# Dogs and goats



## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

Been tossing the idea of getting a goat or two to help with weeds and the like around the house. I currently have 3/4 or so of an acre fenced in and can VERY easily expand that to 1.5 acres fenced. Was wondering if anyone knows if goats and dogs co-existing has any bad consequences. Banjo is good with animals and I do not foresee an issue with interaction. My question is more in line with disease transmission, parasites, and general sanitation issues.

Goats poop and pee. Nothing holds more interest to a dog than poop and pee. Does goat p/p harbor nasties for dogs?

Goats have blood, so fleas/ticks/mosquitos will have interest in goats. Any blood-borne diseases that goats can pass on to dogs?


----------



## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

A friend had a goat... past tense. Her dog killed it.

When working stock, my dog had a tendency to be too strong, so the stock owner put a opinionated billy goat in with the flock. That goat and my dog went round and round.
I would not leave a dog loose with a goat unless I knew both very, very, well.


----------



## Davey Benson (Nov 10, 2010)

I have livestock.










Here is a photo of one of my Great Pyrenees curled up next to five of my little dairy does.

Here's what I can tell you. I have two Great Pyrs, they are my LGD's and I sleep very well at night knowing they are looking after their charge. They aren't dogs though, they are Pyrs. 

I also have a GSD, and she does not get to interact with the livestock EVER, unsupervised. GSD's are more divey, drivey, and intergetic. (note I didn't use the term agressive, but it's a close call) GSD's are more metally geared along the same lines as your livestock herding/cutting dogs, like border collies, blue heelers, australian shepherds. My GSD was a rescue, and she is a little bit older. (hard to say how old, perhaps 5 maybe 7) She has never been around other animals. She gets along pretty well with my other dogs. I have never let her be around my chickens. (they probably taste just like chicken) She has never botherd my goats when she has been with them, but she has mauled a sheep, and a calf before, so she is NOT to be trusted around the stock. She can be fine, but they are just too irrestable to play with, and once she can get them running and yelling, then it's all over, and I'm doctoring up an animal with multiple lacerations, and puncture wounds.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I recomend starting off the dog as a young pup, exposing them to livestock, desensitizing them to the animals, and correcting them when they run the stock. They must learn that the livestock are not something to play with. (sometimes livestock make great squeeky toys that taste a little like raw hamburger, not a good thing for a dog to learn) You will have to be able to trust your dog explicitly with your other animals. 

A GSD is better suited however for a herding dog. I can use my GSD for helping to bring in the herd of cattle. She is great about runing around the back side, and keeping everyone together, and motivating them to go where I want them. She has terrific recall, and she can be turned on and off like a light switch. (better than some of my other cattle dogs) 

As for the mechanics of what can be catchy. I would be more worried about what your dog can give to the goats. If your dog is all caught up on it's vacines (ie rabies), and is current on a nice broad spectrium anti-parisite like Heartguard Max, there should be no problem. *edit* Also I should add, I don't let my Pyrs lick on me. I see what their diet consists of, and.... ya.... no thanks! They can keep that tongue to themselves.

There is really very few zooalogical deseases that can carry between goat and dog species. 

One thing with handling goats, you will need to be prepaired to do (or have done for you) things like hoof trimming, and doctoring. You will need to watch for hoof rot, and ORF (sore mouth), and ring worm. Other than that, goats are realitvly easy to take care of. Oh yes.... goats live to escape, and if there is any weakness in your fence they will exploit it. I recomend at least a four foot high woven wire goat fence. (unless you are on really good terms with your neighbors and they don't mind goats grazing their rose bushes.)


----------



## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

Thanks for the info.

Banjo likes goats, or has thus far. No chasing, just sniffing and in a few cases he leans on them. Go figure.

Chickens? Hah. There are two types of chickens that Banjo has met. Fast ones and dead ones. I guess a chicken insulted him at some point.

Separating the animals would be very possible, and was the plan while I was away. Only allowing the animals access to the same lot while I was around.

Again, thanks for the information.


----------



## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I am by no means a goat expert. But when my daughter was younger she wanted a goat. We bought he a little nanny goat from an auction. Sweetest thing ever. She was very protective of my daughter. They played together as if the goat were a dog. We kept her seperate from the dogs. As long as there was one dog and the goat all was fine. But if you had more than one dog out, then things got a little jumpy. 

Then one day a friend was moving and asked if I'd take her Billy goat till she was settled. Sure! Why not? I didn't want baby goats and I was able to keep them seperated easy enough. But the nasty, stinky, disgusting things that Billy goat did to impress his woman. BLECH! I had no idea.


----------



## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Yep.... Bills are icky!

I think one thing health wise to watch for is mange. Goats can transmit to dogs. Most other stuff that I know of is like Davey Benson said, more dangerous to the goat than the dog.


----------



## Davey Benson (Nov 10, 2010)

yes.... a billy goat will pee all over himself, and everything else, when they get to mating age. they think they smell like roses. 

One goat will be a sad and lonly goat unless she has someone to interact with, a dog, a human kid, etc. It's best to get goats in multiples. Sheep are the same way. My billy has gotten used to my male pyr, and when I take the dog out of the pen, billy will cry, and cry, and cry.

And if you get a young one, one that is bottle fed, or one you have bottle rasied, they will be pets, and will act like dogs or cats, always being under foot, trying to trip you, climb on you, rub on you, and pat you with their front feet. 

Mange wont' be an issue if you put a one drop on your dog, like frontline.


----------



## Cara Fusinato (May 29, 2011)

I currently have 2 llamas and 2 large goats in one pasture area and 2 mini goats in another area (for safety from the larger goats who will beat them up). I have an Aussie and a little GSD mix pup. My dogs don't EVER interact with the livestock except for a small section of fence that touches dog area to mini goat area. I used to have a bunch of sheep and my lead ewe tried to butt the Aussie to death so that was that. Poo eating is a favorite. You can keep your goats wormed with ivermectin and your dog heartgarded with the same and that seems to work. But that is rather unsavory to think about and I am NOT into the dogs eating the goat poo and then just coming in my house and sleeping on my bed. Yes, frontline (and such) handles the topical should there be a mite situation. I just don't think I would mix the two unless they were raised togther. Someone is going to get hurt. We have a neighbor who shot 2 of his own dogs after they mauled/killed sheep. With his replacement dogs, he just shot the injured sheep and sold the rest. On fencing, goats are escape artists. Think octopus -- they can get through any hole. They can climb trees. They can climb under fences. If a goat is in a pasture, it WANTS to be there. Also, watch the horns. A goat with horns will be happy to use it (on dogs, on kids, on wildlife, on your fence, on the trees or sides of buildings). All of ours are dehorned and that helps. My advice. Get 2 llamas and don't let the dog get in with them (dogs and llamas are a no no). Llamas are easy keepers and graze not only the ground but the foliage up from the ground. When there is nothing to graze, it's easy to feed pellets. They don't necessarily eat too much and are big enough to take care of themselves with most predators. Choose a local breeder who will come give them a body shear once a year (or a barrel cut which is where the heat situation is in summer). We love our goats, but they certainly are a challenge. Llamas, they totally rock (and don't spit like the reputation). Neither llamas or goats are ravenous like sheep who will strip the world to dirt and pull all up by the roots so there is no reseeding. Sheep are easy to keep in the fenceline but dumb as a box of rocks and still will go after a dog unless the sheep are as used to dogs as dogs are to the sheep. Hope this helps. Goats are evil (and I can say that because I have FOUR).


----------



## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

I agree, I had 2 pygmy goats, got them when they were a few months, they bleated all day long, could open any door and were constantly raiding the feed room and getting into the grain, I had to keep dog collars on them cause I was CONSTANTLY dragging them out of the feed room, they ate no weeds, only my roses!!!! I never left them with the dogs as the Shepherds would go nuts when the goats chased each other around the yard playing, one day one got in the dog yard while I was at work and was seriously injured, than I kept the goats with the horses, but they drove the horses nuts by getting into their feeders while they were trying to eat their hay, my Saddlebred grabbed one by the neck and flung him about 10 feet in the air,after that, I decided me and goats were not happening, gave them to a friend that does pony parties and they had a safe, good life with her.


----------

