Doberman + Livestock?

IslandDobeMix

New Member
Anyone have experience with Doberman and livestock? I’ve been looking around for breed guidance in this area but haven’t found much apart from suitability as herd protectors - which we’re not considering.

We have goats and sheep and all of them are very tame and grew accustomed to our past dogs who were not chasers or aggressive with them. So they are kind of sitting ducks :/.

As you can pick up from the pic below, Birdie is currently more afraid of them (“are they looking at me???”) than they are of her but I would be interested to hear other experiences in this area. She also has a small amount of cattle dog in her so I’m watching for signs of herding instincts.

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No experience of dobes and livestock but I would imagine that they could most definitely co-exist with the correct handling, exposure and supervision.
Whilst she’s so young I would work on obedience (‘stop’ ‘come’ etc) a good recall is a must, too.
 
I have ducks and a parrot that all three of my dogs respect as off limits, I imagine they’d do the same for any other critter especially if raised from a pup with them.
 
My Doberman has herded cattle before and it’s not something that I’m aware of as being in his lineage, so I would say it’s entirely possible. He stayed cautious around them by being on the outside of the herd. I’m not sure he would protect them from predators though. Maybe if he thought the herd was his over time then he could become territorial over them. Dobermans seem to be the greedy kind, so that should work in your favor haha. He chased them off a hiking trail as they were not supposed to be there, but it's Canada lol, stuff like this happens more often than we expect.
 
Start training while she is young. I would tie her leash to your waist and let her go with you when you interact with the livestock. Bring treats so you can reward her positive progress and with her tied to you, you can correct negative behavior.
Exposure and setting consistent ground rules is what allows her to respect the rules and learn to either ignore the livestock or peacefully interact with them.

Bogie learned the hard way with my large Macaw ‘Golda’. He decided he wanted to sniff her butt...bad move on his part because Golda wasn’t going to let that slide. She very promptly wing slapped the crap out of him which had him scrambling to get away from her. Her wing span is about 4’- 4.5’. Now if he sees her walking around he gives her a W I D E berth.:D
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As you can see she has some powerful wings. :spit:
 
My Doberman lives on a ranch with horses,cattle,chickens, and my wife’s pet goats. The horses and cows he learned to pay them no attention through repetitive training and I never tried teaching him herding my dad has a couple border collies for that. The goats on the other hand he is very curious of them and I think more than anything wants to play with them but we have trained him and the goats to co exist. My thoughts more specifically while I was raised with border collies who have extreme desire to herd etc that through training they can be trained to herd on command and leave the cattle alone when not commanded to do so. While there is no denying the intelligence of a well bred border collie through interactions with both border collies and Dobermans there isn’t much difference in intelligence. My belief is supervision, consistent training and socialization are the most important things. When dogs do something wrong I’m of the opinion 90% or more of the time it’s a owner issue not a dog issue.
 
Rocky came from an all animal rescue that had all kinds of animals, there were no less than 5 Dobermans living there.
She had pretty strict no dogs around horses policy, which my Daisy immediately broke:rolleyes:
She’d never seen a horse in real life, only on TV:D seriously. :D
Chickens, ducks, goats, turkeys, horses, there was a variety.
I believe with training they can live with animals just fine.

As a side note here I used to pass a house on my way to work for close to 10 years. Two outdoor residents full time, a Pygmy goat and a pit bull.
No fences either.
They were always together.
They held down the front yard and never went in the street.
 
I live in an area where cattle free range. We often come across them on walks and they wander right up to home on occasions! It was a learning curve to start with and Jazz was up for the fun of a chase without a doubt, although our cattle are dog savvy with the wild dingoes and will charge a dog no worries. Must admit it was a battle to start with to stop her chase instinct but she was mostly good with the livestock out walking by about 8 months. Couldn't say the same about her chasing wildlife and it took a good quality e collar to stop that! I didn't use an e collar until she was well over a year old but the results are brilliant if used with good timing and common sense, just don't buy a cheap one thinking it will do. (I speak from experience!) Jazz is still territorial of her home space and will take exception to anything coming in, but apart from that is good with anything met out and about, even camels!

With the cattle dog in Birdie it might make her more inclined to want to "herd" your home livestock, but I doubt it will take too much to teach her to leave them be. As already suggested, tying her to your waist while she learns the boundaries is a brilliant idea and you might never have to resort to anything further! :)
 
We have three horses and all three of my Dobermans really paid them no mind. And none of them have ever seen a horse before. There was really no training. They were introduced and that was about it. My horses have never kicked anything. Ever. Except each other. ;) They've never kicked either of my dogs. And I have seen Kali run between their legs when Buddy is chasing her! I wouldn't tolerate the dogs chasing the horses or the horses kicking the dogs.:nono: but that has never happened.:thumbsup2:

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We have three horses and all three of my Dobermans really paid them no mind. And none of them have ever seen a horse before. There was really no training. They were introduced and that was about it.
This leads me to believe that a lot of how our animals interact with each other really depends on how confident/nervous the people are. If they take their cues from us, we really need to set the tone right off the bat. Of course, in your situation, you know all your animals. I think I would freak out with wildlife interactions because I’d be afraid for our safety whereas my hb tends not to be easily discouraged by the presence of wildlife.
 
This leads me to believe that a lot of how our animals interact with each other really depends on how confident/nervous the people are. If they take their cues from us, we really need to set the tone right off the bat. Of course, in your situation, you know all your animals. I think I would freak out with wildlife interactions because I’d be afraid for our safety whereas my hb tends not to be easily discouraged by the presence of wildlife.
Absolutely agree! The more laid back you are about interactions with other animals the better. Any excitement or anxiety on the part of the hooman will get excitement from the dog! Having said that, you could be asleep on your feet and your PUPPY will still be excited! :banghead:
 
No experience of dobes and livestock but I would imagine that they could most definitely co-exist with the correct handling, exposure and supervision.
Whilst she’s so young I would work on obedience (‘stop’ ‘come’ etc) a good recall is a must, too.
I do take koda with me to the rodeos my son is a bull rider koda does extremely well but he know all command style whistles,hand signals,an voice has long has you train her to come on command let her get used to the smell an getting a little closer each time to the animals I had to with the horses an the bulls but he’s so good now he just sits by my side an watches now but watch for ankle nips would be the heeler in her by the way she beautiful
 
Aww your goats are so cute!

We have a horse and an African Grey parrot and the parrots goal is to get his beak on Albert, but so far we've avoided it. Once in a while the horse and dogs like to play through the fence but I sort of discourage it since a horses hoof connecting with one of the dogs would not be good. Not that the horse is a kicker in any way but even running, you never know.

Silly canines. LOL
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This leads me to believe that a lot of how our animals interact with each other really depends on how confident/nervous the people are. If they take their cues from us, we really need to set the tone right off the bat. Of course, in your situation, you know all your animals. I think I would freak out with wildlife interactions because I’d be afraid for our safety whereas my hb tends not to be easily discouraged by the presence of wildlife.
And part of it is Dobermans are not particularly into herding. My neighbor next door has two Aussies and they chase their horses all the time. I get that it is what that breed does, but I don't like that at all. She turned down a rescue horse because it kicked at her dog. Well, then don't have your dog chase your horse! Neither one is right. But if the dog wasn't chasing the horse, the horse may have not kicked the dog! I would never allow that. But then I don't consider these people very smart when it comes to animals. :thumbdown:
 
Thank you for sharing your experiences and great advice! We’ve been working with Birdie and she’s been doing very well around the goats. For some reason, she seems to be “hungrier” for the sheep. @Logan 45 -as you mentioned, I think she’s also curious about the goats and sees them more as friends to play with where the sheep relationship seems a bit more predatory. So, more work required but progress!

@Tropicalbri's - I can understand being intimidated by your parrot. It’s huge!!! Really beautiful though!!

@Gelcoater - that’s a sweet story about the goat and pitt. Being herd animals, goats really need companionship so it’s nice he found a friend in that pupper.
 

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