# What do I do?



## WolfeMomma (Sep 28, 2019)

How do your rams get along with your livestock guardians? We are having issues, to put it mildly.  The dog won't stop trying to hump the ram, and the ram won't stop head butting and trying to hump the dog. The dog follows the ewes around constantly licking their backside. It's getting ridiculous.  The dog listens to corrections while I'm standing there, but as soon as we leave and go back up to the house, he is back at it with his inappropriate behavior. Both he and the ram are equal guilty parties. Any tips?  I have gone to a trainer for advice, just seeing if anyone on here has dealt with this? what works?


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## Baymule (Sep 28, 2019)

How old is your dog? I haven't had that problem with rams, but I have a dog that would lick the ewes lady parts. I scolded her hard, she will still do it, but not as much as she used to.


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## WolfeMomma (Sep 29, 2019)

Baymule said:


> How old is your dog? I haven't had that problem with rams, but I have a dog that would lick the ewes lady parts. I scolded her hard, she will still do it, but not as much as she used to.


He is 2yrs old.


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## Mini Horses (Sep 29, 2019)

Animal hormones respond to stimuli...scent being among the most essential and strongest.  Estrus produces strong scent to attract a mate.   Some animals are less concerned about interactions with those not of their kind.   

I have had my goat buck follow a mini horse mare, smelling, tongue wagging, licking and the whole nine yards!   She put up with the attention until he tried to mount.   A couple flying feet told the buck he wasn't appreciated.   I did nothing as it was being handled.   

Not sure how to tell you to "correct" this interaction.   May be that you just put up with it...or separate the ram.   I don't have an LGD.


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## Baymule (Sep 29, 2019)

WolfeMomma said:


> He is 2yrs old.


He is still young, maybe he will quit as he gets older. Maybe not. What happens when you separate the ram from the flock and the dog/ram humping gets interrupted? Maybe if you take them away from each other when you don't want the ewes bred, and then put them back together, it will give them time to forget about it and break up that behavior.


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## WolfeMomma (Sep 29, 2019)

Baymule said:


> He is still young, maybe he will quit as he gets older. Maybe not. What happens when you separate the ram from the flock and the dog/ram humping gets interrupted? Maybe if you take them away from each other when you don't want the ewes bred, and then put them back together, it will give them time to forget about it and break up that behavior.


The dog will still Harrass the ewes even if I take the ram away :/  right now we have the dog tethered in the pasture because he bothers everyone when he is lose.


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## Baymule (Sep 29, 2019)

Maybe he needs to lose his nuts, no hormones and he might get the idea.


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## secuono (Sep 29, 2019)

Could get an ecollar and hide. Couple well timed zaps might do the trick.


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## WolfeMomma (Sep 29, 2019)

I will say, he never did this until the ram started humping him. He won't tell the ram not to, I'm at a loss. I feel like if the dog told the ram off that maybe it would stop? I agree with the shock collar. We are definitely looking at that.


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## Beekissed (Sep 29, 2019)

If none of the sheep or dog is getting injured, maybe it's one of those things to just leave alone?   Intact animals are going to hump something sooner or later, especially if they can't satisfy their breeding urges in a normal manner.  

My dog would lick the sheep also, but since he was neutered, nothing went any further.


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## WolfeMomma (Sep 30, 2019)

Beekissed said:


> If none of the sheep or dog is getting injured, maybe it's one of those things to just leave alone?   Intact animals are going to hump something sooner or later, especially if they can't satisfy their breeding urges in a normal manner.
> 
> My dog would lick the sheep also, but since he was neutered, nothing went any further.


I would love to have him neutered. My husband doesn't agree with me


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## Beekissed (Sep 30, 2019)

WolfeMomma said:


> I would love to have him neutered. My husband doesn't agree with me



I wish I hadn't neutered my LGD...he became scared of loud noises afterward and it renders him nigh useless during hunting season and any season in which we have thunderstorms.  

I have to keep him on a dog run during those times and he can't really, effectively guard anything when tied.  

From now on, no more neutering of LGDs for me, even if they hump the sheep every day, as long as he isn't hurting any of them he'll just have to be a weird dog.


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## Baymule (Sep 30, 2019)

Both of my Great Pyrenees were terrified of thunder and were intact. I had the male neutered last year to get his brain off romancing the neighborhood. I also spayed the female. IMO it is a toss up. I feel that unless you have an outstanding specimen of the breed, spay and neuter is a good option. I had a Great Dane/Labrador that was neutered young, before we got him, he was never afraid. So sometimes that doesn't really matter. We now have another Great Dane/Labrador, he's a year old, in a few months he will be neutered.


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## Mike CHS (Sep 30, 2019)

Both of our herding dogs (one female, one male) are fixed and it hasn't made a difference.  The female is spacey but she was spacey before she got fixed.  The male is as intense (if not more now) than he was before.  They are both gun shy but not terribly so.


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## Beekissed (Sep 30, 2019)

Do you think the LGD breed's ears are so very sensitive that it's just a "thing" with them?   Why in the world would big, brave dogs have such an irrational fear if it weren't something to do with hearing sensitivity?


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## AmberRaif (Oct 2, 2019)

We have found having a second LGD to provide dog companionship has really helped our young dogs to direct their romancing in the right direction (at least species related). The male LGD occasionally looks/licks at the does when they are in heat but directs his humping to our spayed female GP, who puts him in his place quickly. He is not yet nuetered, only being 10 months old, and I wouldn't be surprised if we have some trouble ahead of us with him as he continues to mature, but our 2 year old GP is a very attentive trainer and he responds to her beautifully! 

She is spayed, was spayed young at six months old. She is a scaredy cat of storms and fireworks, but her fear drives her to protect her goats. She'll take them to the barn with her, get them inside and then block the door, standing in the door with her warning bark going strong (during firework display. With storms she just hides with the goats. Apparently thunder is scary, but not threatening like fireworks.) We love our GP...she amazes us with her communication with the goats, training our young male (Anatolian Shepherd Pyr mixed with something else...but his behavior is true to the Anatolian breed, we are so relieved. He was a gamble).  Anyway...I'm still new (2 years in) to LGDs...but for us having the team of two has really provided a great outlet for both of them and spaying hasn't affected our girl's willingness to guard her herd or her ability to be dominant over the young male.


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## Blue Sky (Oct 2, 2019)

Off topic but before and after thunderstorms dogs can receive multiple shocks as static electricity builds up in their environment and fur. They seek grounded areas bathrooms, cellars or enclosed areas. Add noise and I’ll bet a sensitive dog is pretty miserable. Some recommend wiping them down with a dryer sheet but I wouldn’t. Maybe a damp towel or misting.


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## Baymule (Oct 2, 2019)

Let a rumble of far off thunder that I can't even hear, and Trip is clawing at the door to get in. He will go into total panic in a storm and always has. I have got up at night and ran outside in the rain to let him out so he can run to the house. Paris, our female huddles up in her dog house. She freaks out even more if she is in the house. Sometimes it's about letting them be who they are.


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## Beekissed (Oct 2, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Let a rumble of far off thunder that I can't even hear, and Trip is clawing at the door to get in. He will go into total panic in a storm and always has. I have got up at night and ran outside in the rain to let him out so he can run to the house. Paris, our female huddles up in her dog house. She freaks out even more if she is in the house. Sometimes it's about letting them be who they are.



Ben runs right through his electric system and heads out to the wild blue yonder...doesn't matter what direction.   When he doesn't have a partner, he usually just runs to the house or the front yard/porch, but with a partner to follow him, he runs for anywhere...everywhere.   I've recovered them 13 mi. from home as the car drives, because they crossed a river and cut through uninhabited forest land as the crow flies...or as the dog runs.  

This past weekend he ran again but this time I think he may have been hit by a car, as he's all stoved up and sore, unable to move without pain.  Some Aleve got him on his feet and moving again today but he'll have to have it for a bit until he can work out this stiffness and soreness.  

Do I think that will teach him anything?  Nope.  He'll run again if I can't get him tied before thunder or a distant gun shot happens...and I'm not always here.  

I wish he would just hunker down and hide or run to a certain structure...anything but taking off for the wild blue yonder.   It WILL get him killed eventually, as he will be hit on the roads or a neighbor will kill him for being on their land, especially in hunting season.


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## Baymule (Oct 2, 2019)

Trip would probably run too, but the fence slows him down. The house,  under the porch or on the porch is his safe place. 

With Ben running like that, no wonder you are against neuter. Trip was intact until the fence just couldn't contain him for the female dogs in the neighborhood being in heat. He finally pissed me off and off they came!


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## WolfeMomma (Oct 3, 2019)

We have him tethered in the sheep pasture, that way my ewes and ram can get away from him when he gets to "humpy" for lack of a better term I'm hoping that he will eventually get over this. I hide and let him off his tether and the first thing he does is runs out to the sheep grazing and starts licking and trying to hump, For now, his life will consist of being tethered during the day while the sheep are out. He is free to roam around at night.


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