# Sarah chaseing new goats



## heathen (Jan 1, 2013)

Hi I got some new goats about 5 months back and Sarah is aGP Border collie shepard cross. Her job is to protect the chickens. She does her job at that no problem. Except shelike the treats the chickens give her. We have 2 hens that despite being a year old and haveing lots of nest boxes and everyone else laying in the nest boxes they lay on the ground usually right in front of her lol. So I dont blame her if its on the ground its ate if its in the nest she leaves them. Anyway she started chasing the new goats she was always allowed in the pasture with Jess our GP Merema cross ( I will probably stick with this cross because he started doing his job at 4 months old in withthe goats all the time and is wonderfull with babies. He is my baby monitor lays out in front of the shed soon as one is gona kid he even warns me when I come strolling up at nite and he cant see who I am.) Anyway I thought it was just where they are diffrent all 3 were Nigerian Dwarfs everything else is Nubian boar kiko cross fainter pymy cross nigerian fainter cross alpine fainter cross and one im not sure on. Well she is still chaseing them and only them. We have new babies and she is going up and laying with them cleaning them lets the but her and jump on her but she wont let the Nigerians in the same shed as the babies she chases them off. Penny had a baby and I thought maybe I would let her see the baby and that would help her stop being mean to the 3 Nigerians. WRONG she decided to bark and growl at him!!! NEVER has she acted this way toward a baby. Needless to say she got a swift stern correction and the neighbor thought I killed her and soon as I was done Jess the other cross wooped her and chased her out of the pen. Does anyone have any idea of why she would act this way only with certain goats? Is it where we got them full grown. I keep fixing the fence where she gets in the pens but she can clear the 48" fence I have up. I put electric wire over the top and she knows she will get shocked but she keeps going in to see Jess and the other goats. The other goats wont run from her but the 3 Nigerians will. I corrrect her Jess gets her and rolls her and woops her. She still just dont get it. I dont want to have to get rid of her because she does watch the chickens and yard for us. I figured after the Nigerians were here for a while beded down with the other goats she would just accept them but its not happening. Now she is prego with Jess babies due to whelp in January. She has a box and place I set for her with the chickens but she keeps going up where the goat kidding stalls are and trying to claim one of those stalls as hers. Normally I would be fine with this but I have one goat left to kid Shouldnt be till March but the way everything went this year I aint sure.  I really dont want to rehome her and I have even brought other goats here to help a friend out and to have there goats bred and she leaves them alone. I just dont get what it is with those 3 and apperantly the baby from Penny. Grandpa says she will eventually kill one and I should just shoot her and get a new pup I know some of her litter mates killed the chickens and goats they were kept with but she protects her chickens turkey guineas and pigions. ( She failed with the quail)


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## heathen (Jan 3, 2013)

Seriously no one has anyidea? Maybe the Nigerians just make faces at her when I aint lookin lol.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2013)

Sometimes this happens when they have been use to larger goats, also she for some reason isn't getting that they are part of this herd. Your other dog by correcting her is doing the right thing. The ND's...which happens often...if they were not raised with a LGD will run, this only increases the idea to the dog that they do not belong. The ND's being small will rarely butt or challenge a full sized LGD.

The problem doesn't lie solely in the dog but with the ND's as well. If you have a dry lot, or a small and I mean small lot that you can put her and the ND's in together..SUPERVISED.... they will learn to not be afraid of her and not run away. This will take more than a day. When you brought in the ND's how did you introduce them to the herd and to the dogs?


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## Shelly May (Jan 3, 2013)

I agree with Southern by choice, But you said she is ready to have puppies in january? how soon?

Southern will this change her aggression this close to having pups? she might attack them even in a small pen,
maybe this should wait until after she has puppies, the dog really needs to be in a pen, that she can't get out
of and the goats need to be able to come up to the pen and be able to check each other out, heathen do you 
have a pen or stall that she can be in? and not get out and still have her pups in? You could tie her and tie a goat 
close to her, supervised only for a few minutes everyday, but don't leave her tied as she will hang her pups in 
the chain. A stall with a cattle panel or see threw gate would be perfect but if this is not a option, then tieing them 
up close together might be while being supervised, like southern said many days of this is what it will take, but 
not sure how much time you have left before she has pups?


I do believe the goats running is causing something in her head to chase them, need to get the goats to stop running 
somehow.


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## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2013)

Ok...feeling kinda out of it here. Pounding headache... 

Shelly... I must of totally missed the pups part... when the OP said babies I thought she meant kids. The "butting part"...Kids?

So reread it... a little hard. It's easier to read when broken into smaller paragraphs... for us that are lets just say "getting hard of seeing". 
If your are talking puppies then Shelly May is right, she also has some good pointers on the cattle panel etc.  Please do not tie or chain, I don't think it is cruel but is dangerous for any animal around her but also dangerous for Sarah too.

I want to say... without starting a broo-ha-ha...  





> Sarah is aGP Border collie shepard cross


You have a LGD breed crossed with a Herding Breed.... sometimes they work out, BUT USUALLY they don't. Herding breeds are quick, chase, move other animals very quickly, nip at heels etc. IT IS PART OF A HERDING DOG.    this could be a breeding issue and if that's the case you have a problem. 

How old is Sarah?

Having a few people working (on leads) with the ND's while you have Sarah on a long training lead will help.


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## Shelly May (Jan 3, 2013)

X2


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## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2013)

Shelly May- sent you a pm did it come through?


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## heathen (Jan 4, 2013)

Sarah is a little over a year old and pups are comeing anyday. She IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE AROUND THE GOATS. But she is one of those smarty pooh dogs that can clear the 48" fence with barb wire on top so I gave up and let her come and go as she pleased. Plus I have seen her go and back Jess up against Coyotes and a black bear he stays in and she jumps the fence and runs them off. Luckily we dont have large packs of Coyotes everyone in our hollow shoots them on site even the neighbors with no livestock. They say they worry about there cats lol. Anyway its good to know its a dual problem. She is still leaving the rest of the goats alone  I introduced the new goats by putting them in a quarantine lot that is inside of the other lot so the dogs could smell and see them but not get to them. Its a double wire lot with electric inside and out so no one gets to close. The one fence she respect but it has 20KV going through the wire so most everything respects it it helps train the new goats to be scared of an electric fence. I put a shock collar on her the other day and when she went for her chase shocked her. I have done this before but where the snow was on and she has been rolling in the snow I think it bit her better than usual. I did not see her chase the ND today. They are still afraid of her but I think I am Finally getting it across that they are goats to. If it was just a size thing or a chase thing I think she would go after babies but she don't. I think it has something to do with how the ND hold themselves they were not around dogs and have a natural fear of them Jess is still working on getting there trust. Thanks for the advice We will work on it till she whelps and then pick it up again as she can. Thanks Again Heath


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## Southern by choice (Jan 4, 2013)

She is determined! Hopefully the shock collar will do the job!
So.. you gonna have pics when she whelps?


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## heathen (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes there will be lots and lots of pictures.


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