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The doghouse

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Original poster

Dog & Sheep Solutions?

139 replies

Baabaabaddog · 31/03/2023 23:22

Late teen DS has just called me, this evening he was walking the dog in the dark, basically she ran away and chased some sheep.
Son says when he got to her she was chasing a lamb round in circles, playing how she does with dogs. When it laid down, she laid down next to it and licked it.
I’m relieved that she didn’t go to attack it, however I’ve also been involved in livestock / farming / countryside living so am fully aware of the damage this can still do.

I’ve been training her by walking through sheep regularly, and going back and forth past them multiple times so desensitisation. I correct any pulling or interest etc, but not really praising her or doing anything to get her attention other than walking on.
The other thing I do is sit and stay with her near sheep in fields, and stand back, with a long line (very securely!) on.

I wanted to ask for suggestions of what else you would do now?
I know full well she will now be super high alert and this will have put my hours and hours of training backwards!
BTW she’s a Doberman and can spot something moving from half a mile away and she can sniff out any animal in undergrowth.

I have access to a sheep farm. I was thinking of putting her in a pen with quite a few sheep and lambs? On a long line, sit and stay and then walking round. Even feeding her in there. Then back out in the fields and get them to run past her?

Thanks for any advice.

OP posts:
Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 31/03/2023 23:47

Notegoat · 31/03/2023 23:44

On the off chance that this is genuine, if your dog goes near sheep and they become distressed a farmer can shoot it. What you described, your dog chasing a lamb, would be enough for a farmer to legally shoot your dog.

I’m fully aware of this.

The farmer where I live has shot a dog before.

This is why I will now train this out of my dog so she’s 100% or as near as I ever can with a dog!

OP posts:
coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 31/03/2023 23:47

I live in a working farm cottage!

And?

That doesn't make your Dobermann a sheep dog 😂

Baabaabaddog · 31/03/2023 23:50

This reply has been deleted

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coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 31/03/2023 23:52

@Baabaabaddog

If you live on a farm you just need to keep it on a lead. A Doberman is an interesting choice of breed for someone who lives surrounding by livestock too 🤔

FinnysTail · 31/03/2023 23:52

It’s lambing season and you are allowing your dog to chase sheep!! WTF!!

I'm lost for words!

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 31/03/2023 23:54

I’ve just had a realisation - you know all these posts on here we see that say how poorly trained dogs are these days, and how people don’t train their dogs properly.
All of you posters saying I’m a troll and mad for actually training my dog not to chase sheep and trying to suggest that the solution to a dog chasing sheep is just to keep it on a lead 100% of the time - you’re the ones that clearly aren’t training your dogs very well!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 31/03/2023 23:55

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 31/03/2023 23:52

@Baabaabaddog

If you live on a farm you just need to keep it on a lead. A Doberman is an interesting choice of breed for someone who lives surrounding by livestock too 🤔

People do move houses ya know 😂

OP posts:
coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 31/03/2023 23:56

@Baabaabaddog then keep your dog on a lead 🤷‍♀️ it's not hard.

You chose that breed and then chose to move to a sheep farm - now you need to be responsible and stop letting your dog off the lead if there's even the smallest chance she can get to sheep.

It's really not a difficult thing to do.

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:00

FinnysTail · 31/03/2023 23:52

It’s lambing season and you are allowing your dog to chase sheep!! WTF!!

I'm lost for words!

Yup I allowed it. From the comfort of my bed I was fully aware that 15 miles away my adult son was walking on the beach with his friends and walked up into one of the fields and I gave the ddog permission to chase sheep.
Yup I fucking delighted.
Despite the fact that I have spent hundreds of pounds on behaviourists and (mostly gun) dog training for her. Not counting the hours and hours I have spent training the prey drive out of her.
If you’ve not owned a dominant breed you won’t get how much training is needed and it’s not like other dogs where once you train it’s just reinforcement every now and again, littler reminders, with her you have to be militant, always training and working her.

OP posts:
Notegoat · 01/04/2023 00:00

If you’re in an area with sheep farms there’re going to be plenty of other creatures for your dog to chase. You might train them to ignore sheep but if they’re off lead and chase a rabbit or deer through a field of sheep it could still get them into trouble.

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:00

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 31/03/2023 23:56

@Baabaabaddog then keep your dog on a lead 🤷‍♀️ it's not hard.

You chose that breed and then chose to move to a sheep farm - now you need to be responsible and stop letting your dog off the lead if there's even the smallest chance she can get to sheep.

It's really not a difficult thing to do.

Read the post. Late teen / young adult ds was walking her

OP posts:
SnarkyBag · 01/04/2023 00:01

I don’t need to train my dog not to chase sheep I just simply don’t put him in situations where he could. He’s a lurcher and lurchers gonna lurch.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 01/04/2023 00:01

@Baabaabaddog that's not an excuse.

If he can't be trusted with the dog then he shouldn't be walking her. Again - it's not difficult.

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:02

Notegoat · 01/04/2023 00:00

If you’re in an area with sheep farms there’re going to be plenty of other creatures for your dog to chase. You might train them to ignore sheep but if they’re off lead and chase a rabbit or deer through a field of sheep it could still get them into trouble.

Yes but rabbits aren’t so easy to put in a pen! Again, that’s why desensitisation against the chase / prey drive is SO IMPORTANT!!

Im so shocked by the amount of people who’s only solution is to keep a dog in the lead. Ok let’s say, you suddenly fall ill on your walk. I would still want to know that wherever I was my dog wouldn’t run off after something!

OP posts:
SnarkyBag · 01/04/2023 00:04

He doesn’t need to be on lead ALL the time just around livestock.

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:04

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 01/04/2023 00:01

@Baabaabaddog that's not an excuse.

If he can't be trusted with the dog then he shouldn't be walking her. Again - it's not difficult.

Thanks for the lecture.

Now do you actually have anything constructive to advise regarding dog training or are you just another key board warrior?

OP posts:
Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:05

SnarkyBag · 01/04/2023 00:04

He doesn’t need to be on lead ALL the time just around livestock.

he was at the beach, been there loads of times before they’d never been sheep in this field before apparently and it was dark.

That was his excuse to me when I bollocked him!

OP posts:
bluedabadeedabada · 01/04/2023 00:05

Simply keeping your dog on lead where there is even a 'remote chance' of coming across sheep is not a bomb proof solution. I have come across sheep escaped from their fields (grazing on our land!), far away from where they should be. Unless you want to keep your dog on a lead all the time or exercise in a secure park, you need to look at other training methods. It has already chased and circled a lamb, that's not good and that behaviour will be repeated.
There is a post far down in the doghouse thread about a pointer (I think) who had killed live stock. I also came across a thread where a dog had snapped a long line trying to chase. Leads shouldn't be substitutes for training.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 01/04/2023 00:08

My advice is to keep her on a lead 🤷‍♀️

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 01/04/2023 00:10

Im so shocked by the amount of people who’s only solution is to keep a dog in the lead. Ok let’s say, you suddenly fall ill on your walk. I would still want to know that wherever I was my dog wouldn’t run off after something!

You can never guarantee that though.

Notegoat · 01/04/2023 00:11

My dog has a high prey drive for small furry things, mainly squirrels and rats. It’s the result of over a hundred years of selective breeding. She’s utterly shit at catching them but if she wasn’t so bad at it she’d be muzzled off lead. She can’t be trusted near horses because she adores them, wants to be their friend and follows them around. She stays on lead around them so she doesn’t get a hoof to the head. It’s about managing risk.

FinnysTail · 01/04/2023 00:11

I have GSD’s. I don’t allow my DC’s to walk them - especially around livestock!

it’s people like you that give all dog owners a bad name!

SnarkyBag · 01/04/2023 00:11

Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:05

he was at the beach, been there loads of times before they’d never been sheep in this field before apparently and it was dark.

That was his excuse to me when I bollocked him!

Show quote history

Well I guess until the dog is bomb proof off lead in the dark is probably not wise either 🤷‍♀️ you keep wanging on about the professional standards you’re training your dog to which seems to have led to a false belief that he’s bullet proof in unpredictable situations. Stop making excuses for why this happened. It happened because the person walking the dog is irresponsible.

Original poster
Baabaabaddog · 01/04/2023 00:13

bluedabadeedabada · 01/04/2023 00:05

Simply keeping your dog on lead where there is even a 'remote chance' of coming across sheep is not a bomb proof solution. I have come across sheep escaped from their fields (grazing on our land!), far away from where they should be. Unless you want to keep your dog on a lead all the time or exercise in a secure park, you need to look at other training methods. It has already chased and circled a lamb, that's not good and that behaviour will be repeated.
There is a post far down in the doghouse thread about a pointer (I think) who had killed live stock. I also came across a thread where a dog had snapped a long line trying to chase. Leads shouldn't be substitutes for training.

Thank you - exactly this.

Ive come across many a person looking for a lost dog when out hiking, it only takes a trip to drop a lead at the same time they’ve seen something.

When she was only a year or so old, half a dozen deer jumped out in front of us as we were jogging, next thing I knew I was being dragged along gravel. I kept hold of the lead but she grazed all my arms and legs as I was in shorts and vest.

This is why I don’t want her prey drive to be reignited when I’d got her to a stage of not reacting to livestock.

OP posts:
blackice · 01/04/2023 06:13

Assumjng this is not a windup, there is only 1 solution. The dog needs tp be kept on a lease at all times, regardless of how well trained, as you cant predict how a dog woll react. I'm genuinely shocked you don't know this as a dog owner. It's incredibly irresponsible.