Overview: We have a 16 months old male GSD (Rocky). We live on a farm and have a large fenced in yard with a large kennel in it for him. The other animals on our farm are: 3 miniature horses, 1 donkey, 8 head of cattle, 8 guinea, and about 20 chickens.

The layout of our farm is such that the fillies are in a pasture to themselves and the other livestock run free. The chickens are caged except for later in the afternoon when they are let loose to feed on bugs. Then they are re-caged for the night and next day.

We have over 70 acres total and would love to let Rocky out of the yard off-leash.

Here is where the trouble comes in...the donkey literally pesters Rocky. She comes to the fence and brays at him, runs back and forth and lunges at the fence until he is so wound up that he won't even listen to me. He has a path where he has chased her completely around the fence border. I have tried keeping him in his kennel (which is about 30 feet from the fence) and she still has him so riled up that he won't stop barking or running around his kennel.

A few months ago during out of the yard training, he was completely ignoring her and had his eyes only on what I was doing with him. He really was doing wonderful with EVERY command. I had him off-leash and the donkey saw him...she ran over to me and the look in her eyes was, "Watch this, I can get him, now." She walked right up to me and Rocky just stayed with me. Then she placed herself between Rocky and me. I called Rocky back and just as I did, she kicked him...the chase was on. He chased her over the farm with her kicking him and him trying to subdue her. He is not trained in herding, but he did a perfectly good job according to the herding video I got from Leerburg. He finally grabbed her back leg in him mouth (no penetration of his teeth) and took her to the ground, she sat on his head, which gave me time to get to him. As soon as he felt my hand on his collar he released and she jumped up and ran off. During this time he wouldn't look at me, listen to me or pay any attention to the e-collar that I had on him. At one point I had it as high as it would go and held the button for 4 seconds with absolutely NO response from him (he was very hyped-up).

The issues are this: 1) He feels that he has to chase and subdue everything that moves. Is there a time that drive diminishes? 2) He tries to round up the chickens/guineas (which he is good at) but he kills them when he grabs them...he is gentle, but persistent that the chicken/guinea doesn't move. (They get in the yard occasionally - he is not let out to chase them) 3) He barks incessantly at the donkey...all day and all night.
4) When out of the yard off-leash he tries to get away to herd the cattle and horses. And when we are playing with him in the lower pasture away from the horses and cattle we have to keep him completely engaged so he doesn't run for the livestock in the other pastures.

Rocky is an awesome dog and I would love to train him to leave the other animals alone, especially the donkey, but I don't know if that is feasible. If there is no way to train him to leave her alone our only option is to give her away.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Herding of equids by dogs is best left to experienced herding dogs. Donkeys in particular will face up and strike and are IME dangerous for dogs. Some folks run donkeys to protect livestock from coyotes. They are determined and relentless in their drive to eliminate canines from the area, acting as though the best defense is a good offense. FYI I have known them to be dangerous to newborn calves as well.

What training have you tried?

Do you want him to actually herd your fowl and livestock, or to leave them alone?

Do you think he understands what you want? (That one's rhetorical. He clearly doesn't.)

Yes, there is a way to train him. But you've got to break down each of these 101 behaviors and distractions into baby steps and actually teach them to the dog. I'd start out by not letting him off leash or a long line until he is under control. Doing what he wants is self-rewarding. You've got to give him a reason to do what YOU want.

You'll get lots of advice here. You've definitely found the very best place to learn. Welcome. And stick around. Sometimes new people get their feelings hurt too easily when someone suggests they are doing the wrong thing and offers criticism or advice. Please remember that you ASKED for advice. We want this to work out for you and Rocky. It sounds like a wonderful place for a dog--and he sounds like a great dog who just needs to have some clearer job training.

P.S. I'm really envious of your farm and all the animals. You're living my dream life!

I have seen a GSD in serious condition from a donkey kick - severely bruised lungs, cracked ribs, etc. Rocky's own safety demands he leave the donkey alone. You can get tons of training advice here.

Build a pen/pasture for the donkey out of sight of the yard.

Donkeys are used for livestock guardians for a good reason - they are able to intimidate/kill predators. They are ready and willing to chase kick and go on the offensive against canines. Even though he seemed to do a perfect job of herding her, this is something that you want to avoid at all costs. One well placed kick she could easily kill the dog.

The donkey has it in her head that she is out to get the dog. Perhaps she sees him as a threat to herself/the other animals on the farm. Perhaps she just doesn't like him. But you can't really teach him to leave her alone if she is constantly able to pick on him. And the more opportunity they have to spar, the more the animosity is going to build for both dog and donkey.

So your best bet is to remove her from the situation. With 70 acres, you should be able to have some place to put her out of sight of the yard.

As far as the other animals go, it can be a long training process. It can take a long time to train a high drive dog to ignore small critters. As for drive diminishing, as long as he keeps satisfying himself with chasing/catching critters its going to continue. Its a highly self rewarding behavior. I have three Border Collies and only the 12 y/o will reliably leave small critters alone. The 6 y/o and 2 y/o are always supervised.

 Quote: Becky Shilling

I have seen a GSD in serious condition from a donkey kick - severely bruised lungs, cracked ribs, etc. Rocky's own safety demands he leave the donkey alone. You can get tons of training advice here.

Just to hit on how serious Becky is... I've seen Donkey's KILL dogs, with no effort. Be careful. Keep your donk away from your dog!

I am a big fan of electrical fences. I have a dog agressive stallion. The fence is low enough that the dog will get zap if they try to go in and high and strong for the stud.

I first had the dog on a long line and teach them that the stud pasture is out of bond, then I let them get a zap while on long line just like for the invisible fence.

My 2 dogs now won't go near any horse fence. One is back on long line as he now can't figure out that cats outside of the barn are not to be chased.

If I can't supervise, the dogs are crated in side.

Okay, for starters, I DON'T want him to herd!!!!! I had him out and the donkey came to us when she saw him out of the fence. I KNOW donkeys are dangerous to dogs. We have one only bec of the high incidence of coyotes and other "varmints" that attack cattle.

I bought the herding video bec he was running the fences and I wanted to learn more about the behavior and why he did it and to be able to control his drive better.

I want him to LEAVE THE LIVESTOCK ALONE...lol and he knows that, but it is like he can't control himself, and maybe he can't, yet, bec he is still considered a puppy (a 125 pound puppy, but a puppy none the less)

To Tracy - You wrote, "But you've got to break down each of these 101 behaviors and distractions into baby steps and actually teach them to the dog. I'd start out by not letting him off leash or a long line until he is under control. Doing what he wants is self-rewarding. You've got to give him a reason to do what YOU want." - Question regarding this...what is my reason for him to do what I want him to do? I know this sounds silly, but can you explain? Keep reading below...

We have used the Leerburg videos and read nearly all the e-books. He is a very well behaved dog, although not great around people, yet. We took him with us on vacation (bec we wanted to expose him to other people and animals...the other life outside our farm) and everyone commented about how good he was, but he is very protective of "his family" and would growl and snarl at other people (my and my husbands families) any time we were around them...he had to stay in his crate or on a leash away from people.

Anyway, back to the original subject: We do keep him away from the other animals except when he is on a leash for a walk or a chicken/guinea flies into the yard. Because we have 7 children we also keep him in his kennel when we are not outside with them.

Thanks for the replies. Any specific ways of teaching him to leave the cattle, chickens and horses alone are very much appreciated.

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Build a pen/pasture for the donkey out of sight of the yard.
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I'd start out by not letting him off leash or a long line until he is under control.

2. " ... he is very protective of "his family" and would growl and snarl at other people (my and my husbands families) any time we were around them" .... this is not being protective, although it's a very common misconception. I'm guessing he needs some off-farm experiences that start small and comfortable. (Maybe best taken up in a separate thread.)

3. A biggy: How did you teach the recall? (I'm not foolish enough to think you can instill such a bulletproof recall that the dog in full chase will comply, but I definitely think you can have a recall with timing that will deter him from heading that way. You mentioned that he isn't around the animals off leash; which ones are you hoping to allow him around off leash?)

4. "During this time he wouldn't look at me, listen to me or pay any attention to the e-collar that I had on him. At one point I had it as high as it would go and held the button for 4 seconds with absolutely NO response from him (he was very hyped-up)." NOT a good use of the e-collar, which I'm sure you already concluded.

PS

JMO; I don't think the dog and the donkey can have any access to each other, including visual. JMO.