Hi all... Kai and i were out for a walk down the road last week, when we came to a field with cows near to the fence. Kai had already spotted them and had stopped, to watch them.( not seen cows before ) he then started with growly little woofs, he walked on a cpl of steps and stopped and growly woofed again... as thou to say "ok come on bring it on " with that one of the cows that had been watching decided she wanted to investigate and in a very leisurely way walked 2/3 steps towards the fence and us.... with that kai took to his heels and ran, dragging me, all the way home.... :D
he refused yesterday to walk past the field where the cows are... so im going to have to go out today with a pocket full of treats to tempt him past them. its funny how he's fine with sheep and big horses in fields :-)

I would not discourage this fear of cows at all unless he is destined to be a farm dog who will be herdign cattle.  Cattle can be very dangerous and several people walking ehri dogs have been trampled to death by protective Cows.

A fear of cows is fine but he refused to walk past the field, even though we were on the other side of the road (4 mtrs away).....its a bit difficult to avoid them when i live in the country and its big farming round me. i never know which fields they are going to be in next. i understand what you are saying, we dont walk in the fields where there are livestock of any kind, we are simply walking down the road which passes the fields in which the cows are. I dont think the cows are being protective... i think they are just nosy, they often wander over to the fence when people go past even those without dogs :-)

We had this problem with 5 month old Callia, only the "problem" for her was rams with huge horns and not cows :P Stupid thing is, she is already the same size as them.

Where we used to live we had ewes in the field that backed onto our garden, who were far less interested in her than the rams are here and she didn't seem to notice them, but then she was only 3 months old and was only just beginning to learn about other species.

And like Kai, she does all the growly little woofs and then reverses at 100mph. I now make a point of walking past them with her everyday, working on the presumption that she will become immune eventually and totally ignoring her neurotic behaviour ( I'm sure she is going through a chemical brain change at the moment and is displaying the most freakish behaviour) I have even been known to put my hand in my treat pocket to distract her, let her get the sniff and this normally takes her mind off the scary woolly jumpers long enough for her to get past them.

Latest neurosis? Chickens!! She has almost conquered the rams but chickens are now public enemy number 1 :D Good job she doesn't equate them to the raw chicken carcasses that she eats :P

I must admit, we avoid walks with cows because they can be very unpredictable esp. if they have calves....
So we avoid lots of lovely countryside well known walks but feel safer!

Lindsay
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lol @ hairypooch
definately think i will try nice smelly treats in pocket on the walks,  i popped down to the shop this afternoon i noticed we have a few more cows in another field aaaarrrggh lol ... so it doesnt matter which way i walk now there are cows..... so kai is going to have to be a brave boy  if he wants his walkies :D 

We went walking down the local public footpath and normally the farmer will put a sign on the edge of the post saying cows sheep in field when i walked past no cows or sheep and could not see them , so me n pup jumped the sty and got 100 m in the field an 13 young bullocks came charging at us !! the public foot path goes through his field, looky dud was so scared he hid be hind me !! leaving me to face them i just tryed to scare them off and ran for my life. i went to the farmer the  next day who couldnt be more apolligetic sorry fot the spelling i have difficulties , he sent us well the dogs some treats

I was always under the impression farmers have a duty to provide access to public footpaths through their land?
We are having problems at the moment with a farmer allowing his cattle to roam onto the footpath making it unpassable.

if i remember rightly... a public footpath no matter what land (farmers/woodland etc) must be kept obstruction free at all times as its a legal right of way to the public. i would have a word with the council as it sounds like the farmer is in the wrong there :-)

There's nothing illegal about having livestock (except dairy bulls over 10 months of age) in a field with a footpath crossing it, unless the cows are actually standing on the footpath, making it physically impossible for you to get past! This and this might help clarify the matter.
:)

Thank you for that very imformative.
Its the fact that its not an open field as such for part of the way, there are three parts to this footpath two parts are sectioned by kissing gates but the last part is not and the cattle come down this last section making it muddy and full of cow carp and often than not there are some cows standing just at the exit of this footpath just before it widens into the field. (If you get my meaning). Making it truly unpassable on around 4days out of 7 even in wellies!

This is the only way to access the mountains unless you want to take a further 4mile hike around this part.

I would truly avoid taking dogs in  fields with cows...I have walked through fields of cows safely with a dog, but also been chased...and I know of at least 3 people who have had the same experience.

I also remember the sad story of one woman who walked in the same field every day with her rough collies. For years. One day she didn't come back and was found trampled and one of her dogs dead, the other had run home :( At Badbury Rings, a woman with a Yorkie was surrounded by the cows and couldn't escape. She was eventually rescued. And finally, a walker on the Purbeck Hills was attacked by a cow who had a calf just because she was a little too near the calf, although she was in fact on the path used by everyone ... wrong place, wrong time. she had broken bones and was airlifted to hospital...

Keep safe! ;)

Lindsayj
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>Making it truly unpassable on around 4days out of 7 even in wellies!

No, that doesn't count as a footpath obstruction. That's just a natural hazard! :) The real countryside ;) can get very muddy!

Cattle will generally move off if you stand tall and raise your arms, making yourself look suddenly bigger. But it's not safe to take a dog in a field with cattle. They'll generally only be mildly interested in people (unless they associate people with being fed!) but the presence of a dog will excite them.
:)

That's right, it's usually safe if it's just people (walkers) but dogs do make cattle suspicious.

I once witnessed 3 different groups of people walk across a cattle field, all with dogs. The first 2 groups had smallish dogs, the third a lurcher. The first groups crossed safely, the third had to walk very fast as the cattle started to get anxious and to gang up behind them...

My OH once made me walk along a cliff path when there were 2 beef bulls nearby...it wasn't too bad but i did think the bulls must have got loose as they were fairly frisky but not frightening. A permissive path had a dairy bull in it with the cows and i totally refused to go in it, my friend and i ended up walking miles, but i was sure our lives had been saved by noticing the bull was  a dairy bull!! My stomach was in knots. This was at White Nothe in the Purbecks.

Lindsay
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