graphic no pic Our dog KILLED and eaten 5 goats through fence! HELP

[Wannabefree]

I was going to suggest training collars too. They WORK! I have a Pitbull that guards my chickens. Too bad the collar died and I can't train this new little Pitmutt I have now and she got three of my chickens *sigh* The collars work great though. It emulates the Alpha dog getting them by the throat, and goes back to their primal instinct to stop what they are doing and learn better from their mistakes. It does not hurt them. I got ours at Co-op for about $250 Sportdog brand. It lasted a good long time. If your dog is already obedience trained it should be a breeze.

 

[maf8009]

Just a thought here........

If that GS dog is trained to attack on command.... that tells me SOMEONE spent quite a bit of time training him already........ Why not a bit MORE time training so he won't kill your goats? Sure would be a LOT cheaper than losing goats or buying fence.
Just my $.02 worth. YMMV

By the way.. so far the goat is surviding after meds and rest she is up and walking around now with much of her neck skin missing down to the muscle... sob... sniff... she IS A REGULAR DUMB GOAT..... but I HATE TO SEE ANIMALS HURT..

I will do the pvc thing.. I LOVE IT AND ITS INSTANT FIX.... I cant afford fencing or shock collars.. we have too many other expenses right now.... besides JUST FYI......ALL REAL german shepherds are interbred with wolves/sheepdogs.... (the original breed "German" was interbred with wolves...1900'S) facts actual facts... so a goat in distress "triggers" a preditor response.. "kill" so he does...

WHEN I can get a shock collar... you bet I will for my other "chicken killing" dogs....thanks or your ideas.

 

[Neko-chan]

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[ORChick]

Just a thought here........

If that GS dog is trained to attack on command.... that tells me SOMEONE spent quite a bit of time training him already........ Why not a bit MORE time training so he won't kill your goats? Sure would be a LOT cheaper than losing goats or buying fence.
Just my $.02 worth. YMMV

By the way.. so far the goat is surviding after meds and rest she is up and walking around now with much of her neck skin missing down to the muscle... sob... sniff... she IS A REGULAR DUMB GOAT..... but I HATE TO SEE ANIMALS HURT..

I will do the pvc thing.. I LOVE IT AND ITS INSTANT FIX.... I cant afford fencing or shock collars.. we have too many other expenses right now.... besides JUST FYI......ALL REAL german shepherds are interbred with wolves/sheepdogs.... (the original breed "German" was interbred with wolves...1900'S) facts actual facts... so a goat in distress "triggers" a preditor response.. "kill" so he does...

WHEN I can get a shock collar... you bet I will for my other "chicken killing" dogs....thanks or your ideas.

I'm not well informed about the history of this particular breed, and don't wish to argue, but what you say here makes little sense to me. German shepherds were surely bred, first and foremost, as *shepherds*, were they not? It would seem a very bad attribute for a shepherd dog to have a strong predator response to something so very like a sheep as a goat is. But what do I know?

Edited because I can't spell today

 

[AL]

Sorry for your losses.... that's so difficult


I think the pipes are a great temporary fix. Maybe every week or 2 set aside - $5-$10 to save up for some cheap chickenwire to run along your fence. I understand financial hardship (living it) but if you are going to have animals there are very basic things that have to be done - secure environment is one. I wouldn't be one to advocate tying or penning the dog.... but I would certainly recommend trimming a few pennies a day wherever you can in order to get proper fencing.

I'm afraid I have to disagree on the GSD being triggered by livestock in distress. Well bred dogs of the breed are pretty true to their purpose.

 

[MorelCabin]

I would really worry abot kids with this dog...human kids that is. We had a shepperd at one time as well, and she was great with our kids, but attacked one of our kids friends while they were playing tag. I just hope you have no kids, because that dog WILL kill someone eventually

I do NOT believe in personal attack dogs...and would never trust one

 

[Denim Deb]

Not saying yours would ever do this, but I was almost attacked by one. I was in my own yard. The dog belonged to a neighbor, and they had it out in their yard, but weren't paying any attention to it. It came running towards me, and I froze. It was crouching ready to spring when I unfroze, and screamed. The dog stopped and the neighbor realized where his dog was, and called her home. A few years later, I WAS bitten by a GSD while walking to school, completely unprovoked. Since then, I have been afraid of large dogs that I do not know. And I have owned 2 GSD since then, so getting one will not just get rid of the fear.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I keep bars on the horns of my goats who can get through the fence. (Need to add them to the doeling -- her horns are growing and beginning to stick.) I don't worry about my dog, but feral dogs or even wandering pets can kill livestock. I would hate to come home and find that. I'm so sorry you had to go through it.

I have to agree on the breeding of the dog as a shepherd. I've raised and trained GSDs for years. While they do have a predatory instinct, it can normally be managed. I've kept GSDs with kittens, goats, chickens, parrots and small birds, puppies, small children, and babies. At times my dogs have been "provoked" and I was afraid something could happen but they NEVER attacked.

However, when a dog is TRAINED to attack, you must overcome his natural inhibitions against attack. A dog that is trained to attack can be a real legal liability. If you were to command him to attack, if he is properly trained, he should do it, no matter how inappropropriate the circumstances.

I thought about it a lot. My final choice was to select dogs that were naturally protective, but not to train them to attack. That is what worked for me. I'm not telling you what you should do, just pointing out that with that kind of training you are dealing with a slightly different animal. But, still. If it were me, I'd definitely work with him to NOT attack the goats. That should be do-able. If you DID have a dog whose natural attack inhibition was wiped out, and then you couldn't train him NOT TO attack -- well, you'd have a very dangerous animal.

Fencing is good, but as you said, the bars on the horns are an immediate fix. And won't leave them vulnerable to OTHER dogs as in the case if you only fix the fence shared with the dog.

My current GSD is only 15 months old, and a bit more excitable and slower in his training than the dogs I had before. He did want to chase the chickens and REALLY wants to herd the goats. But when a goat puts a head through the fence -- he only wants to lick it's face.

Mostly he just herds cats.

I do hope you find a solution that works for you. And I hope you are able to work with your dog and that he is trainable and manageable.

 

[savingdogs]

I agree with Skr8pn and Shiloh Acres. An attack-trained dog should already have a "stop" command it knows and it should be easy to extend that to teaching the dog to "stop" attacking the goats.

I'm not fond of attack training and also feel you are best to get a protective animal and then not encourage aggression. I own five dogs and know that all five of them would lay down their life for me if need be but were never "trained". My husband cannot even tickle me or they will be up in arms and would bite anyone trying to hurt me, 100 percent sure.

At this point I'd use "two barriers",meaning use two barriers between dog and goats for safety. Fix the fence AND tether or contain the dog when not supervised. In the meantime, train the dog and I'd work with all types of livestock/prey, not just goats.

Or rehome it where there are no goats/prey. The PVC pipe with the horns sounds like a good temporary fix but a dog with a history of killing that many likes it and will keep trying unless taught not to. I do not believe aggression towards prey equals aggression toward people. But in your dog that barrier has been broken down when it was trained to bite.

In addition, if your dog is attack trained and doesn't have a stop command then I'd look into some serious re-training asap with a dog behaviorist/dog trainer in your area or consider euthanasia. You must absolutely have a way to stop a dog that has been trained to be aggressive.

That is probably not what you want to hear, sorry. But if you own a dog like that you need to be ready to make hard choices and be responsible, or don't own it.

Just my two cents. I've worked a lot with sheps and pit bulls.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Uh...well trained attack dogs only attack on command. Sounds like more training is definitely required.

And yes, GSDs were developed to be shepherds! To say this is what they're meant to do isn't accurate. And ALL dogs descended from wolves at some point or another.

I hope the taping and PVC helps the goats. I'd hate to imagine what they went through.