Hey guys...

So in a couple of weeks, Koda is coming down to camp with me for the summer. I work as an Equestrian Director at a boy scout camp. Now, Koda is not very well socialized with other animals (despite our efforts, we just don't have a lot of people up here with pets-- he's still young though).

Anyway... obviously he's going to be around horses all summer. I know that when he's seen a cow or horse before he gets excited and starts getting jumpy. I was just wondering if anyone had tips or advice on socializing a dog with horses before (as I know some of you have them)?

I need to keep in mind that these horses are not mine nor are they the camp's. We rent them, so I have to be EXTRA careful (not that I wouldn't have been before, but I can't afford to take an unnecessary risk).

Koda will be on a long lead all summer as there's nowhere that is fenced in to let him off-leash. But, god forbid someone gets careless or Koda breaks free, I need to make sure he doesn't run straight for a horse and get kicked or cause an injury to a horse, rider, or himself.

My plan was to tie him up to a tree far away but within sight of the horses and move him closer daily, or whenever he can be calm. My hope is that eventually I can get him calm and close enough that he can approach one of the horses (I'd use one of the calmer/sedate horses that we have, not the young, high-strung ones).

Anyway- tips and advice would be great!

I tried to introduce Sitka to some farm animals at my dads best friends farm. This did not end very well. Sitka broke his choker and ran right for one of their pet goats. The goat saw him at the last second and ran dear life... and to safety around the 3 Clydesdales (sp?). This spooked the horses and the goat and Sitka missed a few kicks aimed at the head as they ran circles around them. After 3 minutes of chase and one electrocuted Chad (from the horses fence) Sitka was gaining ground on the goat. At some point the 3 year old who was visiting screamed that "the wolf is killing the goat!" and a few of my relatives run out of the house. My dad pushes me into the horse's pen, the fence shocks me again and yells at me to get my damn dog before he kills something. I look at him like he's crazy and mumble something about how I'd rather the dog get kicked in the head than me... but no one listens. In slow motion I see Sitka make one final lunge at the goat and he grabs the goats thigh and drags him to the ground. It was something out of the Discovery Channel, dirt and hair flying everywhere.

After dodging a kick from the massive horse I am able to wrestle Sitka off the goat... and then he notices the horses. He escapes from me with the twitch of his neck and takes off after the horse. My uncle dives through the fence in the most athletic moment of his life and gets a hold of Sitka. It was crazy. The goat ended up having a burst blood vessel in his eye, blood running from his nose and passed out due to shock. The horses were stomping about for the next hour or so and Sitka was banned to the house.

Good luck with the farm animals. Never again will I try that.

lol Chad, I love you stories, they always make me laugh. I don't really have an advice for you Tori. I had a lab growing up that got into the pen with our neighbors horse. He got punted really far and never did that agian.

Wow, Chad... I guess we never know what our dogs can do until we try it!

I'd also like to see how Gunny might react around farm animals. I will probably take him with me to my next trip to my best friend's ranch out in Laramie, Wyoming, where they have horses, cattle, chicken, goat and sheep. Oh, and a HUGE pyrenees dog. Zeus is his name, yeah I remember that all right.

So far I know Gunny doesn't chase after cats.

Well when I take Ruger to my farm I had to pull him away from the horses and donkeys because he would scare them so they would get defensive. In there minds I think they thought it was a fox or coyote...which is an understandable reaction for them to get scared. But, they never did get along which is the point Im trying to get at. Not really sure from there how to get them to get along...

I wonder if some Huskies (except for Sitka, of course) and German Shepards act alike... Because I grew up on a ranch myself and my family always had German Shepards and they always did a good job with our horses and cattle. A few of them I believe we rescued from the shelter and one was a puppy.

My best friend and her family got themselves a Pyrenee who is supposed to protect their goats and sheep, but they caught him biting on a couple of sheep's legs. I think you have to train them somehow.

So... Koda met the horses yesterday. It did NOT go as well as I would have liked it to. It was pretty much what I expected and then some.

When he sees the horses, he starts crying and whining. He'll start digging if I ignore him long enough.

So, when he calmed down, I took him down to see the horses. My supervisor (who is very experienced with dogs and horses) told me to let him in with the horses (on a leash) and let him sniff around. WELL- Koda took one look at the swinging tail in front of him, latched on and started pulling! I had the head collar on him, but I managed to get him untangled fairly quickly. I can't BELIEVE that the horse didn't kick him!

Well... the horses seem completely unphased by him. So I took him away and tied him up again. This morning while we were grooming them, I took Koda on the choke collar (up in the proper placement) and brought him near a horse. He was REALLY good at first and licked the horses nose and it was really sweet. THEN, he started biting the horse! He kept lunging for his neck (not a good sign, I know).

I know I have a long road of training, but I really want my own horses in a few years. Does ANYONE have any advice for how to calm Koda down around these animals and NOT let him think that they're his personal prey to track and kill?

I told you so...

Smart ass!

Rope tug. Ridik was the biggest hurdle when it came to passing horses peacefully on the county roads. Now every road side critter is their perceived friend...

Chad-- So not helpful... I need ACTUAL advice. Or even reassurance at after 8 weeks he should at least calm down around them!? I don't have a whole summer of this do I?

Harrise... What's a rope tug? Or what do you mean by it?

Just one of those. Something that the dog enjoys which also happens to be something you shove in it's mouth. Start with the threshold distance where he first reacts to the horse (the look or ear twitch, you want to get his attention in that split second between the reaction and the fit), then get him playing. gradually inch closer during this time and then stop. If he goes straight to spazzing about the horse, shove the rope in his mouth and pull him further away then stop. You're trying to get a gauge of what his reaction distance is so you can desensitize him more effectively. Then you can move to rewarding for a sit at closer and closer intervals. OR, you can use a long lead and slip chain to demand the dog's attentiveness on you when horses are present. I've done both, it just depends on what your dog's disposition is and what way you're comfortable training your dog.

Thanks Harrise... I will definitely try one or both methods. Whatever works

Sorry about the evil face too- I meant to put it for Chad but it switched on me :-p

If i tried that with any of mine they would spit the rope out and pull my arm off to get to the horses.

I love horses, even though I got hit by one in the head by a hoof when I was a wee girl. That explains why I'm retarded... No, I wasn't pulling on his tail like Koda did. He was just a wild horse and decided to hurt an innocent girl when she stood by her dad feeding them grain. My dad rushed me to the ER room where I got stitches.

But, yeah, I think all you have to do is get Koda used to the horses gradually and then they all should be best friends with time, just like Harrise said.

So we made progress today! I've been feeding him at the same time as the horses (even though he doesn't eat because he's so distracted) and we've been parading the horses around in front of him. I think it also helps that I come "home" to him smelling like them. Well, today, after some play time, I decided to take Koda on a short leash into the pen and he didn't try to attack the horses once! He sniffed at them and then even ignored them when they were sniffing him! Here are some pictures (I apologize for my appearance-- working at a horse barn doesn't yield a picture perfect facade!).




He was like this for a good 5-10 mins without issues until out of nowhere Koda jumped up at the black horse's face. I'm not sure if it was aggressive or not, but I corrected him and he went right back to behaving. Although, King (the black horse) was none too pleaseed and a made sneak attack a minute later, taking Koda's whole nose into his mouth and biting quickly!

Koda yelped, but seemed unharmed. I pulled him out of the pen quick to assess the damage and the horse hadn't broken skin and Koda's nose wasn't (and still isn't) tender to the touch, so he should be fine. I DO suppose he had it coming though, since Koda tried to attack him (and other horses) several times in the past. We'll keep walking and eating with the herd and I hope that this incident didn't set us back in our socialization. I kept Koda around the horse pen and he still wagged his tail and seemed content to look or not look at them (which is much better than before).

He still whines when I'm working with the horses, but I think after this experience today it might just be from jealousy and wanting the attention on him. His leash DID come unclipped today (no idea how) and he got loose, but he ran STRAIGHT to me and let me praise and love him. It was almost like he was saying "Look mom! You can trust me! I'm free, but I'm not leaving you!" Fat chance if he thinks I'm falling for that one I was extremely pleased though because he completely ignored the horses and came straight to me. I'm taking that as a sign of improvement

Horray for Koda's progress!

Great progress Tori - I expect that Koda may respect the horses all the more now he has been bitten by one! Keep up the great work

Yay for Koda! Such a good boy coming back to you and for doing fairly well with the horses. Love the pics! I'm so jealous, I love horses and horseback riding.