# Need help with my dog barking at cows.



## Vernitta (Aug 29, 2008)

We've moved to the country and our neighbor has cows. Tally has never seen cows before. I'm not sure if they scare her or if she feels she needs to protect us from them. There's a lot of brush between our land and our neighbor that has the cows. So, she doesn't always see them, only when they come close. This can make a training session a little hard, too.
She has a pretty strong "leave-it", but that didn't work. To be honest it doesn't work with the cat, either. It only works when she's messing with something inanimate. 
Telling her "ok", which is what I use to say "all done", didn't work. Trying to reassure her didn't work either. 
When I called her away she came, but barking the whole time. 
I'm not sure how to teach her to not bark at the cows. They aren't a threat or something to worry about. Perhaps I could just tell her "No" every time she barks at them. If it's because of fear then will telling her no work? I would rather she have confidence and not be afraid of the cows.


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## RoughCollie (Mar 7, 2011)

Nothing I do prevents Aidan from barking at cows. He barks and jumps around, they stop what they are doing and stare at him. He's not afraid of them -- he is absolutely delighted to see them.

Your dog is a shepherd. I bet he wants to herd them. My collie had a strong herding instinct and he'd bark at animals he wanted to herd. He actually could have been a big help to the dairy farmer across the street, but he wasn't trained to be safe around farm animals - he was a former suburban dog - and the cows weren't used to being herded.

I wonder if there is a group that does herding somewhere near you, if your dog likes that.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

How long have you lived there? Out of my crew only one was obsessed about barking at the cows every time and wanting to go after them if he had the opportunity.. Open range cows, they rotate the herds during the year from Mommas with babies, to young to older, to bulls for breeding season then no cows at all in snowy months. Very spread out with herds passing by to on their way to a water spot. I didn't disagree with the barking I would acknowledge (yes cows) and bring them in the house, for the obsessed one having him learn to be able to let go and come inside was a better accomplishment goal then worrying about the barking considering where to start. He loved the cows so much I used the cows for training to give him more exposure to the cows to get over the excitement about them teach him to work around them.. Property fence wasn't completed when we moved in so I put him on a long line and let him "drive them back to the road and not trying to rub on the house and my trucks" him being so barky lungy maniac made him perfect for the job.. and he loved it.. And he learned a boundary.. Drive the cows to the road, but once on the road the game was over and the cows were fine to let it go "job done" and we go back to the house... To me it's ok to be excited about the cows, it's ok to bark at them, it's ok to let it go that the cows are fine and just time living here that the cows were normal... Adele was obsessed at the commercial windmills they put up about 7 miles from us... once they started moving, it was daily for her to bark at them , that they not right..... all I could do was support her that I saw them too and walk away inside.. and let her bark for a while about them, then tell her it was time to come in side to give it a rest.. over time she bark on her own the same length of time I let her sit out there and bark over it , then she let it go on her own even when I wasn't there to call her in... Now with time, she over it, it's normal doesn't even notice them any more..


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

I think it's a great sign that she will come away from them when you call her! She's not going over threshold, so you CAN train her out of that, starting at a comfortable distance. Possibly starting when she's just looking for them and sniffing for them and can't see them yet. Maybe use the LAT game so she creates positive associations with them. Especially if she's afraid or unsure of them. Hey, she can't bark as much with her mouth being busy with treats, right?! If the cows are present and she starts to get too excited, increase the distance. A dumb thing that helps me with foster dogs and this is to tell them, "oh my goodness, COWS, aren't they gorgeous! They're adorable," etc. all the while feeding high value treats. So that cows are the best thing ever and they make treats appear! Then you could progress to ho hum, cows again and focus her attention on you and training - then she gets the yummy treats for that.

A dog can perceive cows, sheep and goats as being kind of rude with their body language; a cow will just stare and maybe come straight forward to investigate. Where as another polite dog would not stare, would not come straight forward to your dog (he would approach on a curve) and would be sniffing the ground often. She should get used to their different body language over time and realize they aren't threatening her.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

they look and smell different, mine still run at the fences when the livestock (we have horses, goats and donkeys) comes too close to the fence, I actually kind of like it because it keeps them from leaning over the fence to graze LOL. 

If she isn't bothering them and isn't trying to go through or over the fence at them, I would just let her be, she will learn that that aren't a threat on her own, but if you want to speed it up, wait til she STOPS barking at them on her own and reward her for it.


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## Vernitta (Aug 29, 2008)

We've been here about three weeks now. The first time she barked at the cows I was with her. I figured she was barking at them, because she felt like she needed to protect me or run them off. Her body language didn't seem like she wanted to play nor was just interested in them. The second time she barked at them I wasn't out there, but went to see what she was barking at. She's barked a couple other times that I can't say for sure was at the cows or not. When that happened I just called her into the house. 
There's so much brush around our property and the neighbor's property is so vast that I won't know when/if we will see the cows on any given day. I can't stay out there hoping for an opportunity to train her, either.
Another thing I need to take into consideration is the fact that we are going to get a cow someday and I don't want her to be afraid of it nor think she needs to protect us from it. I guess I could just call her off the cows when she barks at them and save the real training for when we get our cow.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

What kind of dog is she? That's what I do with my dogs, when they bark at the livestock I just call them away from them. It may seem like it takes forever but it will work


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

That's a good idea, to wait until you get your own cow. As long as she comes when you call her you're great. IF you did want to do a little counter conditioning before that, it might help to know that cows follow a pretty set routine. They will tend to go to a certain part of the field at certain times of day, following the same path to get there. I bet once your dog realizes that a cow delivers beautiful, aromatic, warm wet pies - JUST FOR HER - she will be thrilled!


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## Vernitta (Aug 29, 2008)

Thank you for all of your help and suggestions.

OwnedbyACDs, I was told she's an australian shepherd/german shepherd cross. I doubt she has and german shepherd in her, though.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Do you have a pic? She sounds pretty. 

I second waiting til you get your own cow, until then just redirect when you find her barking at the cows, maybe give her a flirt pole or Triebbal ball to vent her herding instinct.

But you don't want to punish her for something that is instinctual and she can't help it, just call her back to you, every time and redirect her to the Triebbal ball or flirt pole, maybe you can recondition her to transfer her need to herd or control the cows to a toy, I have had success with this.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

I can share our experience -- we have super barky dogs that moved to the country 2 years ago. Last summer the tenant farmer got some cows and a calf, (the pasture next to ours) and our dogs were barking alot. Well 10 year old decided she wanted to feed the cows (got this OKd) so we would go out and feed em some carrots every afternoon, (the pasture is seperated by a back access road so there is alittle space)-- it calmed the dogs down a bunch once the routine got in place-- she would go with the carrots, the cows would come up to the fence, she would climb through and feed them (standing on the outside of Their fence) and the dogs realized they were not scary and left them be.....
thats what worked for us. (Now farmer has gone and moved, not sure if we would have to repeat this process with new cows)...


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## doggiepop (Feb 27, 2014)

i take it the dog you're talking about isn't dog in your avatar. your dog is an Aussie/German Shepherd mix.
i think her herding instincts makes her interested in the cows. if my dog barked at the neighbors cows
i would go out with my leashed train around the cows.


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