Dogs causing Problems.

rachk89 said:
There is nothing to say in the law that dogs must stay silent for their entire life.
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My son and I were returning home on a hack in early evening, we had just gone past the builders fencing with green and blue tarpaulin tied to it which has replaced about 20 metres of a neighbours hedge alongside the single track road, when his dogs suddenly leapt at his padlocked gate, we know the dogs are there and have ridden past many times usually with no or minimal issues, and usually I am prepared, except this time I wasn't! My mare jumped a kerb and galloped for home until I brought her to a stop. My son caught up with me and we continued on.....and then heard it.... toenails on tarmac behind us.... three of the 4 Rhodesian Ridgebacks had escaped and followed us, despite being really quite concerned (major understatement!!!), we both turned our horses around to face the dogs (who were now about 10m behind us and totally silent) they stopped, looked and then turned around heading for home.
 
serenityjane said:
My son and I were returning home on a hack in early evening, we had just gone past the builders fencing with green and blue tarpaulin tied to it which has replaced about 20 metres of a neighbours hedge alongside the single track road, when his dogs suddenly leapt at his padlocked gate, we know the dogs are there and have ridden past many times usually with no or minimal issues, and usually I am prepared, except this time I wasn't! My mare jumped a kerb and galloped for home until I brought her to a stop. My son caught up with me and we continued on.....and then heard it.... toenails on tarmac behind us.... three of the 4 Rhodesian Ridgebacks had escaped and followed us, despite being really quite concerned (major understatement!!!), we both turned our horses around to face the dogs (who were now about 10m behind us and totally silent) they stopped, looked and then turned around heading for home.
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I ain't sure what your point is? What does this have to do with me saying there is no law stating dogs must stay silent?
 
serenityjane said:
Just that silent dogs can be scary too........
As well as the fact that any horse can be frightened at any time.. even the smug dog proof ones!
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But your horses were chased not just barked at. Yeah they can be scary at any time i mean my horse just has to see one in a totally non threatening way and he gets scared. Hell if he sees a cat he gets scared now. Funnily enough big dogs arent a problem only small ones. But the op was on about dogs only barking not chasing.
 
Am I the only one who says 'woof woof' before we pass a house that I know has dog/s in it who may come along the fenceline/gate and bark etc.? I found this actually seemed to help my idiot WBx at times not be so worried when the then expected dog did turn up barked etc... It eventually got to the point that he actually got disappointed if the dog didn't come out to spook him!
 
The yard cat said hello to my horse tonight. I'm quite impressed that the horse didn't back away and just seemed interested. The cat was totally unconcerned. Minor, I know, but we had major spooks at a cat one time, so I'm pleased, the education continues! (He's not a youngster, we've just never really encountered cats til this yard)
 
Pedantic said:
I tend to keep forgetting how many smug foofs there are on here, so many with perfect horse's, all must be a wonder to behold, let us all bow down and kiss your feet in admiration whilst chanting were not worthy were not worthy, smug orphans.
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Noone else is saying that their horses are perfect they just don't blame other people when they have an issue.
 
XxCoriexX said:
Noone else is saying that their horses are perfect they just don't blame other people when they have an issue.
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Quite, come on guys, if these dogs are fenced in you have no reason to complain; in doing this you are only putting more people against riders and horses!
 
We have to go through a farm and they have two GSDs in the house garden that always run all the way round, barking and throwing themselves on the fence. I have inane conversations with my horse about how silly the dogs are, how they know we come through all the time and how we aren't going to steal anything. I also say hello to the dogs. They are always the same but they are guard dogs, it is their job. I must sound like a bit of an idiot but it helps my youngster not worry about them.
 
Anyone following me would think I was a total nutter, we say hello to any potential hazards all the time- " Hello sheep, swans, pheasants, people up ladders, people in gardens, stones (large decorative boulder types), sheep feeders, silage bales/bags, fallen branches, dogs, walkers, runners, cyclists, people making a bonfire/ welding/ concrete mixing", the more hidden they are, the louder I speak-seems to work and I reckon they just think I am a friendly nutter!! My son usually hates riding with me, especially if we are in company!!!
 
Jnhuk said:
Am I the only one who says 'woof woof' before we pass a house that I know has dog/s in it who may come along the fenceline/gate and bark etc.? I found this actually seemed to help my idiot WBx at times not be so worried when the then expected dog did turn up barked etc... It eventually got to the point that he actually got disappointed if the dog didn't come out to spook him!
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No, I do this. I also cluck like a chicken, brrr like a chain saw and baa like a sheep. In fact the sheep one has got me into trouble when I passed a garden with orphan lambs. I bleated like them, and they ran at us like I was their long lost mother!
 
It is a common problem and one that needs repetition and positive riding. At my old yard, it was impossible to go for a 40 minute hack without encountering at least three sets of what we used to call "ninja dogs", shouting their heads off and running at the fence. The worse were a pair of silent huskys who only let rip just as you were level with their pedestrian gate. The horses soon got used to it but we generally waited for a gap in the traffic before passing, just in case.

At my current yard, we have a ninja dog next door which has a habit of appearing at head height and they have got used to that too. The grey pony and Shetland up the road are quite scary, but nowhere near as scary as the bullocks that suddenly appear in a new field. We call each new challenge "handy pony training" and the end result is not spook-proof bombproof horses but horses that trust us enough to cope in scary situations. We topped the lot last week when our road to the next village was unexpectedly closed for fibre cable laying. The nice man at the roadworks said we could go through so we hacked past cones, barriers, diggers, men down holes who were shouting, weird cable laying machinery etc and had a lovely hack with no traffic after the roadworks.

My point is that handy pony training pays off in all sorts of situations. We purposely face our horses with challenging situations and ask them to cope and they do. They are not perfect (so I am not smug Pedantic): I still end up cantering on the road every time the farm dogs chase us (they chase us on the road) but the reaction is less severe and shorter, I am prepared for it and my horse knows he's being a wuss. He still over-reacts to shooting and gas guns too, but we have toned it down from a complete panicked meltdown to a two-inch "jump" when one goes off.

Get some help and, if need be, someone to stop the traffic and work through it. Even if the owner of the mastiffs moved away next week, the next owner might have pigs or llamas or something even more scary - would you still blame them if your friend's horse couldn't cope?
 
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