When the Dog Meets the Horse

Missie the Doberman got to meet Knight and a few other horses on Saturday; our new place allows dogs on leash. It went a bit smoother than I expected. My Dobergirl is a barker and when she’s not barking, she’s otherwise quite verbal with squeals and other strange sounds I’ve never heard a dog make before. Shrill karate movie sounds.

My neighbor’s pool guy and the UPS driver would probably say she’s a threatening dog as she’s on alert when anyone comes near the house. She’s really only uber confident at our house. I took her to an intro to agility class about nine months ago and the trainer said at the end of the series that Missie’s anxiety level was still a bit too high for her to take the next series (after doing a run with two jumps she literally ran past me into her open crate!).

When Knight turned around and came toward us, she backed away, shrinking lower to the ground. She did not totally panic, but did seem alarmed at such large beasts.

I had my nerdy doggie treat fanny pack full with assorted high value dog treats for rewards. At one point Knight’s neighbor came over and stuck his whole head over the rail and I kept petting him and let Misse watch. She came closer, but when he extended his head down a little lower, she scooted backward a few steps. I gave her a treat for being brave. By the time we were done she was just inches away from him and he blew on her gently.

While I was trying to be both the Dog Whisperer and Horse Whisperer simultaneously, my husband was constructing a deck box into which we will now be storing one bale of hay at a time so that I can supplement Knight’s feeding for bedtime. When he finished the project this is what he did.

I didn’t ride (I have a sinus infection and low energy), so I turned Knight out into a paddock and continued the dog training which was really just walking her around and treating her from time to time so she’d focus on me.

Missie was really a good girl until I put her in the car the last few minutes while I was finishing up fly spraying Knight and treating a few of his random sores with ointment. When she saw me working on Knight and she was stuck in the car, she began codependent, pathetic barks. Perhaps she was unnerved that I was lavishing attention on another animal?

I would like to continue bringing Missie out to the barn in the evenings when it’s quiet. I’m actually glad that she is seemingly respectful of the horses, but I would like her to be a bit less spooked herself. Perhaps one day she will be comfortable enough to befriend a horse–or at least take the next series of beginner agility classes.

 

What advice do you have for safely integrating a dog with horses?

Thanks for reading my blog! Hope you have a great day!

P.S. I have recently resurrected my presence on Instagram (and have already found some of my fun fellow horse bloggers!). If you need more horse, Doberman, or Golden Retriever pictures in your life, check it out.

P.S.S. If Twitter is your preference, you can follow me at @saddlseekshorse.

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