Post by jerseyrose on Apr 28, 2022 11:37:21 GMT -5
Nellie is 6 months old now. Some may know I broke my ankle in late January which kept me in the house during chore time for many weeks and then when I did venture out I was on crutches.
During all this time Nellie went up with my daughter and the other dogs to do chores. My daughter is a kind, very soft spoken person and she had her hands full doing all my work , so Nellie started some disturbing habits when in with the goats and she was completely unaware and too busy to notice.
When I started to venture back, still in my boot and winging it with one crutch I wasn't much help but I did get a shock when I saw Nellie chasing and biting one of my adult does I immediately yelled at her and said "NO !" but no way could I ever hope to follow or catch her for real discipline. Thankfully she obeyed me but she had the look in her eyes of a predator and it was fun.
So I started carrying a short driving type whip and when it happened again , thankfully it was near enough I could light into her with it but with her coat I don't even know if she felt it. We started keeping her out at grain time and periods when the goats can get excited because obviously when they get moving that excites her. She was also being more than rough with the babies, just trying to play like she does with the dogs
This being my first GSD/ Anatolian cross I was afraid we were past the point of no return with her and I hated to think of her being banned from the goats as we spend a lot of time with them and she loves being where we are.
Well about 3 weeks ago she suddenly went after my Nubian cross Cindy-Lou. The goat was terrified and she came running to me. I am now on 2 legs, no boot, no crutches and when Nellie came past me in pursuit I hauled off and kicked her as hard as I could in the back end and screamed at her " NO, NO , NO --GET OUT"!!
She yelped, ran out the gate and went all the way home and was waiting on the porch when we were done. When I went up later she stopped in the pasture and waited for me to ask her to come in the goat pen.
She has not chased a goat since and when with the babies if she starts to forget herself I just say her name and give her a look and she stops. I still watch her very closely and we do keep her out at grain time since it is kind of a frenzied time ( plus the dogs want the grain) but her attitude is 100% changed around them and they no longer run when she is near.
Here she is today watching them as they are out in the pasture. She watches over them quite a lot when they are out. I hope I made a good enough impression. Anything else I should do??