Friends I needs advice again and I know many of you must have had this problem namely, puppies and sheep!  We live in a very rural cottage, which because of the time of year, is now surrounded by lambing ewes, our Border Terrier of 14 weeks old, and in every way a joy but he is desperate to go over and 'play' with the lambs  but of course this gets a reaction from the mothers, they run away - yes you know what comes next - new game. How do we get over this? - I'm trying to balance the needs of the dog with the the needs of the sheep.  I'm quite prepared to tie him up but obviously would prefer training. I'm trying to pre-empt an 'incident'  Any help would be useful and gratefully recieved. Thanks Graham

Do you mean he can get out of your garden and into the fields with the sheep, if so I think you have to work, and very fast, on securing the area that you allow him free excercise in. 

Yeah - why I'm worried today he got out when our back was turned - I got him back, within a few seconds and he had a good telling off but it did put the wind up me.

The trouble is, if you tell him off when he's come back, he's less likely to come back (in his mind, to get a telling-off) the next time. :(

I'm afraid it's down to you to prevent the possibility of him getting into the field. The farmer's livestock (in law) is far more important.

Plus the very real danger of him being shot.

Your right - in retrospect I should have praised him for coming back but in the heat of the moment etc.......... Tomorrow I'll take him to a quiet area and work on his return and seal up the gaps.  I know he will learn, but the sheep arrived from the hills without any notification - not that that is an excuse - so we were all including the dog taken by surprise. So far his training is going very well so I'm confident that given time we'll get it together. It's really the short term, over the next eight weeks or so that really concerns me.

At 14 weeks I don't think you can be at all ambitious about his obedience :)  The only solution for you at this time is to secure his excercise area as fast as possible and meantime accompany him at all times in the garden, if he can wriggle through a hedge, or whatever, faster than you can catch him then you really have to excercise him on a lead at present. 

The problem is that he has been so good  that we do have high expectations, your right off to the hardware shop tomorrow (120 return miles) and get patching the fence. Thanks Graham

I think an investment in a roll of Rabbit/Pig/Sheep weldmesh fencing would be your best bet, try a farming supplies shop for the best price.

Now I am not sure which is which but the different types have differing spacing of the wire.  Some are a unifrom mesh, so start of small at the bottom and the cross sies starnds get further apart ghiger up, so saving on wire but not on keeping stock in.  Think the idea is that small animals can't get through the bottom mesh but bigger animals are unable to squeeze through the upper strands.

Terriers are notorious at finding ways out of grdens, and having now tasted the outside whe will try to do so again.  they also dig, so I suggest that wehn you get your fencing dig a trench and bury the bottom 9 inches or so so that if he tries to dig our she is unlikely to manage to do so befor being noticed.

Thanks Brainless - good idea - I'ver already got stock-proof fencing around the house - 8inch square and rectangle but as you know a Broder will try and squeeze through, although to be fair he did get out through a hole I missed.  So I'll take you advice on board and get some smaller mesh today.  On another point how do you train the dog not to find the sheep interesting?

My freind who lives on the Quantocks has quite brave sheep, and both her younger two have been given what for by the sheep :D

Your best bet would be to enlist the help of the farmer.  A Ewe with a lab will be protective and by introducing the pup to her in a pen she will have a go at him and hopefully he will find that sheep are scary.  this is one time that aversive and unpleasant tactics are warranted.  This would probably be more effective than walking him close to sheep and trainign him to ignore them, as having already discovered that they run away he will want ot chase if not under your direct supervison.  at his young age a nice scare from an angry ewe (under supervison of course so he doesn't actually get hurt) will be more effective.

I am sure the farmer would be more than willing and grateful for your being so responsible.  I wouldn't mention that he got out just that he barks at them and yopu want to prevent a problem, and make out that you are worried that his barking might even scare the ewes.

Thanks for that - I've one or two people I can call and see if I can set it up. Fingers crossed

at the livery yard where we keep our horses, they also have livestock, when ever they have a new puppy( jackrussels & borders) they put them in a stable with an old sheep for 1/2 a hour at a time, this soon makes them respect the livestock, have a word with the farmer see if he  can help. i know it does not sound a nice thing to do, but its better than being shot.and seeing some one shoot a dog that was worrying his sheep, believe me i would rather do the above.if i lived close to a farm,

jackie

I've got to second Brainless' advice.

Just to add, a couple of big tups who have been hand reared will also do the job ;).

Hi Graham,

Sorry to hear of your problems! Not sure whereabouts you are, but try www.dog-partnership.co.uk for info on Livestock socialiation classes, stock chasers etc. This lady has trained sheep and much success with chasers. I personally would tend to be careful with regard to tups, etc because this has been known to backfire with injuries to the dog esp. if it can't escape which is usually the idea.

Lindsay
x

This is only a 14 week old puppy who I would think could easily sustain an injury in with a nasty minded ewe, let alone a tup, let alone two tups!
A secure garden is an essential for a terrier, its not just sheep as she matures she will be keen to hunt anything wit' fur on't and if she escapes to do so she could be a menace on the road as well as to livestock.  I have had terriers that I would never have trusted with sheep but it was never a problem with a secure garden, a reasonable idea of where the sheep might be encountered on walks and the use of an extending leash where appropriate.  I think any other action is overkill and probably only necessary for a terrier that is going to be worked around livestock doing vermin control for instance.

Thanks to both of you - I think I'm getting a wee bit paranoid - he has been great over the last two days. so far it's been walks on the leash past the sheep and the new lambs with us paying no attention and then off the leash for the rest of his walk.  Were fortunate that we have woods about 500 yards from the house so he can quickly get running around.  The local crofter ( North West Scotland) puts his dog in the shed for the next month just to make sure they don't get out but they are non working collies and tend to round up anything.  So it's up to Invernes on Thursday and get some good fencing.

Does anyone know of any livestock socialisation classes in central Scotland? I don't know any farmers so can't ask them to help. I used to take our three-year-old dog past a field of sheep every day when he was a puppy and he doesn't seem to want to chase them now but we can't be sure so always keep him on a lead near sheep. Our second dog is now five months old and there haven't been so many sheep around near where I walk her so haven't had the same chance to get her used to them. They're all too far away from the footpath so she doesn't even seem to know they're there.