YO's dog leaping up and snapping horses faces :(

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Flyingsolo

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YO has new dog. Been around for a few months. They regularly do my horse for me so I'm only there when said dog is not really out.
However, recently I arrived down the yard to find YO pottering about doing a few things and dog out with her.
I was absolutely horrified at what I saw.
YO dog spent quite a lot of time leaping up at the horses in their stables and snapping at their muzzles, dog is not small so can get a fair height when jumping up.
He then proceeded to do it to the couple of horses who were tied up on the yard.
Horses obviously snap their heads up and back to avoid the dog making contact.
I mentioned it and YO responded with 'yes fido is naughty!'
Am horrified that this is being allowed and the dog is being left unchecked and loose while behaving in this manner. I didn't see him make contact but I guess that doesn't mean he hasn't in the past or that he won't in the future.
What do others think?
 
I wouldn't be very happy - I am a dog lover but their teeth can cause alot of damage.

I'd having a casual chat with the YO over a brew and just state your concerns, they are reasonable.

At the end of the day though, you can't make your YO put the dog on a lead or train the dog to stop so I suppose it depends on if you would leave the yard if YO won't do anything about it.
 
This sounds like an accident waiting to happen- have any other liveries witnessed the dog's behaviour? If i were in your shoes i would let the YO know that you are concerned about her dogs behaviour and that either a horse or her dog is going to be injured. 'naughty dog' is not an excusable or satisfactory response and if she can't see the danger their i would question her ability to look after the horses in her care. If she didn't address the dogs behaviour or keep it off the yard i would move.It's totally unacceptable
 
This is a serious problem; I used to be on a yard where one of the YO's dogs did this and split a horse's lip badly, needing stitches etc. After that the dog was always muzzled when on the yard, which is a straightforward enough solution but the dog also needs training. If it were mine I would use an electric collar as although that is a bit harsh, the current situation is very dangerous, for the dog and the horses.

If she wouldn't be willing to train the dog I would leave if you are often on the yard when the dog is out and it's causing an issue.
 
It wouldn't take long to train the dog to stop but sadly I think YO lacks the ability or lacks the understanding that it's wrong. It may take an accident to bring it home to her and a vet bill !!!
 
Tash88 said:
This is a serious problem; I used to be on a yard where one of the YO's dogs did this and split a horse's lip badly, needing stitches etc. After that the dog was always muzzled when on the yard, which is a straightforward enough solution but the dog also needs training. If it were mine I would use an electric collar as although that is a bit harsh, the current situation is very dangerous, for the dog and the horses.

If she wouldn't be willing to train the dog I would leave if you are often on the yard when the dog is out and it's causing an issue.
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Crikey! there are much more effective ( and less cruel) ways to train a dog or any animal for that matter than using electocution! It is simple- either properly train the dog to behave sensibly around horses or leave it in the house or kennel while doing yard jobs.
 
I would be mortified if I caught my dog doing this once, let alone all the time. There's no place for a dog like that on a stableyard, until such a time as it has been trained not to do that. Mine would be tied up/shut in a stable/on a lead if I couldn't trust him to behave round the horses - luckily he's as good as gold, other than occasionally spooking the senile one, just by existing!
 
Poor horses having to tolerate that in their own spaces. I wouldn't be happy at all, especially if it's a regular occurance. One day be dog could well cause some real damage.
 
We had a dog that "played" (according to the owner) like this. One of the horses played back ... Dog needed to have her leg amputated and was lucky to recover at all.
 
The farm our livery yard is on has a collie that regularly 'helps' to catch the horses - ie by snapping at their heels. Not only is she going to get herself hurt soon, but as the horses often take off at a gallop I can see a situation where someone out catching gets trampled. Its really, really frustrating.

My horse is quite kicky around small dogs that get under her feet and I've seen people glare at her and drag their yappy dogs away as if its her fault. One day she is going to catch one and no doubt it will be me leaving the yard and not the dog owner.
 
Use 'Humour' and shot at the dog.. ''if you bite my horse, your mother will be paying the vet bill - and 'x' (horses name) therapy treatment''

Or....

Shout at the dog - ''if my horse (or use horses name) bites you back - or kicks you'' don't come crying to me....

The YO WILL GET THE MESSAGE...

I'm still shocked reading this - your YO must be a real idiot to allow such behaviour !
 
Tash88 said:
This is a serious problem; I used to be on a yard where one of the YO's dogs did this and split a horse's lip badly, needing stitches etc. After that the dog was always muzzled when on the yard, which is a straightforward enough solution but the dog also needs training. If it were mine I would use an electric collar as although that is a bit harsh, the current situation is very dangerous, for the dog and the horses.

If she wouldn't be willing to train the dog I would leave if you are often on the yard when the dog is out and it's causing an issue.
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Well a muzzle does not stop the dog jumping at the horses face so solves nothing, a horse can still injure itself or the dig with an instinctive reaction, the horse will also still become headshy round dogs.
Electric collar, great solution not! an electric shock around horses heads for some dogs will just created aggression aimed at the back end rather than playing at the front- neither is acceptable.
My rescue dog likes to lick horses muzzles, horses don't like it so she is not allowed to do it- I don't take her to the yard and when I did she was on lead.
 
oof, this used to drive me nuts-woman I used to share a yard with let her collies do this all the time. they never did any physical harm but contributed to my old horse becoming so sour towards dogs I couldnt have them anywhere near him in the end, even my own depsite him knowing him from a pup.

she also though it fine for same collies to jump up at my disabled and autistic step daughter (we lived on site-apparently I am not a 'dog' person). Even if a dog doesn't make contact, a horse can still damge its head by flinging it out of the way-or do major damage to a dogs head.
 
twiggy2 said:
Well a muzzle does not stop the dog jumping at the horses face so solves nothing, a horse can still injure itself or the dig with an instinctive reaction, the horse will also still become headshy round dogs.
Electric collar, great solution not! an electric shock around horses heads for some dogs will just created aggression aimed at the back end rather than playing at the front- neither is acceptable.
My rescue dog likes to lick horses muzzles, horses don't like it so she is not allowed to do it- I don't take her to the yard and when I did she was on lead.
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Timing is everything and to suggest the dog would be shocked when it was anywhere near the horse shows lack of knowledge when it comes to dog training. I don't actually have a problem with shock collars themselves the issue I have is with poor training and ignorance by people wielding them.

Any interruption training (and I've personally never needed to use an electric collar) must be done well before the dog is in full flow of bad behaviour otherwise the chances are the "pleasure" of the behaviour will outweigh any negative feeling the dog encounters.

Regardless of that, this dog owner is too stupid to realise the dog needs training so op you are on a hiding to nothing because they won't bother. They will instead either do nothing or shout at the dog or shut it up where upon any time it gets loose (and it will because they will be unable to even carry that out properly) it will continue the behaviour.

So personally I would move. It's such a big deal to me, that none of my animals would be subjected to this, and that I wouldn't have to subject myself to the annoyance and anxiety about wondering if the dog is doing the behaviour when I wasn't there.
 
I would ask if you could have a quiet word with the yard owner.
Explain your concerns and state it is an accident waiting to happen.
If the yard owner fails to do anything immediately then I would suggest that in the interest of your horses safety that you should leave.
 
As a team, my horse and I pulled out all the stops one day to protect ourselves from a pack of 4/5 labradors one day.

It happened at a previous livery yard where I used to keep my horse on full livery. It was a yard with fantastic facilities, lovely owner and a great yard manager, so the following 'not so nice' was a on/off occurrence. Just thought I'd post it on here as it's got a little bit of something to do with horses and dogs snapping at them.

Of all breeds, I would never have expected a breed as lovely as labs to do this, however, they were possibly not as well trained as they should have been, and some were quite nervous in human company.

[I don't want to say too much negative things about this all as the yard owner used to always be very nice to me and they tried really hard to keep the dogs away from liveries.]

The 'naughty' pack belonged to the yard owners, who didn't have anything to do with the horses. The yard manager had her own choccy lab, a real softie who was used to being around horses and they were used to her, and she always got plenty of cuddles from us liveries.

On this particular day, the pack of dogs were all being taken into the outdoor school for exercise with ball throwers and other toys. Unfortunately, the one spotted me wanting to turn my horse out from stable to field, the dog escaped from out of the school and ran over to me and my horse, and the rest of the labs followed shortly after. They were all showing threatening behaviour, growling and charging towards us at full speed, the pack leader even baring his teeth. I screamed in the loudest and most authoritative voice that I could muster 'DON'T YOU DEAR - LEAVE US ALONE! GO ON, OFF YOU GO!!'

My screaming like a demented woman helped a little bit, BUT my horse decided to go on the defensive mood too. We kept facing the dogs and my horse timed it perfectly, and then did a humoungous rear, clearing his nostrils in a few very loud snorts and whilst still rearing (or maybe he reared a 2nd time) dished out with his front legs in the air like someone doing a doggy paddle.

All the dogs kept their distance, I'm proud to say! :)

Once everything has calmed down, the YO came over to profusely apologise, and promised in future they'll only take their dogs out and into the sand school when no liveries are moving around any horses. For the rest of the time that I was one the yard, they kept there promise and there wasn't any incidents again that I'm aware off.
 
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YO doesn't seem particularly bothered about it so I doubt you would get over to her that it's not really acceptable . I'm afraid it would be cheerio from me asap.
 
My staffy ran when my horse did once when she was a pup, and he went full pelt over her. She never ran at a horse again.
 
sounds like this person shouldnt be a YO if this sort of thing is allowed to happen. i would be looking for somewhere else a s a p and tell YO why i am leaving...
 
There is sufficient case law now to suggest should anything happen there'd be a huge chance of a prosecution. It is against the law to have a dog dangerously out of control.
 
Flyingsolo said:
YO has new dog. Been around for a few months. They regularly do my horse for me so I'm only there when said dog is not really out.
However, recently I arrived down the yard to find YO pottering about doing a few things and dog out with her.
I was absolutely horrified at what I saw.
YO dog spent quite a lot of time leaping up at the horses in their stables and snapping at their muzzles, dog is not small so can get a fair height when jumping up.
He then proceeded to do it to the couple of horses who were tied up on the yard.
Horses obviously snap their heads up and back to avoid the dog making contact.
I mentioned it and YO responded with 'yes fido is naughty!'
Am horrified that this is being allowed and the dog is being left unchecked and loose while behaving in this manner. I didn't see him make contact but I guess that doesn't mean he hasn't in the past or that he won't in the future.
What do others think?
Click to expand...


Very irresponsible of the yard owner not to control their dog - this is an accident waiting to happen. Our Yard dog dog is kept chained up during the day (not like previous dogs we owned) and this is what your YO should do or keep on a lead or in the house or cage or car during the day if she cannot control it.

Cannot believe her attitude to your expressing concern on this behaviour, irrespective of it reaching their noses or not, one day one might be outside being groomed and it will bite a nose or a fetlock or something. Dogs should be under control on a yard when horses are around, whether it is the owners dog or a liveries. Maybe one livery may have a small shetland where this dog will reach it's nose discussing behaviour.


I would not be happy if I saw this and would have a serious chat or maybe get other liveries views on it
 
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A yard I was at previously had similar, except it was a one off and completely out the blue,
An old dog that had been around horses for years, suddenly snapped at her horses face, piercing his nostril and causing quite a bit of damage,
Horse needed stitching up and a course of antibiotics,
Dog was chained up in future, with enough room to stretch his legs, but not enough room to get to the horses.
Just in case.

I couldn't keep my horse on a yard, with a YO that can allow that to happen
 
I have had terriers in my horses field that have got through the gate snapping at her feet, I was horrified and would be horrified with the YO's dog and YO's relaxed attitude toward the problem.
 
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