I have a 5 month old Maremma, and is being shown the ropes by an older farm dog. Not a LGD and myself.
He's been easy to train, great with chooks and sheep, that he's been with since 4 weeks of age with breeder, and continued with me.
I am now struggling with cows introduction. Our sheep are to be grazed in with our cows, in a strip grazing set up for winter. My cows dont need him for protection, but the sheep do. So i want neutral to cows, bonded to sheep. The sheep training is going well. But cows? nah.
He was barking/lungeing at them through fence etc at first. So have done as i did with other animals, in only allowing supervised access on long line with me. housing in grass paddock besides the cows, separated by elec fence. And he rarely barks. Ive been praising calm, correcting mistakes as we go like barking, or getting in their water trough and emptying it on a 40 degree day whilst he cools himself down nicely and selfishly leaving stock with no water!
And for some reason, he still has episodes where he feels threat from cows, and starts barking. My cows, are not afraid of dogs, and come to check out what he's making such a racket about.
He's an outside dog, that is fenced electrically, inside the field that contains stock when unsupervised, or on a long line with me around cattle, for safety and so i can correct him.
Does anyone have tips of how to encourage bonding with cows 10 x his size? If not bonding, then neutral will suffice.
The other dog is a GSD and good farm dog. But not a dog to train a LGD.
He's been easy to train, great with chooks and sheep, that he's been with since 4 weeks of age with breeder, and continued with me.
I am now struggling with cows introduction. Our sheep are to be grazed in with our cows, in a strip grazing set up for winter. My cows dont need him for protection, but the sheep do. So i want neutral to cows, bonded to sheep. The sheep training is going well. But cows? nah.
He was barking/lungeing at them through fence etc at first. So have done as i did with other animals, in only allowing supervised access on long line with me. housing in grass paddock besides the cows, separated by elec fence. And he rarely barks. Ive been praising calm, correcting mistakes as we go like barking, or getting in their water trough and emptying it on a 40 degree day whilst he cools himself down nicely and selfishly leaving stock with no water!
And for some reason, he still has episodes where he feels threat from cows, and starts barking. My cows, are not afraid of dogs, and come to check out what he's making such a racket about.
He's an outside dog, that is fenced electrically, inside the field that contains stock when unsupervised, or on a long line with me around cattle, for safety and so i can correct him.
Does anyone have tips of how to encourage bonding with cows 10 x his size? If not bonding, then neutral will suffice.
The other dog is a GSD and good farm dog. But not a dog to train a LGD.
