Well I've had my 2 goats for about a month now and I've been introducing the 4 dogs (3 German Shepherds and 1 Shepherd mix) to them slowly so as not to freak the goats out. The ultimate goal is to leave them in the yard all together. The goats having been living on my deck and over the past week I've been leaving the gate open (which leads from the deck to the yard) when I'm home so the dogs and goats can intermingle. Then I would separate them when I was not home. Today was the first day I let them all hang out unsupervised and it seems to have gone great. Now if I could just pursuade those goats to go in the yard and eat those weeds, they like the deck too much. I think I've been feeding them too well, LOL.

Now I am just going to have to experiment with how the goats and the dogs do with the chickens. We're building a pen, hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Hoping to free range but keeping in mind the chickens may have to stay in the pen if the dogs aren't cooperative.

Anita

-- anita holton (anitaholton@mindspring.com), September 07, 2001

Answers

Dogs will eat chickens. Maybe not right away but someday yours or someone else's will. It would be best to have some kind of enclosure for them.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 07, 2001.

Ann, I wouldnt bank on it. My hubby tells me of a dog of his childhood that would be so protective of the chickens that they had to pen him in the basement when it came time to butcher them. This dog protected even the cats on the place. Every srange cat, varmint or snake that dared venture on his home turf was shaken to death. He would bust up cat fights, simply separating the home cats, not allowing them to disturb the peace. Hubby says he was an Airdale.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), September 07, 2001.

A friend of ours decided to go in to the chicken business. He built a nice chicken coop and pen and then he brought home the chicks. This same friend also had 2 dalmation dogs. Lets just say that the dogs cannot be out of there pen at the same time as the chickens, or else the dogs always have a chicken dinner.

-- Barb in wc IL (Barb43@countrylife.net), September 07, 2001.

Anita, Goats are livstock not pets as pets they are usually kept on a chain since they like to eat your flowers, and fruit tress and any other green thing that you cherish. Put the dogs on the deck and fence in an area for the goats with a shelter and fresh water and hay when the weeds are eaten or die. Chickens deserve their own pen and shelter too. Dogs like to chase chickens because it is so much fun. Sooner or later they will catch one and then the problems start. It is easier to prevent this from ever happening than to fix it afterwards. Goats will not back down from a confrontation with a dog, and there are livestock guard dogs but 4 German Shepards are a pack and it is another possible souce of problems. Get a livstock guard dog is you wnat one to live with your goats, otherwise plan on the dogs attacking and killing the goats and the chickens, it will happen enventually and it is not a pretty sight.

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), September 07, 2001.

All our critters get along just fine. Every day the roosters have to crawl under the gate and walk across the yard on over to the rabbit cages and get the spilled grain. The 5 Border Collies follow them over, lay in wait, and then follow them back to the gate. They know not to touch them. But sometimes they do lay down in circles around them just to have fun. Our cats come and eat out of the dog's bowls at dinnertime, and the dogs just let them. Even the kittens.

The dogs love the baby goats, and stand right next to them touching them. The goats aren't afraid of the dogs, but they will move when the dogs are herding them. My baby goats will play with the dogs. They stand on the spools and get their foreheads on the dogs foreheads and just push each other, it's so cute.

The dogs won't hurt even little chicks, but they will follow them around, and let me know where they are. Or find them for me. Every time a new baby goat is born, General has to go find it for me in the evenings, where mama hid it. He loves that game, and is so pleased when he finds it. He runs like the wind down to the old barn, and searches every stall and pallet untill he finds it. He knows exactly what he is doing.

Just talk to the dogs and let them know not to touch the chickens or goats. Dogs understand allot. Guineas would help teach the dogs to leave the chickens alone. I don't like my hens to roam around because they tear up all my flower beds.

-- Cindy in KY (sollidrockranch@msn.com), September 07, 2001.

Goats and dogs can get along, however, some dogs don't and will try to chase and play hard with them. Then when the dog draws blood its over. But livestock guard dogs protect by instinct.

Karen: have a few comments to your post:

Anita, Goats are livstock not pets as pets they are usually kept on a chain since they like to eat your flowers, and fruit tress and any other green thing that you cherish.

I usually do NOT get upset over too much and try to even be understanding of the opinions of others and most importantly respectful. However, I vehemently disagree with your suggestions. Goats are NOT to be chained out. That is the worst advice you can suggest! Then you contradict yourself by commenting at the end about making a fence. I sure hope you didn't mean what you wrote initially, this tends to make me want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I have personally seen goats tied out and horribly suffer. Recently for example there was a pic posted to one of the goat lists of a goat tied out that was tangled in a chair and had no water. The goat was almost chocking from the looks of having winded his chain around the fence. When folks that suggest such ideas as tieing them out, then that gives the rest of the goat owners and producers a hard time in trying to change the myths about goats. We can ill afford any PETA attacks and PETA has been causing a lot of problems for folks who raise livestock and for that matter any animlas.

First of all, if a dog should come by they have no place to escape or means to protect themselves. Besides it can be dangerous if they are not supervised. I know some folks will tie out their goats, however, they are under supervision. Albeit goats will devour flowers (my beloved late Alpine Jackie ate 150 hybrid tea roses after I got her because she was a houdini goat and didn't stay in the fence we had, we needed to make a fence more like a prision security system. I suggest fencing for a goat, use cattle panels. Goats will also eat the bark off trees and have a great time entertaining them in your yard. BUT..... most folks don't tie them out, they get fencing. Its safer and more humane.

Now as for goats being livestock and not pets: A lot of folks treat goats as livestock, but they are usually folks who are larger breeders with over 300 or more goats. Although there are some folks who are smnaller breeders and raise them as such. But goats are also a very important part of most goat producers/breeders lives and they really LOVE their goats. Just read the posts on some of the goat list about how folks really care about their goats and cry when they pass on. We know that goats are livestock, but the personalities that goats have endear them to us.

I am very offended by your comments and can say that a lot of the dairy goat world would be as well. We really care about our goats and take pride in them, no matter if a national grand champion of a brush goat.

bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), September 08, 2001.

The very first goat I ever owned was tethered out everyday. One night she got loose from the pen with the rope still tied to her collar, and the rope got caught up right next to where the family dog was chained. In the morning, Snow had chunks of flesh and hide torn out of her, and needless to say, very traumatized and almost in shock. She died. I would like to be able to trust dogs around goats, but I just cannot get the picture of that doe out of my mind. Even the nicest dog in the world can have a well meaning romp with a goat and get carried away. There might be dogs that can be trusted, but the only way to really find out is to give it a try and see. If it doesn't work, you end up with a doe like Snow.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), September 08, 2001.

I know my dogs are kinda hard for some to believe, but I raised them all from pups in the house with us. And we hatched chicks in the house, and all the dogs saw them and touched them and watched them in the boxes. Also, we bring the brand new baby goats into the house in the winter when it's freezing outside, for the nights. The little goats would hop all over the wood floors waiting for their bottles, jumping on the dogs too. Even our rabbits aren't afraid of the dogs. They just nose each other. General has showed me rabbits when they had gotten out of their cages.

And I had a newborn pony into the house too, bottle feeding her, and then in the yard for a long time. General would go get her when it was time for her bottle. I let my dogs touch and smell the animals all the time, and they are used to them. I just don't let the dogs in with the big cow or donkey, the dogs might get hurt.

Steve is sittin on the sofa bottle feeding a 3 wk old BC pup now. The pup was too little to make it with the rest of the pups. He's not one of our pups, but if he makes it, he's ours. We'll find him a good home.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 08, 2001.

Cindy in KY, this is off the subject, could you tell me what you meant about the guineas teaching the dog to leave the chickens alone. I am having a problem with my dog and guineas. You can email me privately if you like. Thanks.

-- Dian (rhoffman@nctc.com), September 08, 2001.

Dian,

All the guineas I've had would be very protective of the flock of chickens they were with. They would holler and chase anything bothering the chickens off. My guineas were raised with the hens though, and they all hung together. Do your dogs chase the guineas? I know guineas can get quite mean when they want to be.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 08, 2001.

Cindy, our dogs are just like your dogs, though eggs are not safe! Our dogs simply don't even bother with the hens. I do have to be careful about introducing new stock to the dog, she knows even when somebody brings and leaves a doe off for breeding that she is new.

You can also add my name to Bernice's post. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 08, 2001.

Our solution was to build a chicken coop and pen in the middle of the goat/ horse pasture. The pasture is solar-electric fenced. The chickens and goats are protected from the dogs by the electric. The chickens are further protected from predators like racoons, etc. by the goats and horse (and beyond the fence- the dogs).

-- kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), September 09, 2001.

Cindy, My chickens will lay down against the dog and sleep and they eat and drink out of his bowls. he doesn't bother them, but we reciently got guineas most are penned with some of the chickens. We decided to turn some out to clean up under the rabbit cages, but the dog killed them all. The guineas are now learning to fly out of the chicken yard ( we expected them to do that) and the dog killed one that got out. The dog is now chained, but that is not a long term solution (at least I hope not). I thought they would be able to get away from him or get mean with him-maybe they just aren't old enough, but we didn't expect to have this problem since he has sone so well with the chickens. I don't know why he doesn't like the guineas.

-- Dian (rhoffman@nctc.com), September 10, 2001.