# Set Back :(



## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

I have been taking my wether, Geoffrey, on walks at least every other day as part of his cartgoat training. I lead him on a leash attached to his collar or with a halter. We have been doing this for several weeks now. Three times already, we have been charged by the same dog, one of the Aussies that lives on a neighboring property. She comes onto our property or the county road and harrasses us i.e. barks, grows, lunges at us, especially Geoffrey and basically scares the crap out of him and, in the process, injures me. (I have a CT disease and a muscle disorder so sudden movement can be devastating.) Now Geoffrey doesn't want to leave the safety of our fenced yard out of fear of being attacked by that dog. This poor dog is ruining my cartgoat! Gr-r-r-r! 

Long story, but the dog's owner is a beligerent a$$hole. When we approached him again last night after the third incident w/Geoffrey, he threatened to shoot the dog himself instead of stepping up to the plate and becoming a responsible pet owner. I imagine the dog is already history. I feel bad for the dog, not to mention the guy's kids who love this dog, but it is his responsibility as the dog's owner to control her. In this case, that boils down to installing adequate fencing or a kennel or keeping her indoors and he's not willing to do any of the above. I even offered to loan them a kennel.

This has opened my eyes to the potential for attack by other loose dogs and coyotes, which I have observed trailing us at times. So now I find myself looking at defense options, and am considering getting one of those spring Airsoft paintball guns w/a holster and carrying it w/me whenever I take Geoffrey out of our fenced yard for training. Given the application, deterrent sprays wouldn't be effective and I could not bring myself to shoot any animal with a bullet or even BBs, let alone the possible legal ramifications. 

The other nice thing about paintballs is that they would mark the attacker for ID later should I need to report the incident to authorities. Where we live, the county will not come out to pick up a loose or aggressive animal unless you already have it confined and ready for pick up. If a human's been bitten, howver, then the Sheriff's office supposedly will respond....eventually.

Anyway, I'm wondering what measures others take to protect their working goats from loose or stray dogs when out and about driving or whatever. I could use some fresh ideas and comaradarie right now. 

For the time being, I'm keeping our training sessions within the confines of our fenced yards. Even so, this morning Geoffrey was hesitant to work and wanted to go back into the goat yard. I have a feeling it's gonna' take awhile to desensitize him and catch up to where we were. Major set back no doubt, but we'll overcome it!

Deb Mc


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. That is a shame, but I do understand, I like to take my just dogs for a walk, on a leash but the other dogs come to attack, so I have to bring a stick.

I was at Walmart the other day and a guy was telling a customer about a gun. It was not a BB gun, but it would give a good welt on the dog. The paint ball gun was talked about just for the reason you said. He said they are good but it would not work for this one lady as it was to far.

I hope he can get his dog under control without hurting it. keep up the good work.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

If you already made efforts... in contacting the owner of the dog... I would contact the authorities...."animal control"
Dogs are not suppose to be roaming out freely and attacking or harassing those ...that are abiding by the laws ...as you are..... I feel bad for the dog and children too but.... the dog cannot be allowed to do that.... so something needs to be done... before you or the goat is harmed or worse..... it is only escalating....and will only get worse...

I am so sorry... you can't enjoy your walks and it is hurting you in the process.... it isn't right.... :hug: 

They have something called..
Dog Dazer This tool emits a sound that cannot be perceived by humans but that results discomforting (not painful) to dogs. This tool works in keeping dogs away from a range of up to twenty feet. All that needs done is to press on the button as soon as an approaching dog is seen. Also works against nuisance barking.


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions. Dog Dazer wouldn't work given the short range. I'd also be concerned about whether the tone it emits is audible to goats. I wouldn't want to risk further traumatizing poor Geoffrey.

Sweetgoats - I used to have the same problem walking my dogs. Ended up buying a pocket sized airhorn and desensitizing my dogs to the blast. Worked great! My son walks the dogs now since I can't and he always takes the horn w/him, attached to their treat bag. Has defused dog and coyotes attacks! I wonder if it would be any more difficult to desensitize the goats to it? Hmmmm, that might be worth pursuing! 

:stars: :stars: :stars: Our goat cart is here! :stars: :stars: :stars: 
Just arrived a few minutes ago. Not sure when hubby will have the time to assemble it, probably not before Sunday. Still :wahoo: :wahoo: :wahoo:


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

I think he may have gone through with it.  The dog is gone. I'm hoping he took it to the pound and they contacted an Aussie rescue....

toth boers - Our animal control is the "county" and they will not respond to any complaints out here unless the animal has already been confined. I've had problems with this dog for over 2 years now, and have reported at least a dozen other incidents involving other dogs including two vicious attacks. Same response. I wasn't bitten, just rope burned, dislocated knee and gravel imbedded in my shin and thigh. My dog, then a puppy, had a deep puncture to his abdomen. This happened on my property, an unfenced section and my dogs were on leash. Had it not been for my bitch, I would have been mauled. County said I'd have to catch and confine the attackers for them to respond. Sheriff said they didn't have jurisdiction cause no human was bitten. The previous week, I had contacted the county as one of these same dogs had repeatedly tried to jump through a picture window in our kitchen to get at my puppy and chipped it! Of course, no response. Our county animal control sucks!


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## imaginationacres (Sep 27, 2009)

I think the paintball gun is a great idea!

I'm working on pack training two of my wethers, everytime I walk them off my property I bring one of the farm dogs with me for this exact reason. I'm in the middle of hunting lands and people sadly forget their hunting dogs all the time and I shudder to think of what would happen to the goats if I didn't bring one of the dogs with us. There have been a few occasions where a farm dog needed to stand our ground when approached by a solo hound and one time in particular we were approached by a small pack of 3 hounds, my goat Fiddle freaked out because they were barking and carrying on, thankfully Pepper one of the farm dogs took right off after them giving me a chance to calm Fiddle down. 

It is so frustrating when people don't take responsibility for their animals, that was very kind of you to offer a kennel.


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

WTG, Pepper! :clap: 

I went ahead and ordered a spring airsoft bb/paintball pistol.

DebMc


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

Ohhh definitely a pet peeve of mine.... I HATE when people just leave their dogs to run loose. Poor Geoffrey.... hopefully he gets over his fear soon. Sad to say but hopefully the guy got rid of the dog. He can't properly care for it... it would probably end up getting hit by a car or hurting neighboring animals anyways.


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

I agree, Jess. But it's sad. The dog was a nice dog. Just doing what herding breeds do. Problem was, no one bothered to develop that talent or to control her and the situation allowed her to come and go at will. The owner just tacked some chicken wire over our barbwire fence to contain his dogs, and that was that. 

Both of the dogs I described in the post above did eventually get hit and killed by cars. One by his owner! And the owner kept right on going!  The other dog made it out to the main county road and got nailed there. 

Both these neighbors live in close to million dollar houses w/all kinds of expensive toys so putting up fencing or a kennel to adequately contain their dogs shouldn't have been an issue. 

Deb Mc


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