Goat and Dog introduction, what's the best way?

[willowgem]

With two ND kids coming home in a couple weeks, I'm a little nervous about how my three dogs will react to them, and vise-versa.
I have a Rottie mix (sweet, gentle girl), a Husky/Basset mix (he's the one I'm most concerned about, very high prey drive), and a Chihuahua mix (hopefully he won't yap them to death...LOL)

What would be the best way to introduce them, without stressing the kids?
With them being taking from their moms, and coming to a strange new place, I was thinking of waiting a few days before doing the intro, so they aren't thrown everything all at once.
The dogs would be taken, one at a time and on a leash, into the goat pen for introductions. How does that sound?
Any other advice and tips would be greatly appreciated.

And no need to worry, the dogs will NEVER, EVER be alone with the goats unsupervised.

 

[20kidsonhill]

It sounds to me like you have a good grasp on the subject. We have three dogs, that come in the field with us. Our goats are used to them, but bring home a new goat that hasn't been exposed to dog(s) and they are terrified. Plus you have to deal with your dogs, not knowing what to do with a goat. Mine know for sure they aren't lunch, nor toys and no chasing allowed.

 

[Teeah3612]

Sounds like your plan is a good one. Introduce them one at a time. You will know which dogs are okay with the goats and which are not. My Husky/St. Bernard mix is great with the babies and watches over them. My son's mutt puppy on the other hand wants to play with them. The problem with that is he is twice as big as full grown ND and doesn't know his own strength. The Yorkie just ignores them.

Please always watch them though. I have a rescue pygmy goat that had his front legs mutilated by the previous owners rottweiler. He may still end up losing one of his legs because it just won't heal right. The other leg is deformed, but he can walk on it and the hair grew back.

 

[Chirpy]

I would also be holding the goats on your lap when you introduce them to the dogs. That way you are impressing on the dogs that they belong to you.

Let the dogs sniff them making sure you are completely relaxed so the babies don't feel you tensing and become afraid through your fear of something happening. Also, if you are afraid, the dogs will pick that up and believe that they should be worried about these new little things.

 

[CocoNUT]

Definitely keep the dogs on a leash! We just brought a new goat home who hadn't been exposed to a dog. Our two goats were used to our dog's constant sniffing and play. The new goat kid is quite cautious and although he's getting more used to our dog...he still doesn't "trust" him. Our dog on the other hand, is still quite curious about the new goat and is constantly trying to sniff him.

Good luck! Just watch them closely.

 

[willowgem]

I haven't updated this since I brought my boys home, but things didn't go as well as I had imagined in my mind.
We were all going to be frolicking in the yard together...riiiight!!

My Chi mix loves the goats, and they don't mind him at all...except when he gets overly excited and starts with the yapping. I bring him in the goat pen occasionally, he's more interested in eating and rolling in goat poop, than anything else.
The other two dogs would probably do some major harm to the goats if they were able to get at them.
We have the Invisible Fence for the dogs, and had to have it extended around the pen so the dogs couldn't get to it, as they were chewing on the wire and trying to dig under the pen, in an attempt to get to the goats.
Now they can only get within 10 feet of the pen, and since then they've seemed to calm down.
I need to start introductions, so I've ordered cage muzzles for the two bigger dogs, I'm still waiting on the delivery and hope they take well to them.
I want to make 100% sure that the goats will not be harmed when they meet the dogs up close and personal.

If anyone has any other tips to help make this go smoothly, I sure would appreciate it...I want us to be one big happy family, with dogs AND goats in the yard.

 

[RoeDylanda]

Good luck with this. It sounds like you're being super responsible, and that's 85% of it. I have no advice for you-- our dog is totally submissive to the goats. But I'll be thinking of you and wishing you well.

 

[ksalvagno]

We simply just keep dogs and goats separate. It sounds like you are being very responsible about the process and hope it works out for you. Will it be a problem if it never works out? You will probably always have to be there when goats and dogs are together no matter how long they have been getting along.

 

[SheepGirl]

Don't really have much advice to offer...my dogs pretty much ignore the sheep, unless I tell the one to "give the kitty kisses!"

But seriously, if my dog goes in the sheep pen, I would be more concerned about the sheep hurting her/ramming into her than her hurting the sheep (of course she's a little dog, too).

 

[eweinHiscare]

Your plan seems to be right , it's the breed mix of the dogs that will mean they should never be left alone with the goats.

You can be the best trainer in the world but your dogs are just not bred for the mental place of being trustworthy like a Livestock Guardian dog.

So keeping the dogs unable to get to the goats whenever you are not there is your best plan. What can go wrong is visitors leaving a gate or something unlatched and then
leaving, with you not knowing about it.

I have a dog who is very obedient when he is with me and I've had him loose in the pasture with me and the goats.
But his first introduction was on leash just as you did, I took him out there a number of times on leash and we walked the perimeter.

The goats came up to sniff him, and now accept him and don't run away scared. That is good because it doesn't trigger a chase response in my dog.

Now my dog ignores the goats and just goes off looking for squirrels when we are out there. But he is never out there without me,
he is a medium size dog, a mixed breed with Spitz and something else.