Dogs and horses

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Lucy_Nottingham

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MOst people on here, sound like they take their dogs to go see their horses on the yard etc

How do your dogs behave around the horses?
My collie insists on jumping up at the horses heads etc not trying to nip just tryin to get a sniff and a hello sort of thing, but obv the horses dont like this!

So how would you stop him from doing this please?

Thanks!
 
I have my horses at home and I have wire around the permiter so dogs can't go in paddocks unless I take them in with me which I do quite often. My dogs just seem to give the horses a wide berth, it isn't something I taught them, they just do it.

When I have the horses in the stable area, the dogs just don't come in, if they do I just say "out" and they go out. The dogs have been around the horses from puppies so whether it just not that big a deal to them I don't know.
 
beau has been introduced to horses from being little itty bitty when I first got him.
And he has always wanted to geti ntheir face to say hello! (arse! even to my 17.2hh WBxID who was less than impressed!)

but this easter he tried to come in the stbale when I was getting a cob ready for the show and the cob (who is a heavyweight!) kicked out at him, and I can understand why the horse did it! but I was scared beau might get hurt! (he was tied up but stretch into the stable!)

I dont want to have to end up constantly telling him offo n the yard for jumping up at horses, as he isnt nosey just stupidly overly friendly!!! and obviously I dont want to stress the horses out with him, or get him kicked! but its not feasible to leave him at home (as the yard is 30mins away!)
 
we take my OH's family dog Toby (choc lab) to the stables with us every weekend. He loves it!!

He jumps up at the horses faces when they have their heads over the stable door and it sends him loopy when they blow on him!!!

He has been kicked by Tony Pony, the shetland, but it was a lesson learned and he stays away from their back ends now! He is very responsive to voice commands anyway so if we call him he stops dead and comes back to us.
 
My dogs are very respectful, they've meet horses from early ages, but have never had to be told to avoid them and not get to close. They keep a good distance, but are not scared. If they come to close or get in the way i can just tell them to back off and they'll move away from us.

My puppy had to be tied up to start with as she kept getting to close to one of ours, who loves anything small! So she didn't understand when he wanted to play and she would get worried and run off. So now she keeps a distance to stop him trying to interact.

Have you tried spraying with water when he goes to jump up at them?
 
Mine have always naturally been good around horses. Luck I suppose, and I have never made a big deal of it. They are expected to behave whilst I get on with things. I would have to say if one of mine tried that though it would get a bloomin good bollocking even if it was just trying to play.
I think it would be best to maybe be a bit firmer ( I know it's horrid at the time as they are not intentionally being bad ) and try the strong NO command or spraying water can work.
What is she like with your forceful commands?

I used to have a naughty Dalmation that insisted on going through legs or sniffing behind the back legs so I got a lunge whip and gave him a little crack, so he thought it was the horse , because basically he had no knowledge that if he got kicked it would hurt. He was very close to getting kicked by this point and I did it a couple of times and then the penny dropped.
 
When I had my horse my dogs were 10 yrs old and they were terriers, and never really got used to being around them, one of them got trodden on and ended up with a broken leg. Where as now I have got my daughter a pony yrs on and my 1st lab was 9 months when we got the pony and she was chased once in a field and since had had huge respect for horses, now I have 2 lab pups, which I bred so they have been around horses from the start, but basically useless untill 9-10 months before that they were in and out of horses legs, just too dangerous, they had to stayed tied up, just as they hit 10 months, they are great now around cars and horses.
 
Cyberchick, no i am very firm with him when he jumps up, as is my boyfriend and mum when they handle him if I am working with horses and they are on puppy duty. he either gets a sharp tug down on the lead to get him down and a hard NO! or he gets scruffed down and a firm NO!
however, my darling collie is a stubborn pig headed little bugger, and after 2 minutes will try again!

I read someone recommendation somewhere to fill one of the lemon shaped lemon juice squeezers with water (once empty obv) and use that as it is concealable! unfortuantly my dog is not bothered by water!! so would it just be the shock of it that stops him?

I just dont want him to get injured as I dont do small delicate horses!!! My WBxID just put up with him (put tried to bite once) but the cob now is just totally intollerant....

As these are not my horses (they are riding school ones that I ride and compete) I don't want to do anything that will upset the horses, and cant really let beau out in fields with them to give him a quick chase to sort it..... (same with sheep! if I had rams, hed learn to leave sheep alone too!)

Damn stubborn puppy! he is only 9mnths old, so I am hoping he will grow out of it, but obv I want to make this clear from the word go as something that is not acceptable!
 
My dog is completely intolerant of any large animal. Horses, cows, etc she goes mad at. As it is I don't have a horse at present, but will make it difficult should i return to horses...
 
My two have only ever seen a horse out of a car window and they both went mad...mine are intolerant of anything they deem a rapidly disappearing projectile
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I have the opposite a mild mannered dog and a pony who chases him. I can't have them in the same area and no-one can give advice as to how to stop this pony.
 
The water is a shock thing, my girls love water. But my youngest had a BIG habit for jumping up at you when greating, something we've never encouraged but she done it anyway. Getting higher and harder as she grew up.

One of my trainers sugested this, and i thought that will never work... i tried the rattle bottle, that didn't work! But it has, she still thinks about it, but chooses not to jump as of what used to happen (being sprayed in the face with water). So its worth a try... you never know.
 
Can you not do it physically or is he too wriggly? My boy had a horrible habit of jumping at people - he did it with his breeder once, the breeder just took hold of his muzzle and pushed him gently back down on the ground again.

I tried it too, it works and if he looks as if he is going to leap at me I just have to cover his head with my outstretched hand or tap him on the top of his muzzle and he knows there is no point.

ETA: Combine that with a 'no' or 'ah-ah' or 'leave' for remote control situations!
 
My dog went through a stage of jumping up at people to greet them but sometimes could bowl you over if you were not ready. This was a problem when my friends came over and one of them was pregnant. The general rollocking wasn't working but this did
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/best.buy.cheap.pet-corrector-dog-training-spray-21/detail/B001F40O38

and she responded very well to this (2 or 3 times I had to use it) although she is a bit sensitive and I think if I used this near my horse he would probably cry but it is another idea to hold onto.
 
Evie our GSD puppy is a bit like this with horses. I think its probably a bit down to me, as when she was a pup I would carry her round and let her go nose to nose with the horses, and now at 10 months she seems to think that horses are just big dogs to play with
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. Luckily she has plenty of space to run around without going in the field with the horses, but if she manages to get past me when I'm feeding or have the horses on the yard she just barrels up to them, no fear whatsoever. Can't really give you any advice, as we are just hoping that when Evie gets over her hyperactive teenager stage (IF she gets over it!
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) she will stop chasing anything that moves.
 
its kind of nice knowing others have the same problem!!! sometimes I feel like OMG everyones dogs are SO well behaved and mine is just a MONSTER!!! lol, I know he isn't but you know what feeling I mean?!??

I will try the water spray then and see if that works!

For hte jumping up, I got told that if they jump up just turn away, if tey come up at you again, turn away or walk off if they jump at your back, and shut the door between you for a few minutes then return......... worked for mine (most of the time.....) then obv reward them when they are all 4 on the floor!
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Lucy...he is not a monster...he is just nine months old and being the responsible owner you are, you are always eager to come on here and seek advice - don't feel bad - I've had GSDs my whole life, mine will be two in September and every day is still a learning curve (Bodo's current obsession is the yellow forestry van!)
 
Most definitley you are not alone and he is not a monster at all, just a lively cheeky pup. Sometimes when I talk about my dogs they actually sound a lot better than they are sometimes, now ask me about whining and attention seeking and pinching food then I am as exasperated as you lol.
And dont let me forget my old naughty dog that used to take himself on longer walks than I wanted and the game keeper used to bring him back on a regular basis threatening to shoot him next time he found him on his fields (he loved him really as he never did shoot him.
 
Thank you guys!
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(**blushes**)

Nah Beau is good, like we dont have the constant attnetion seeking, or separation anxiety, he is so good in the house (most of the time....) that when we go out and we have the odd problem, it always seems to stand out more!! (if that makes sense?)

Cyberchick, wow bet your glad he didnt shoot him!!! Luckily beau only goes so far then goes c**p! Im a bit far away here, and will (normally) come back......... noramlly....... unless there is another dog!!! How stupid is that?! he left sheep, but wont leave a dog to come back to me?!!! retard! lol (but not a bad thing!!! he wont get shot for playing with a dog!)

And thank you happy_hack, I like coming on here as everyone is really supportive and got good advice!
 
I am extremely lucky, although I didn't get Otto until he was 5 months old, one of the few things he had learnt about was horses.
His breeder also bred Welsh Cobs, so Otto had clearly learnt respect long before he met my horse.

Hen hates dogs (he has a scarred throat which looks distinctly like a dog bite) however he is tolerant once he gets to know them. Him and Otto are wary enough of each other that I have no problems.

Otto comes in the stable with me to muck out and they are fine! Although my stable is around 30x20!!
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