My dog tried to kill a sheep today

[Speckledhen617]

I'm still shaking it all happened so quickly. My dog is a 12 month old terrier. I was walking him off lead on moor land. I've walked there for many many years, I've never seen sheep there. The lands flat but in a dip out of sight, out popped this sheep. My dog just ran for it, I've never seen him run so fast. The sheep fled, my dog caught up to it and went to bite it's back, he got a mouthful of wool. He then got to the front of it and went to bite it's neck. Mouthfuls of wool again. I jumped and Rugby tackled the dog and the sheep ran off.

I'm so upset at what could have happened, I'm upset seeing the potential my dog had and of course for the poor sheep who must have had an awful shock. I'm never ever letting him off lead again. Its just not worth the risk.

I drove home through the Moor and I could see the sheep, half an hour later grazing. Thank god it was OK.

Please be kind, it was an awful experience and I feel terrible about it.

[RiaRoth]

@sillysmiles

I have a dog that is "sheep reactive".
To start with you are going to have to go back to on lead in situations where there are sheep nearby. It's not fair on the sheep and it reinforces the pleasure he gets from the chase.

Also, start working on a leave command and a solid sit. Because then if he starts running, a solid sit with at least distract him.
We can now walk our dog through sheep, sometimes we put him back on the lead if they are close or he looks like he is struggling to leave them.

Ultimately you have to set him up to succeed.

If you have a terrier that chases sheep, it will chase deer , rabbits, squirrel anything that moves.

It will be very very very hard/imposible to be able to trust a dog with this instinct around livestock.

A leave it command will not even be heard by the dog with the adrenalin running through their body.

[Speckledhen617]

I agree with Ria, I just haven't got the skills to train him to stop that instinct. He's good with his basics commands but I don't think anything could have over ridden that drive today. I'll certainly try my best with him but I think its a very very long way off and I can't imagine the amount of work it would take for me to be 100% confident in him.

[Floralnomad]

Unless the sheep are your own it is totally irresponsible for anybody with any dog to have that dog offlead near sheep or any livestock .

[Borderstotheleftofme]

I agree with Ria, I just haven't got the skills to train him to stop that instinct
I personally don’t think anyone can.
Though I think extreme aversives like high level e collars can come close but even then, I’ve heard of dogs running through high voltage fences after small animals.

Much as people like to humanise dogs and imagine them as gentle souls that wouldn’t hurt a fly the reality is they are predatory animals at the end of the day and nothing will compare to the thrill of a hunt.

There is no treat or toy in the land that will compete with the adrenaline rush and enjoyment of pursuing squirrels/sheep/cats etc

I’d keep him on a long line in future anywhere where livestock may be a possibility

[ErrolTheDragon]

Round ours there was some cows on the nature reserve - I’d never seen them before in all the years I’ve been here so you can never be sure.

Cows and sheep (often less usual breeds) are increasingly being used for 'land management'.
Of course, most nature reserves if they allow dogs at all usually request they're on leads anyway.

[rebbonk]

How about you learn to control your dog?

[ErrolTheDragon]

@rebbonk

How about you learn to control your dog?

Wow, the OP hadn't thought of that.
And other posters haven't already given her constructive suggestions.

[Speckledhen617]

rebbonk I've reported you for trolling.

[heatseeker14]

That was unnecessary @rebbonk. Dogs are not robots. OP, is clearly upset by what happened and is asking for advice. Your comment is not helpful.

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

This happened to me once, years ago. Walking, open hillside, no sheep in sight, dog trotting along and suddenly a sheep jumped up from behind a bush pretty much under dog’s nose and took off down the hill with dog in hot pursuit. DH took off after the dog (so did I, but I was a lot slower!) but wasn’t in time to stop him pulling the sheep down. Luckily, like you, our dog just had the sheep by the fleece, and DH was able to grab his collar and get him off the sheep. I felt awful. We never went back to that particular walk and kept to places where we knew there would be no livestock.

[SunInTheSkyYouKnowHowIFeel]

Have you informed the farmer so they can check on the sheep OP? I know you said the sheep looked fine but if I was the farmer Id appreciate someone being honest and letting me know so I could choose to go and check up on the sheep if I wanted to.

I'd be keeping your dog on a lead now, as how can you trust it not to do that to a small child in a park. Must have been really horrible Op

[Timeandtune]

If it makes you feel better OP I looked after my son’s three year old rescueLurcher last week . V early DS and partner went off on hols. Dog and I got back from our first walk. All of a sudden he went crazy- downstairs neighbours ( indoor ) cat was in the hallway at the closed back door.
Dog managed to wriggle out of his collar. He was like a thing possessed. I eventually half carried him up the stairs.
Spent the remaining few days on high alert for cats/ squirrels / foxes.
Neighbours cat was fine. Me not so much.

[vanillandhoney]

We can now walk our dog through sheep, sometimes we put him back on the lead if they are close or he looks like he is struggling to leave them.

Why on earth would you not just put your dog on a lead? All it takes is a split second and if your dog bolted into the flock, no manner of "leave it command" would make the slightest bit of difference.

[CottonSock]

I was once attacked by a sheep on a footpath. I had to rugby tackle the bloody thing. It kept coming back at me.

Our dog killed a chicken once..my mum was mortified. Not even sure how, as dog was on a lead..farmer was forgiving.

[Floralnomad]

@SunInTheSkyYouKnowHowIFeel , it’s really not remotely likely that the OPs dog will chase a child , (unless the child is very convincingly dressed as a sheep ), lots of dogs may not be the brightest bulbs in the world but they do know the difference between humans and animals and the OP has not indicated at all that her dog has any vicious tendencies towards people .

[Borderstotheleftofme]

I'd be keeping your dog on a lead now, as how can you trust it not to do that to a small child in a park
🤦🏻‍♀️
Dogs are predators!
Do you worry that a cat that tortures and kills mice will be dangerous around babies and toddlers..?
It’s no different.
They are predatory animals.

[gonewiththerain]

I’ve a flock of pet sheep, some are very very tame. A neighbour had a visitor with a puppy many years ago, the puppy got in with the sheep and went to chase them. They are desperately trying to get the dog out, I was starting to panic as this particular ewe kept head butting the dog and rolling it over and over along the ground. Thankfully the dog managed to get up and ran back out because I didnt fancy my chances getting the sheep off the dog and it wouldn’t have helped neighbourly relations!
I very much doubt the dog would do the same to a small child.
I’d rather dogs weren’t running through my sheep but I don’t panic if they do although I do try to catch them.

[Indecisivelurcher]

I did a sheep safe course a few years back. It was really good. You could ask around and see if there's one in your area.

[RaspberryToupee]

I think it’s one thing to train your dog in a controlled environment but it’s another to enforce it when your adrenaline and the dog’s is both going. Our dog is well trained and when on a walk in a country park, a jogger/cyclist goes past, we get her to sit and wait as they go past. She’s got a great recall and we’ve used it in a number of situations. She does have a prey drive but we’ve got a great leave command with her - we had a hamster when she was younger and while clearly interested in him, she never went near him because we told her to leave it. These situations usually occur when our adrenaline is at normal levels though.

We had an incident with a herd of cows. It was terrifying. Before anyone starts - we were on a public right of way and the dog was on the lead walking to heel. We only just entered the field, the cows were across the right of way and we were prepared to walk around them. We encounter cows on a normal Saturday morning walk, so didn’t expect any problems. The cows immediately became curious with us, noticed the dog and one at the front lowered their heads to charge. Our dog acted on instinct to this change and barked, which shocked the cows for a second but then obviously angered all the cows and they started to charge us. Normally, we could sit her down and she wouldn’t usually bark at all. In a flash, the cows had changed, our adrenaline was going and so was the dog’s. We acted quickly, I retreated back to the gate (we’d only got about 15m into the field) and I recalled the dog to me while DH slowly backed out of the field. Even with her excellent recall, it was hard to recall the dog because she wanted to protect me, then DH. Her instinct was going and you have to force your brain past the adrenaline to get the commands out clearly and in a way to break through the dogs adrenaline.

If you’re happier keeping your dog on the lead, then do that. We keep our dog on a lead any place where it’s open land or if there might be livestock. Even if we’ve walked that route many times before. She’s fine being on a lead, she’s just happy to have a walk. She still gets off lead time, just in places that we know she can be safe. It takes a while to build up your confidence after an incident with livestock. I’m still a little cautious around the super friendly cows that we see every Saturday morning.

[pandafunfactory]

That isn't the right way to manage an incident with cows and a dog. You need to let it run, they won't catch it. If you keep the dog with you then they may flatten all of you. It was very risky to your personal safety todo that. Cows kill walkers every year.

[MsAdoraBelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Good lord yes, let the dog go! They won’t catch it but they will be distracted by it and you can get away without being trampled to death.

[RiaRoth]

Chasing live stock is an issue for every dog owner. All dogs should be on a lead around livestock. There is no need to train as the dogs will be controlled in this situation.

The problem is people not being aware of how strong the dogs instinct is when not if but when it kicks in.

As mentioned before I have sheep I have working sheep dogs who are around the sheep everyday. I would always have them on lead if they are near other peoples livestock. It is the correct thing to do.

Be aware and have your dogs on leads in this situation.

Cows are different from sheep (obviously!) because they can be quite nosey and may approach you. The head down was unlikely to be a charge but the bark would have caused their interest. See video below

twitter.com/i/status/1060983113734672384

[Borderstotheleftofme]

Kind of off topic but I absolutely hate cows, I find them utterly terrifying and I would never enter anywhere I saw them.
A PP mentioned nature reserves using them 😱
Posts on here are not at all reassuring!

[userxx]

How about you learn to control your dog?

You've never met a terrier have you 🙄

[RiaRoth]

Borders watch the above video.

Come and spend a day with ours - you will love them Just learn the body language and then you will feel confident.