Question: I received an e-mail from a person wanting to know if it was possible to work dogs on cows that have had wolves killing their calves?
Answer: We worked dogs on reindeer that wolves had been chasing and killing some of them for food or fun. It did take a while but the deer soon learned the dogs were not wolves. We also worked dogs on cows that had coyotes killing their calves.
It might be difficult to work dogs on the cows while they still have their calves with them. If the cows were worked with the right kind of dog before the cow has her next calf, then it should be quite easy to continue to work a dog on them after they have their calves. We found was that when the cows or reindeer were worked properly with dogs, when the wolves or coyotes did come the animals stayed calmer and bunched up and could protect themselves better than if they ran.