Guard dog problem

[Valhalla]

I have a 6 yo spayed Maremma and she attacked a 2 week old lamb this past weekend. Best I can figure is that the lamb wandered too close to Annie's food bowl. The lamb had a few puncture wounds on his face and his he was holding his eye shut so I cleaned him up and put antibiotic opthalmic ointment in his eye. I also gave him some LA 200. I figured this was a one time incident, so left them in the pasture. I also moved the sheep feed pans far away from where Annie eats. The next day that lamb was hollering for his mama but went over to Annie before his mama. Annie ignored him until he tried to nurse her and then she attacked him again. So, I put the ewe and lamb in a jug and this morning when I went out to check them, the lambs head was the size of a small ball and both eyes were swollen shut. I cleaned up his eyes and put more ointment in them.

 

I doubt the lamb will live, but I wonder why my Guard dog attacked this lamb twice? She has been through lambings every year and hasn't done this before. Other than this incident, she has been perfect. Stupid question, but could Annie have sensed that this lamb was ill and tried to remove him from the flock herself?

[Shoofly]

That's weird. You don't think Annie's feeling bad or something do you? I tend to jump to health conclusions when behavior changes so drastically like that.

[Valhalla]

She has been a little lame behind, but that's because she runs the fence whenever a big truck goes by. I give her a Deramaxx when she is really bad, but you're right, maybe her leg is bothering her and she's grumpy.

[Shoofly]

It just sounds like a grumpy sort of reaction to me.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Grumpy. Maybe even early senility. Six is getting up there for a working Marrema. My girl (a littermate to Don McCaig's famous guard dog) is slowing down a bit.

[Bill Fosher]

I suspect that there's a mismothering problem at the root of this. You mentioned that the lamb was trying to suck on the guard dog, and that would rightfully make a guard dog grumpy. If the lamb kept it up, it can easily see where it could lead to a bite.

 

The question is why was the lamb trying to suck on the dog? Is the mother inattentive or does she lack milk? Or did it only start to happen after the attack and is the lamb's vision messed up?

 

If the lamb was hungry, it might very well have tried to investigate what was in the dog's food bowl, which would also lead to a correction.

[Valhalla]

Bill, the mother is a yearling ewe, not usually the best of mothers, but this one is pretty attentive. The lamb was not that close to Annie's food bowl, about 10 yards away. I did check the ewes milk after the second incident and she was fine.

 

I think you are right on both counts. The lamb probably was having vision problems as the first bite caused one eye to swell. And on top of that, the mama was not attentive enough to get to her lamb when he was hollering, so the lamb went to what he thought was the next best thing, but with unfortunate results.

 

The lamb was still alive this morning, the swelling has gone down some and his eyes are much better, but he has a bad head tilt and wobbles. There is obviously some severe head trauma.

[Valhalla]

The first lamb died during the night. Then, yesterday I found another lamb with a fresh puncture wound on the top of his head. I did not see Annie have any contact with this lamb, but taking into considersation the previous incident, she was removed from the nursery ward and is now in the pasture with the open ewes. This is very disconcerting! It sucks to have a guard dog I can't use to guard the ones that are in most need of protection.