Introduce them one at a time and if you are really lucky, your goat mamma will head butt the living daylights of the dogs. I have a nigerian dwarf and that is exactly what happened; results- dogs stay the heck away from her. She eventually has buddied up with my big mutt ( 75 pound lab/hound) and he tolerates her well, but you can see him roll his eyes when he is laying in the front steps and she is prancing all around him! By the way, when introducing them, keep the dog on a leash and let the goat approach if she feels like it.
This has worked excellently well for me, if a stray gets in our acreage, she runs to Red for protection, and he despises intruding dogs, so he chases them off. Only time this didnt exactly work out was when the intruder was a female, but then Chiquita ( the goat) changed tactics and came in the house thru the doggy door, which prompted me to go out and chase the dog off.
You might have to observe your dogs carefully and decide how much risk is there for the kids, mamma will fight like heck to protect them, but if your dogs pack up against her she doesnt stand a chance. Have a pen ready for the dogs if necessary.
Enid

I think Enid gives good advice.

On the dogs chasing livestock- that needs to stop immediately at whatever measure it takes. You've set yourself up for big problems by allowing this. They should be trained. Until then they should be tied up, kenneled, leashed or kept inside.

The mother of my oldest farmcollie was a working cattle dog. Awesome dog. Beautiful, intelligent, knew her job and did it well. While bringing the herd down to the barn she was kicked by a cow. Normally a good dog can see a kick coming and duck or dart, or if hit, roll with it. It broke her back so she had to be shot in the pasture. She'd been working cattle a long time and knew what she was doing. In a flash, an excellent, well-experienced working dog was gone and it was nobody's fault. It happens. Dogs harassing livestock is never ok even when it's someone else's animals on your property. The health and well being of all of those animals are at stake. It's not ok for this to happen. I know I sound harsh but this is the reality of farm life, and from reading a lot of your posts I know you care about your animals.

Kristen, I'm sorry but it is hard for me to believe that anyone would bring goats to a farm where dogs who chase livestock will have access to them. I see two scenarios for success. Either get good fencing to keep the dogs away from the goats or shoot the dogs now. Tom

Kristen, things have been fine for us when introducing livestock to our dogs. We have a Great Pyr and she definitely barks and chases the neighbors' cows when they get loose and come onto our property. They actually frustrate her because they just kind of look at her and refuse to run. But she leaves our horses and llamas alone, is actually very scared of them and won't go near them. Unless we are trimming their hooves, LOL. She was even terrified of an adult ewe we had for about 6 months. The sheep lived in the yard and wasn't separated from her.

In addition to this dog, we had a lab/chow mix and a springer spaniel, both of which died this year, both of whom loved to bark at and chase livestock before we moved to the farm. They also learned very quickly to leave the animals alone - they were great with them.

I would just be very careful ... be prepared to change your plans if it goes really badly ... make sure your goats are behind safe fencing ... but it may very well work out just fine.

Wow Kristen - you better get a handle on your dogs but FAST!!

One of our neighbors had dogs like yours that were allowed to run loose & chase livestock. They eventually chased the neighbors yearling horses thru a fence & the horses had to be put down.

Dog owners were taken to court, had to pay all vet expenses + appraised value of the horses, & since they said they "couldn't control their dogs", the dogs ended up being put down as well.

You & only you are responsible for your dogs' behavior. I'd be more concerned about the way your dogs are treating your neighbor's livestock before I worried about the way they were going to treat your goats.

OK obviously I need to clarify here that my dogs don't chase livestock across fields with intent of killing or otherwise harming them-- they go up and bark and them from a distance and charge like they're going to give chase and then they back off. It's a game for them. My neighbor who runs his cows here doesn't mind my dogs a bit (in fact, he has asked me to let them out into the pasture when he's trying to round up the cattle because they help him keep them in line a bit). I presume he wouldn't pay to lease my land and keep his cows here five months a year if my dogs truly bothered his livestock. They are not vicious with the livestock -- they just can't resist a good romp. My concern is that these goats are brand new here, skittish, and there are 2 babies, so I think a good romp is a bit much for them right now and I don't know how to convince my dogs that these goats are not cattle and therefore don't want to play those games.

The goats came home today... so far so good... My aussie shepherd was absolutely thrilled but stayed away eyeing them like "oooh, look! my purpose in life!", my lab barked quite a bit but stayed away, and my third three-legged dog showed zero interest. We'll see how it goes.

Kristen

Kristen, the comment you get aren't because your dogs have intent to kill livestock. It is as you say "they just can't resist a good romp". It sounds like you consider that just to be doggie entertainment. It may be but it is cruelty to goats. You are putting those goats at risk. I think you should take breezyb's comments seriously. Tom

Kristen Marie, Congratulations on becoming a goat owner!

Glad to hear the clarification on your dogs' livestock chasing- another example of how printed words can pack a whollop of misunderstanding.

It seems to me if you taught your dogs to leave the rabbits alone, you can employ the same tactics by the goat fence/enclosure and get them 'goat friendly.' If you catch them barking or harassing the goats, yell NO and make it an unpleasant association for them. A bucket of water, squirt of water from a hose will get the idea across.
Our visiting neighbor dogs (I KNOW people think neighbor dogs should be under control, but this is the way of life here and everyone is tolerant of the arrangement,) are half Great Pyr. and always lope and bark down the fenceline when it's goat feeding time, and the goats dutifully return to the barn (as if they would skip a meal!) They are unbothered as they have learned the fence is protective and the dogs know the fun stops when the goats arrive at the barn to get fed.

Our first golden retriever was such a good goat nanny! When we got the little bottle fed kids, we'd tell her "get the goats" and she would so daintily grasp their little collars with her gentle teeth and escort them over to us. As they grew, 'get the goat' got a little trickier until they were full grown and well north of 100 lbs while she was only 65lb. She'd look at us with eyes that said " You're kidding, right?" But still, would go to them, daintily get their collars, hop on two legs, hobble or sidewind them back to us. No one ever got hurt and we enjoyed their cooperative efforts to get goat chores done.

Enjoy the squirmy, springy antics of the youngsters especially! There is nothing like a baby goat for frolicking and sheer celebration of 4 legs and muscles.

Poochella, thanks. We have similar situations here with dogs-- I honestly don't know a single person in the entire community who actually fences dogs in. I know a few people who fence dogs OUT of certain areas, but for the most part it's a free-for-all and we have enough space that it's usually not a problem.

Tom, these goats came from a farm where they were in a couple fenced acres with THREE dogs --one big one that ignored them, and one little one that chased them around the yards everywhere they went (I witnessed it on several occassions) yipping at their heels. I mean, I think I realize that I should try to keep my dogs from over-harassing the goats, especially in these early days/weeks when they're still unfamiliar with our place and that's why I asked the question, but I don't think long-term my dogs are any sort of danger to the goats... They really are well-behaved dogs -- they don't chase chickens or cats, they leave the rabbits alone, they just need to learn what the goats are ... Right now my black lab is just barking at them incessantly ... I Haven't put them out to pasture yet, they are still in their enclosed yard (where there's no way the dogs can get to them). It's not like I'm setting everyone loose together the first day to run wild -- I'm trying to do this smartly so my dogs are used to the goats BEFORE I set them out to pasture.

K

Kristen, I doubt if anyone who knews you would think you would be careless of the welfare of any of your animals. If your dogs have learned to leave chickens, rabbits and cats alone, they can learn to ignore larger animals too. I think in your place I would use the opportunity to teach them that ALL livestock is out of bounds.

Recently we bought rabbits and Marilla (our cat) was both thrilled and bewildered by rabbits that don't run away. She would look at them (they were safely in cages and she was wearing her harness and on a long leash) but every time she went into stalking mode Brian would say to her, firmly but not crossly: "Marilla, no. Those are Brian's bunnies." When she responded appropriately (ceased stalking) he praised her and told her what a good moggie she is. It took patience but she definitely KNOWS now that these bunnies are different from the cottontails and she no longer even acknowledges their existance. Of course, she insists on ignoring them in a way that clearly displays her disdain for bunnies in cages... but that's okay.

Believe me - I never intended to imply that your dogs were killers Kristen.

The dogs that chased my neighbors young horses thru the fence weren't killers either - they just enjoyed the chase. It was just a sad situation all around & the dogs' owners weren't the least bit interested in either confining the dogs or teaching them otherwise. They felt that since they had moved "to the country" that it was okay for their dogs to run free & do what they wanted.

It just ended up badly all around.