Stock Breaking Help?

[tomdean 4]

Hello there

 

i need a bit of help/advice my pup is nearing 7 months now i have introduced him to livestock sheep cattle ect and with a sturn command ''LEAVE IT'' wont look at them.

 

The problem i have is this works in a field with a flock of sheep but if i take him on the moor where there are just 2 or 3 sheep and are very flighty he is all to keen to chase.

 

but if i put him on a lead he wont bat an eyelid at them its only when we knows hes free to run he goes off after them

 

any advice welcome

Thank you

[hutch6 550]

Have you tried him on a long line? He has a bit more freedom etc but you have control at a distance and can stop him from wandering etc anytime you like?

 

I did it with my collies but playing fetch and controlling the chase of the toy by getting them to stop and then askign them to come away from the toy without collecting it. With the long dog I did with a long line. She's fine around cows and horses but like your's sheep are just the right size for a good old chase. It took ages for her to get the message but she is still being worked on. It is confusing to a dog to convey "You can chase this and this and this but not that".

 

A couple of methods used by folk are shock collars which can back fire on you and make the situation worse or putting the dog in a pen with a ram but that can cost you a fortune in vet fees and permanently damage the dog so it's not recommended.

[tomdean 4]

Thanks hutch

 

i wouldnt say iv tried him on a long line but i tried with two lead tied together but all he wanted to do with that was turn around and bite the bleeding thing so never got a chance to teach him anything about sheep

 

i thought about the collar but as a very last resort and as hes so young theres plenty of time to teach him yet and as you say it could back fire so would rather teach him some other way.

 

how old is yourss just out of interest??

[hutch6 550]

She's about 18months now. She's never going to be a worker I don't think as I've got too much going on trying to set up a business to put the time in with her individually so she just comes out with the collies for a good romp around.

 

I was thinking yesterday that if you play fetch with yours it would be worth a shot at keeping it on a leash or long line and playign fetch in the field with the sheep as effectively what you are doing or trying to do is show the dog that the sheep don't care about the dog really and aren't very interesting. With a bit of time put in the sheep effectively become background noise to the dog. You can also pratice calling the chase off when the dog is chasing the decpoy used for fetch around the sheep.

If I am teaching any dog to ignore a form of stimuli using games etc I generally opt for a tug toy as you can throw them and have a game of tug-o-war to brerak up the monotony of fetch.

[budgie123 163]

From experience taking a dog to a ram is a tried and tested method of stoping the dog chasing sheep but it has to be done with care and with strick supervision.

 

I have done it with a dog which as a pup was broken to stock but as you have found out when you start working the dog and it is hyped up this training goes out the window.

 

The rams we use would if left to in a pen damage the dog seriously.You have to be in there and remove the dog if there is any risk to the dog.

 

I can assure you from practical experience it works everytime.This is always done with the farmer present also.

 

As regard the comment about the shock collar making the situation worse from practical experience again i fail to see how.

The collar has to be used correctly and simpathetically but it will work.

I have a fully trained bedlington which at 2 years of age started to hunt up in the lamp.

As adviced i went back to basics but nothing worked.

I saught advice from very knowledgable dog trainers who adviced me to use the electric collar.

I followed all advice and using the collar to shock the dog to break its focus it totally resolved the problem.

Roughly every 18months to 2 years the dog would again revert to hunting up i would use the collar and only shock it once and this has resolved the problem everytime.

My friend baught a dog in which had a dubious background had never been stock broken and was a liability with sheep he used the collar and after 2 visits to sheep and using the collar it was totally bomb proof with sheep being run regularily in sheep when ferreting and lamping.

[tomdean 4]

thanks budgie very helpfull

 

the only thing is that with the ram method my pup wont chase sheep if i take him in a field in a flock only on the moors where there are just two or three sheep that are very flighty.

 

being in a tight pen with a ram is a totally different situation than on open moreland is it not??

 

but as you say if done in a controlled way as you said it might be worth a shot.

 

thanks again

[lifelong cumbrian 1,829]

I use a long line for a while and walk with sheep every day telling the pup to leave at regular intervals. when the pup looks like it is taking no notice of them i tie the pups lead to a fence and let the sheep come to it, sometimes i walk away a little. They will come right up to it and you can watch its reaction, a field of tups is good for this although you need to watch they dont get rough with it. At some point you will need to try the pup running free, i like to find a small field for this then if it all went wrong you can catch it quicker. A lot of pups will not look at a sheep till they start running that is where the long line is good, it thinks it is free, because it is on the line you can pull it in and scauld it. It is just repetitive training and some will take longer than others. This is just what i do and has already been said, also not saying there is not other ways to break them.

All the best with it mate.