Horse chased and bit dog

[Rebmik]

Help.
Any suggestions?
I have 11 yo dog that goes everywhere with me and is EXTREMELY horse smart (respects them, DOES not chase or pester)
My horse thinks of him as a "brother", but new horse chased and actually picked dog up yesterday.
Obviously I don't want this to ever happen again. My dog not being around the horses is NOT an option....This horse learning to respect my dog is a necessity. Live in barn so we all must co-exist peacefully.
Never had this before and not sure what to do.

[DiablosHalo]

I'm thinking the dog will now just stay away from that one horse. They learn pretty quick! I threw a 50lb hay bale on top of one of my dog's while unloading hay. She won't come within 100 ft of the barn when we load/unload hay now.

Can dog be with/around you and not in that horse's pasture?

[goodhors]

I guess you need to keep dog with you. close enough to protect from horse. Dog has to be VERY obedient, stay with you when walking pastures or paddocks. Or teach dog to stay out of the field or paddock, stall, where new horse is loose.

Personally, I WANT a horse who will go after dogs. Horse chasing dog is less likely to go thru a fence, than with dog/s chasing him. Many passive horses react badly to loose dogs, barking dogs, run away which excites the dog even more, situation keeps escalating with damaged animals.

Retrain the dog, he is smarter than horse, will be easier. Leave the horse with his defenses. I would carry a whip, 4ft is a good size, make sure horse respects MY SPACE if dog is obedient beside me. Whip is more likely to hit where you aim, gives you bigger personal space, over a rope and halter, other odds and ends you might carry.

[HelloAgain]

Used to have a trainer whose mare would chase down and kill dogs. No dogs allowed on that farm, ever!

I have also known some damn stupid dogs when it came to horses. I can think of two (at different barns) who were kicked clear across the barn by a horse (one right between the eyes, leaving a horseshoe scar) but it never learned them to leave cross tied horses alone.

Aggressiveness of horse * stupidity of dog = likelihood of death.

[BuddyRoo]

I think the dog will figure it out. My dog can "read" the horses and knows which ones welcome his company and which ones would like to pound him into the ground.

[WendellsGirl]

I think you could make some cash renting out that horse to some of the COTH posters who have been tormented by neighbors' dogs chasing their horses!

[twofatponies]

Every dog I know will get the heck out of the way of the dog-aggressive horses. There's a young dog at the boarding barn who loves to go in the pastures. I've seen her take care of herself by getting out if my dog-aggressive mare looks at her funny. We use that to our advantage when trail riding, too, riding at dogs that come out to nip at our heels. The dogs are happy to run back home when the tables are turned!

[Rebmik]

I just got this horse and wish it was around for deer hunting season. Would have quickly cured the problem we had with deer hounds running through pastures ALL SEASON!
But my dog is my shadow and VERY respectful of horses. He's just getting too old to have to run for his life.
Just didn't know if there were suggestions on training horse to be respectful of the dog.

[MoonWitch]

My shire x did the same thing - picked up my 100lb GS by the scruff of her neck and tossed her like a rag doll. No harm done, but she learned her lesson - better than I could have ever done! She used to not respect the horses and now she keeps her distance or just stays outside the fence.

You have to remember the hard wiring that they (horses) have and to them dogs are no different than wolves. I don't think you'll ever change that so you're better off teaching the dog the boundry. Good luck!

[Fairview Horse Center]

Blue plastic tarp doggie blanket? ;)

Supersoaker! :yes:

[equusvilla]

Please don't forget that horses can get rabies. You said you have not had the horse long and it obviously has pasture time..

[enjoytheride]

Why not train your dog to stay out of the horse pastures?

[Rebmik]

Why not train your dog to stay out of the horse pastures?

Because we live in the barn...the dog's yard is the pasture and as I said before "all the animals here live in harmony.." not being odd, but it's true.
Dog has been FAithful companion for 11yrs.

[MelantheLLC]

If you are looking to habituate the horse to the dog, do what trainers do with dogs that are aggressive with other dogs. Get out the treats. This will take more than one person to handle both horse and dog.

Expose horse to dog at safe distance, where horse can see it arrive but doesn't react. Start giving treats when dog appears. When dog leaves, treats stop.

Move gradually closer, rinse, repeat. Establish that dog=wonderful treat bonanza. Lack of dog=blah. Don't push it too close. You do not ever want to trigger a nervous or aggressive response in the horse.

Do this in sets of three. Three to five exposures in quick succession (ie dog arrives/treat, dog out of sight/no treats), repeated in three sets. That's enough for one day.

Skip two days. Keep dog strictly out of sight of the horse during this time. The horse should never be exposed to the dog w/o getting treats.

On third day, repeat. Start at the same distance to evaluate; you will likely be able to move closer more quickly while horse remains happy in presence of dog. Gradually decrease your distance as you do the 3 sets again.

Skip two more days, repeat again. By now you should be seeing the horse looking pretty interested in the arrival of the dog. If you keep at it, are patient and do not push the horse, you have pretty good hope of habituating this horse to this dog.

That doesn't mean it will be happy about any other dog, but it sounds like that's not an issue for you.

(Note: When the horse handler gives treats, this doesn't mean one treat. It means treats as fast as the horse can eat them, no stopping as long as the dog is in view.)

[MelantheLLC]

Ah, I see that the horse is in a pasture.

In that case, start the sets in a place where you can bring the dog more quickly in and out of view, such as a barn, or from behind a building. Once the horse is ok with the dog being close enough to reach in that location, then move out to another location, and repeat. It should go much faster but follow the same steps from the beginning.

Horse must do this in at least 3-5 different locations before it can reliably generalize to dog=treats.

Then you can try it in the pasture, with horse under control at first.

This sounds like a lot of work but it would be worth the attempt. You will be able to tell in a controlled situation whether you can ever habituate the horse to the dog, at the least. I'm guessing you can.

[Rebmik]

MelantheLLC Thanks! That exactly what I was looking for...something to work on this specific new horse to my dog.
New horse has been here 2 weeks and I've been cautious b/c I was warned... was grooming new horse in pasture on lead line...I turned to get a brush and horse went after dog...
Will DEFINITELY try your suggestions

[Lilykoi]

Maybe not to the liking of some, but a friend of mine had a unique solution. She had a small farm with eveyone living in harmony. She took in retirees. New mare, older than dirt and lame on three legs would chase the dogs. She meant business. Friend got tired of it and used a shock collar on the horse. Took a few tries but soon all was harmonious again in the land of Eden. Then again, old mares are pretty smart.

[cssutton]

I vote for the shock collar used in place of a nose band. It must have very good and firm contact with the skin to work.

If it is not tight agains the skin, it will not work and that will put the dog at risk.

If you will put your horse in an electric fence, you can't have anything against the shock collar.

CSSJR

If we do not wish to lose our freedom, we must learn to tolerate our
neighbor's right to freedom even though he might express that freedom
in a manner we consider to be eccentric.

[cssutton]

I meant to add:

Let the horse get really close to the dog before you zap her so that she thinks the dog is the cause of her "experience".

CSSJR

[Rebmik]

Funny,
I have one I've used on my Shire, but was afraid of the negative responses I would get!
Since he's a new horse wasn't sure how he would react.
May resort to this if he doesn't get it!

[saxony]

I used a dog shock collar on a horse that would demolish metal gates (He'd just lean on them until they would collapse). A few good zaps and he never touched them again.

[sketcher]

I used a dog shock collar on a horse that would demolish metal gates (He'd just lean on them until they would collapse). A few good zaps and he never touched them again.

I had that problem. I insulated and electrified the gate with foot long piece of bare wire attached to an electric fence gate handle. I wrapped the end of the wire around the gate and hooked the other end with the handle on the live electric fence when I wanted the gate live. Worked like a charm and I must say satisfying to see the bugger get a zap after all the gates he had effortlessly destroyed. He wasn't too bright - he had to get zapped 3 times before he got it.

[Rebmik]

I used a dog shock collar on a horse that would demolish metal gates (He'd just lean on them until they would collapse). A few good zaps and he never touched them again.

Yeah, that's what I used, just added one of my husband's belts and a stretchy sections...viola...horse shock collar...
Shire would lean on anything that wasnt' hot. Leaned against stall door (barn circa 1700s) and walked out with stall door around his neck. Attempted to strength door, but once he knew if he leaned hard enough he could get out it was all over with...until shock collar...i'll zap him and he'll look at the door like ..."i swear it doesn't look like it has a hot wire!":D
Last couple of days leading horse around dog, horse as been more respectful. It may have to do with being new and learning to respect me as well.