[Hampton Bay]

OK, I have a large boxer/mastiff cross that has been living with me for about 2 months. She is a great dog, and initially was fearful of the horses. She would bark at them, try to get them to play, but if they came near her she would run.

As of yesterday, when she is let into the yard with the horses, she chases them, barking and carrying on, and is acting like she really wants a piece. The horses are downright annoyed, and they pin their ears and chase her right back. Obviously I am worried someone is going to get hurt. And it's probably going to be the dog.

Aside from just never letting her out of the dog yard, which of course accidents happen and I'm sure she will get out at some point, what can I do to help her get over trying to play rough with a 1000lb animal who wants to stomp her to death.

[county]

BANG!!!!!

[MunchkinsMom]

Shock collar? Might be worth a try. And cheaper than a vet bill (for either the dog or the horses).

[Meredith Clark]

I use a shock collar for my boxer/pit/lab mix. She's very well behaved but if a horse does something out of the ordinary.. like roll on the ground, she losses it. She'll bark and chase them and NOTHING I do will get her to stop, when I try to catch her she runs from me and continues to go after them. I finally got her a shock collar. She gets one noise alert, and if she doesn't stop she gets a shock. I havn't had to actually shock her for weeks now.. she hears the noise alert and stops on a dime.

If I forget to put it on her she'll chase.. so now she doesn't leave the house with out it.

[2DogsFarm]

Another vote for the shock collar.
Dog will not connect you with the correction, she will think:
Chasing horses = Nasty shock

county : Shame on you!
(of course your solution is quite attractive to me if it were not my dog doing the chasing...)

[Bluey]

Train your dog to mind what you say where there are no distractions and once the dog knows very well what you want, then train near distractions, be they cats, horses, other dogs, whatever, closer and closer, until you and the dog have an understanding of what you want and when and how.

Until then, no dog off leash, or they just think they can do what they want and learn that you can't make them.

A shock collar will work as long as the dog is wearing it, you have the control on hand and are there.
When you are not ready with it, the dog may again revert to doing what it wants.

I would train first and then, if you need to later, use a shock collar to reinforce what the dog already knows.
I never needed one to call a dog off, once the dog is trained in the basics.

[Blinkers On]

I would expect behaviour would escalate if uncurbed. Mty mix does't get the freedom to be around the horses for the reasons you mentioned.

[Hampton Bay]

This dog was a rescue from the county pound, and she has only been around people for about 4 months. She is just getting used to door closing and slick floors

I will try to do more work with her. She is very difficult to catch when she doesn't want to come in, so she isn't allowed out in the big yard very often, usually just when I am cleaning up the pasture and it is close to dinner time when she wants in anyway.

This girl is just not as food-motivated as my boys were, so it has been more difficult to do much work with her. She sits, but we are still working on everything else.

[trubandloki]

Please do not just put a shock collar on the dog and go to town shocking it with out first teaching proper commands to the point that you know they understand what you are asking it to do.

[CanterQueen]

If I forget to put it on her she'll chase.. so now she doesn't leave the house with out it.

Yup, this is the only problem I've found with the collar. He's good as gold if it's on, but if I forget it he's GONE!!!!!!!!

[yellow-horse]

I had 2 dogs that iI did not trust around livestock, I never let them near livestock, I have no idea what they would have done but I didn't like the look they gave the goats when they 1st saw goats.
The dogs were kept penned or walked a leash, as much as I love having a dog that is a horse dog, some dogs just aren't going to be that, understand what you have and protect the dog from making a fatal error. I agree with training as well. My dogs had to learn when I opened the door, they did not bolt out, if i opened the gate, they did not bolt out, they learned when they go out they wait for the lead to go on.
Honestly, I never had either of these dogs get loose in 12 years, it's kinda like saying my 2 year old kid accidently got loose and wandered all over the neighborhood. I mean I know that can happen but its pretty unusual.

[Lori]

Unfortunately, this is why I do not rescue dogs. It is a crapshoot whether you will get one who will be good or bad around livestock and if they were not raised correctly from the start. I have caged birds in my house and lost one in a split second to a rescued older dog. Lesson learned.....

Your dog should have been corrected right at the start when you say it barked at the horses and acted fearful. Now you are dealing with already escalated behavior.

I only recommend shock collars to people who know how to use them. You can cause problems/neurotic behavior if you don't time the correction properly. It is also possible to create the total opposite effect.

Your dog needs basic obedience from you and needs to listen to and respect YOU as alpha before you can work on behavior problems. It does not sound like she is there yet.

Long line and Herm Sprenger prong collar are my first correction of choice. My new pups are always on them (I work only large working breeds to begin with) and pretty much "self correct" when they get out of line.

[mandalea]

My dog is like this, and has been sent to the vet twice with bruised ribs from being kicked by my horse.

Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to stop her doing this, so we figure one day she's going to end up at the vet's over night, and she'll learn.

I would get her on a lead, or a lunge line, and let her go as far out as she can, and when she starts barking, check her, and say "no", or "quiet"

[Juneberry]

Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to stop her doing this, so we figure one day she's going to end up at the vet's over night, and she'll learn.

Problem is they don't learn. I have a very very very smart border collie mix, that just can't help herself when around the horses. She's fine when the horses are calm and everything is normal. but if the horses are having a good time or are particularly frisky she's out chasing them. None of my horses aim to hit or chase the dog back but she recently got a well placed kick to the head. her teeth lacerated her cheeks and gums and she lost her left eye. (it wasn't pretty) but now that she's recovered guess what? she's chasing horses again.

Time to invest in the shock collar!

[mandalea]

Time to invest in the shock collar!

We bought one of those ones that spray citronella in their face when they bark.

It worked, for about 2 weeks, then she learnt how to turn it around, so it didn't do anything.

So we got those refill canisters for the toilet fresheners, and put it in the holder, and it worked, because she can't stand the smell.

Would be great if it wasn't smashed into thousands of pieces by an impatient horse!

[birdsong]

I use a shock collar for my boxer/pit/lab mix. She's very well behaved but if a horse does something out of the ordinary.. like roll on the ground, she losses it. She'll bark and chase them and NOTHING I do will get her to stop, when I try to catch her she runs from me and continues to go after them. I finally got her a shock collar. She gets one noise alert, and if she doesn't stop she gets a shock. I havn't had to actually shock her for weeks now.. she hears the noise alert and stops on a dime.

If I forget to put it on her she'll chase.. so now she doesn't leave the house with out it.

the only solution IMO...horse equals pain

[MunchkinsMom]

I use a shock collar for my boxer/pit/lab mix. She's very well behaved but if a horse does something out of the ordinary.. like roll on the ground, she losses it. She'll bark and chase them

Well, my neighborhood stray that we have been trying to catch for the past 6 months recently started chasing the horses also. Tonight I was out picking manure out of the pasture, when Angel (the stray) went a bit bonkers when one of my geldings had himself a roll, and started barking, leaping and then chasing when the two geldings high-tailed it towards the barn. I shouted at her, and it took her about 5 seconds to even realize I was there, and then she went an laid down. Shock collar is not an option unless we can catch her.

She used to be afraid of the horses, or at least never chased them, so this is new behavior on her part.

[JaneeneSings]

We have two Great Pyrenees/Anatolian mix dogs to protect our goats. One of them is fine with the horses and cows, but the other one was a chaser. We were at the point of getting rid of her -- but she's a really nice dog. We did some research on this and here's what worked for us:

Take a heavy chain and attach a 5-6 lbs. piece of lumber, wood or pipe to one end so that it drags the ground. The other end attaches to the dog's collar. After a couple of months of her dragging this thing around and we were able to take it off, and she's never chased anything again.

The other idea was to do the same thing with a PVC pipe, but shorten it so that it knocks against their front legs when they run.

Good luck!

P.S. I AM a big fan of rescue dogs!

[Fancy That]

We are buying our own horse property and moving our three horses and three dogs there.

Problem is, none of the dogs have been exposed to horses. And the big one (huge Rottie) chases and "attacks" animals on the television!!! I just hope it doesn't transfer to horses.

He doesn't chase dogs, he couldn't care less about strange dogs..very friendly. But he DOES chase cats and other animals that run away from him.

I just hope he doesn't get to wanting to chase the horses. We'll have a fenced backyard, so can always keep him seperated from them, if he's a nuisancce.

As for our two little Rat Terriers - I think they'll be okay? We'll see!

[AKB]

One of our retrievers got kicked and split her lip after chasing the horses. The other retriever watched it happen. Now, neither one chases horses.