# LGD getting bullied by sheep



## angelspeeper (Sep 6, 2012)

I hope someone knows how to fix this problem. I was told to get a LGD as a puppy to raise with the animals it will evetually protect. Ok, I did that. My Pyre puppy is now 4 months old and is getting bullied by the sheep. She lives in the barn with the sheep 24/7, but does NOT have free contact with the sheep. She is in a chain-link dog kennel inside the barn, and the sheep are locked in the barn at night. (because of predators) The puppy is only in actual contact with the sheep when I am there and the pup is on leash. My sheep are somewhat calm. But the adult ewes will walk up from as far away as 15-20 feet. come within 1-2 feet of the pup, stop and look at her and then butt the snot out of her. They do not stop until I intervene. How do I get the sheep to accept the pup as their guardian when she is bigger? I don't want to make the puppy scared of the sheep that she will eventually guard. What can I do?


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Puppy is too close to the sheep if they can butt her. You might want to put her in a pen with some small lambs for a few minutes at a time.


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## angelspeeper (Sep 6, 2012)

Maura said:


> Puppy is too close to the sheep if they can butt her. You might want to put her in a pen with some small lambs for a few minutes at a time.



The puppy spends most of her time in a chain-link dog kennel within the barn while the sheep have free access to all the other parts of the barn. The ewes seem fine around her (the pup) as long as she is IN the kennel. The pup is only allowed out when I can supervise her. (meaning I'm right there and pup is on a leash)

I was afraid to put her in with the lambs because she wants to "play" with them. (read it as....she gets too rough) They are her size so she wants to treat them like her littermates.

At first I thought it was the mommas being protective over their lambs. So I walked her out into the pasture where there were only OPEN ewes. The same thing happened. At first the ewes came closer like they were curious. But would stop about 15-20 feet away from me and the pup.(she was still on a leash) Then sure enough one would get brave and march right over to the pup, look at her and then proceed to butt the snot out of her. Now the pup is getting scared of the adults. She sees them coming her way and turns tail to leave before they get there.

We NEED some sort of guardian as we have a BIG predator problem. I had a female donkey...TWICE. Both times the donkey would attack the ewes. At first I thought it was just the one donk. Got rid of her and got a different female donk...same thing happened again. So I got rid of that donk too. After much hesitation we got a LGD pup.

Did I get a dud for a LGD? Is there any hope of convincing the sheep to accept the pup and making this work?


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm watching this thread because I've never heard of such an occurrence. 

My first thoughts are the puppy needs to gain some confidence and "enjoy" life; and to me, that is more important that that young age.

I remember when I first got my Karakachan. She was only "2 months" old. Yet, she was so playful and agile that, should any of my goats even start to butt her, she would move away. I'm wondering why your pup is letting them beat on her!


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## ONG2 (Sep 22, 2010)

I would try taking the pup off the leash. Many LGD will lie down and be submissive to an approaching sheep. Be sure to monitor the situation and see what happens.


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