australian shepherd afraid of animals

ok i have an aussie really cute if i say so myself picture100_0904_1.JPG i dont know if it will put a pic on but any way her name is shepherdess sakura inu , or inu for short but she is afraid of our goats ducks and geese. she wont heard the goats unless im right there holding onto her and she wont go near the ducks and geese unless you force her which i am not going to do she has no problem with the chickens or cats but i need some advise on how to get her to herd more than 2 species :0011: . please help me [-o< .

 

How old is she?

 

she is 2 1/2 years although i can understand her being afraid of the geese they did attack her but she wont go within 10 ft of them

 

Have you just aquired this dog? Has she previously been socialized with these types of animals?

 

I would go with the typical recipe of counter-conditioning and desensitization.

Counter conditioning means taking something the dog thinks is bad and associating it with something good. As in, every time the dog sees a goose, she gets little bits of hot dog (or to play frisbee, or whatever the dog really loves).

Desensitization means you gradually get the dog used to whatever it is that bothers her. For instance, you go somewhere she can see a goose, but it's not close enough to alarm her. You treat her, play with her, train her, whatever. Then you move a little closer. You should never be so close that the dog reacts with fear. If she does, you have gone too fast so just back up to the last place that was okay.

Given time (like weeks or more) and practice, these methods should eventually enable her to be around geese (or whatever) without reacting.

 

well i got her at exactly 8 weeks she was raised with a cow but the cow was behind a fence. well she sees the geese every day cuase we own them. she also sees the ducks and the goats every day. what we are thinking of doing is having her brothers come visit and have them show her how to herd the goats. what we fear is that because they herd cattle they will be a little bit to rough with our goats cause our goats are angora goats which are one of the most stobborn breeds of goat, so the boys will try getting them to go and if they wont thy'll "come in for the kill" if you know what i mean.

 

Just a few questions first so I can see the full picture here and can better help you.

First, did you start the puppy when you first got him?
second, is he fully obediance trained?


When the goose attacked him did they cause any pain? or just chase him.

Sometimes when they get scared by an animal or other object, it takes a while to get them reused to it.

Smokey got "attacked" one time by our cat.... he would chase the cat, and one day it just had enough of him and turned around and swatted and hissed at him. After that and up till the day he died, he wouldn't go near the cat, would actually go WAY around it to keep away from him. LOL.. Yet he'd herd the cows that turned and butted at him....LOL..

One thing I can tell you, is don't push him too hard.
In my training program and the teqniques I uses start when the pup is about 4-5 weeks old. They should be "exposed" to the cattle or what they are going to be working at that age.

NOt necessarily herding them or coming in contact with them, but they need to see them, and other dogs working them.

When the pups are about 4-5 weeks old we start some obediance. YEs somepeopel think, how does a puppy that young train.. well they do, but not in the sence that you think. By playing with them and slowing getting them to do what i want them to do, they learn. Their playing but they learn from how they play.

By 6-8 weeks, we start a bit more on strict obediance. And going out to the field. I'll usually take a fully trained dog and let the pup run with him/her. The older dogs will teach the pup some things.

But not all dogs are cut out for it. Some have no intrest in it whatso ever.

A good sign taht your puppy wants to do it, is when young, he should be attentive to the livestock, want to approach and not readilly shy. It should be a very out going and confident puppy and not get stressed in diffrent situations.
He should want to play rough, and herd smaller things and his littermates, may even try it on you.

A puppy that is lazy, shows no intrest in the livestock or moving things, wants to play more with YOU than other things, and doesn't have the drive to herd on its own, usually isn't cut out for it.

 

i think the geese may have biten her but mostly just chased. we only had the chickens when we first got her we got the goats right before she turned 2. im not pushing her hard just rying to encourage her. like when i want her to get the goats out of their shed she will not go in alone so i go with her but i try not to touch her. she was exposed to a cow from the time she was born till she was 8 weeks. inu (my dog) does show alot of interest in the goats and ducks but shes just nervous. actually whats funny is she has gotten so good with the chickens that she chases them into a corner and places her paws on them until we come to grab the bird. she knows only to do this when the bird is in the front yard. or a couple days ago she chased a hen into a cage and held her there until i got there but i told her to soon that her job was finished so she let go of the bird and the hen went flying out of the cage. inu automattically went after the hen and stuffed her under the cages. i released inu from her job and i grabbed the bird. as i walked away with her inu followed. she knows how to herd shes just afraid of certain animals.

 

I would focus then more on the animals she's afraid of and stay away from the ones' she's used too... Get what I'm saying. keep up with the geese and what ever else she's uncertain about. The more exposure she gets, the more used to herding them she'll get. Praise her MORE for doing good with the animals she's afraid of than you would the chickens or smaller other ones.

Sounds like you're doing the right things though.