both wanted to start our own homestead and two years ago bought a few acres with a home to create our own little homestead.  Obviously the dogs came with.  About 9 month back we added to our property 2 baby goats that we were going to start our herd from.  We installed an in ground electric fence to separate the dogs from the area the goats and chickens had.  We knew that they would not get along, and we needed to keep the separate.  The goats and chickens have their own fenced in acre. Everything seemed to be ok until last week we were on vacation and got a call from our friend who was watching the animals for us that she came home to find the dogs in the fenced in area for the goats, and the goats were dead.  We are both heartbroken that the dogs would do that, and we are at a loss of what to do.  We want to continue to follow our passion and keep goats on the property but don't know if that is possible with the dogs at this point.

I guess I am reaching out to see if anyone else has gone through this or if anyone has any advice or tips or what to do.

Thanks in advance

Jordan

Since it happened in your absence, one wonders if the sitter did something and didn't own up to it. I had a boxer who killed a drake. For about 30 mins a day, I tied her up where the ducks were foraging, just going about my business. She lost interest, although I did keep them separated for a good few months after that. Then, for some reason, I let her out and she never touched another one.
Dogs need to appreciate that the other animals are family. Once they do, in my experience, all is well.