Guardian dogs and cattle

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Will livestock guardian dogs work the same with cattle as they do with sheep and goats.

-- LB (lanelynn@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002

Answers

Yes

-- John in Mn. (nospam@mywork.com), March 20, 2002.

The only problem may be if you have a dog that currently works sheep, they may not like to work cattle because of the size of the animal. We have an Aussie that works sheep wonderfully, but is leery of the cows. Our mistake since we didn't get cattle right away and she started on sheep.

-- beckie (none@this.time), March 20, 2002.

Guardian and working dogs are not the same. The working dog herds. The guardian protects and lives with the stock 24/7. Anytime the guardian is moved to a different type of stock, some additional training is needed.

And yes, the dogs will protect cattle. Ask any rancher who has quit losing his new born calves!

Be sure to get a dog from working parents. Pups are out with their parents and the stock, so they learn from mom and dad.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002.


You can also have the problem of going from large stock to small. I have a border collie/aussie cross that I'm working on sheep, and she's not agressive enough, I had my neighbor bring down his dog (brother to mine) because his does a good job on cattle, ( keeps them moving and bunched without much help) but he wouldn't get after the sheep. Mine will yap (irritating) but she's just not agressive enough to nip. I think because she got stomped as a pup by the old guard burro, she lost her nerve. Her father was a great natural stock dog in his day, he had the instinct to work without a lot of training, but something didn't get passed down. (Or it could be the trainer.....)

-- Mark (mcford@theofficenet.com), March 20, 2002.

Rogo: I've never had that problem. We have Border Collies, Great Pyrs and Blue Heelers. They work both bison and sheep without any problems.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), March 22, 2002.


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