Dog and cows

Wellyboots6

aliasojo wrote: »

Yeah right, any excuse. :rotfl:

It would all be with the aim of dog training, honest!

Raksha

If using an extending lead, remember they are best used with a harness, not an ordinary collar, and def not a choke chain.

vax2002

Raksha wrote: »

If using an extending lead, remember they are best used with a harness, not an ordinary collar, and def not a choke chain.

Harnesses are for dog lovers, plus when off lead they double up as a grab point if another dog approaches.

On The cows, Dont let your dog run wild in privately owned fields, it will get shot.

Sally_A

We've all had our Benson/Benton/Fenton moments. My 2 showed no interest in cattle whatsoever, until a couple of calves went scampering by, which they chased, followed by a whole herd of angry Mums. Unbeknown to me, the cows that were originally 2 fields away, had full access and no gates between them and 5 fields plus the woods, which is where they go for the evening.

At the time I was clambering over a pile of 8ft high hedge cuttings and sawing off beansticks.

Luckily the dogs came back on recall, and no harm done.

I then trained them to have a 2nd recall command, the usual call back was not urgent enough, so a shrill pip-pip-pip noise was taught, to mean get back here quicker, being high pitched it also caught their hearing.

Another thing, I notice if owners get into trouble with their dogs and livestock, they walk towards the livestock - the dog thinks "Great, here's my pack leader coming to join in the fun" Best thing you can do is run away - doing the pip-pip-pip urgent recall; to get them away from the situation.

If you are unsure of your dogs reaction to livestock, if you are fortunate enough to know the local farmer, he may let you go into a field of cows outside the breeding season, so late autumn/early winter. The farmer is no fool, and he knows darn well that if the dog hassles the cattle too much they will kick the dog - it's almost unheard of that the cow will lose against a family pet. So do this at your own risk!!

Dogs and sheep are a completely different ball game, farmers are much more likely to shoot a dog hassling sheep than cows. If it's in their breed they will want to round up sheep, so that's collies for rounding up, and GSD's for flock protection - farmers tend to know this, so it's the other breeds that have to be more mindful.

Do not overdo the urgent recall, or it will just be watered down into basic recall.

pawsies

I wouldn't recommend an extending leash, a normal leash would be much better.

Extending leashes are the bane of my life. I can never tell if a dog is wearing one and so my dog needs to be leashed 'incase'. Imagine how a farmer would feel, plus if the cows came near you, your dog could hog tie them up with the leash- causing serious damage and some angrier cows!

calicocat

Cows are dangerous.

I have seen people attacked (wrong word?)..by cows , I have been 'herded' into corners of fields by them,uncle had them and seen his run at people. This whole 'they are just curious' thing is al load of rubbish.

Certainly doesn't have to be a bull in the field. First thing I always did at the sight of one was so grab my dog (which obviously you couldn't do in this situation).

Uncle rekons it's to do with age and if ready to mate , and they put a whole bunch in one field at a time ready to mate and once one is they all tend to follow..often with bull in next field to get the whole thing going.


I have seen a cow pin a bloke down an kneel on him ,lucky to get out with broken ribs.


I wouldn't feel bad.....but maybe best to avoid that route if you can in future , and my previous GSD wouldn't have given it another thought once away so sure yours will be fine(I am assuming that this isn't a public footpath)

Wellyboots6

It was a public footpath, which is a bit worrying as the cows are known to be dangerous!

I had been told if you get ran at by cows to let the dog go, as it is the dog they are after rather than the person and the dog would stand more chance of getting away than a person would.

I just don't trust cows!

krlyr

Dogs don't do that well at generalising so give the fake cows a try but don't expect much of a reaction. Even taking a dog to one group of cows can elicit a different response to coming across them on a different walk, or the same cows doing different behaviour. I used to live next to a farm and mine would ignore the cows in the fields next to us if they were all stood still grazing, but if they were moving around in a herd then the dogs definately needed to be kept on-lead. Livestock in different areas were much more intriguing and I never risk it, even when they're stationary.
Personally, mine aren't off-lead until I've done a complete loop of the field/area to check that the fencing is secure, there's no hard-to-spot exits straight out onto roads, there's no livestock, etc. so this could be a lesson learned, the scary way. Rather than an extending lead, you might want to consider a longline, easier to 'reel in' a dog quickly when needed. You can get a lightweight one with no handle at the end, preferably with a few knots along the length, and then just let it trail around on the floor behind him - you can easier grab it without turning it into a game of chase (which is almost guaranteed to happens when you *need* to recall the dog urgently!). Just remember to keep a carrier bag in your pocket for the longline once it's wet/dirty/been dragged through a fresh cowpat!
There are quite a few recall workshops that will deal with recall around livestock, might be worth considering but it is something that will cost you a bit of money when you could just manage the issue with a longline. You might want to perhaps work on the "look at that" and "watch me" commands with him, they can prove handy in this kind of situation. Not really to stop the herding but to improve his concentration on you when you've got him on-lead so you're not dragging him across the field while you're passing the cows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POprQmrJ2Bc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuV3MOvvyr4&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHLvt6TQzqA

Wellyboots6

I have got a longline but tend not to use it due to the cow pat issue you mentioned!

May be worth digging it out again though

He is learning 'watch me' at the moment but absolutely hates it. Persevering though, think it will take some time

krlyr

One good tip with the "watch me", if the dog is nervous, is to focus on his nose when you're watching for eye contact rather than staring right into his eyes. Someone told me it once so I started doing it with Casper and he did much better than we'd previously been managing!