Introducing Pup to Horses

[Faro]

I guess this subject has already been covered before, but the search function always bombs out on me when I try to use it, so I'm simply going to ask the question again.

What's the best way to introduce a new pup to horses?

We have just re-homed a 6 month old rough coated lurcher pup from a resuce (only picked him up on Sunday). So far, he's only seen the horses in the field, in the dark, two evenings in a row, and has been quite rigid with fear of them (OH has held pup in his arms while letting pup sniff horses and vice versa) and only for a couple of minutes. My guess is that pup has never seen anything like a horse before.

I am sure that all will be fine given time to get used to them, but meanwhile, if anyone has any advice/tips, it would be much appreciated.

(I guess meeting them in daylight and seeing them properly at some point might help too!)

Thanks in anticipation

Faro

 

[Spudlet]

I would start outside the field I think, walk him up and down and let him have a look from whatever distance he feels comfortable with. Lots of praise when he is calm, but remember not to reassure him if he's scared, as to him that reinforces his fear. Then you can work your way in closer in time. I wouldn't carry him over as for him that takes away his sense of control IYSWIM - if you're carrying him over, he can't run away which is potentially scary for him. Having him on his feet (on a lead of course as you want to maintain control) might make him feel more comfortable.

We do something similar in puppy class - if the horses come over and watch the class (there are four in the next door field) I make a point of getting the owners to take their puppies over, encouraging them to reward calm behaviour and moving away again if the puppies are apprehensive or overly excitable. I also encourage owners to go to places like horse sanctuaries open to the public and walk their puppies next to the fields, so they get used to horses and stop seeing them as something scary or super-exciting.

Hope this helps

 

[ladyt25]

I shall be facing the same issue after this weekend when I pick my rescue up in Saturday. I am going to try to leave it for as long as possible I think, until she's settled a bit more before taking her to see the horses as she's quite an anxious little soul and her way of dealing with this is to bark which I don't want to encourage!

I think a lot depends on the dog - I wouldn't 'protect' the dog as such or smother them, just let them investigate on their own terms (on a lead obviously!) and reassure if they do seem nervous and be ready to remove the dog from the situation if they are too reactive. Most of our dogs we have had over the years have just generally respected the horses and most of the time stayed well away to start off with.