Walking past the end of a hedge this morning with Small Black Dog a few paces ahead. SBDs ears suddenly go to full attention and she stops and looks intently at something. I catch up and she's pretty much nose to nose with 2 lambs and mother just behind them. Escapees in the lane. It would have made a great photo for the competition! Anyway all the time spent getting her used to sheep paid off as she just looked and then trotted along with me when called. Phew! Very annoyed that the phone wasn't handy to take a quick snap, but then again at the time I didn't know what was going to happen so the priority really was to keep her under control. Next time perhaps.
Re: Ewe there! well done SBD! my two have only ever seen sheep from very afar. Another thing on my To Do list, get them sheep trained...
Re: Ewe there! Yes, I have to say I'm very pleased with Lady. We didn't do any real formal training with her but but what we did do together seems to have worked. She needs to be steady with sheep as we are often have to pick up amongst sheep. My approach was to walk her past sheep over a period of weeks gradually closing the gap and checking her with a no and a "close" command every time she started to take an interest in them. I use "close" when I want her by my side or to put her on the lead. We ended up circling the flock at a reasonable distance without any problems but I didn't move nearer than what felt like a "safe" distance. This was the first time she'd been faced with a real close encounter though so a proper test I thought. She's had close encounters with the rams before when they've been tucked into the hedge as we came into the field but not as close as yesterday. Health warning:- I'd set this all up with the farmer first and the flock of sheep were lambs being brought on for market ie not in lamb.
Re: Ewe there! That's really good David, what a great result. All your careful and watchful training paid off. Brilliant.
Re: Ewe there! Good advice, David, thanks - probably time we got Pongo sheep-aware. Not many sheep round us here (mainly arable) but on other walks he'll need to be good or on the lead (and he doesn't like the lead!)
Re: Ewe there! I think there is a right way to do it with a trainer under controlled conditions. Hopefully someone will post soon that's been through the proper process. I just posted what I'd done and it wouldn't necessarily suit some dogs that are more highly wired than Lady.
Re: Ewe there! Very satisfying when training and the thought and effort that has gone into it pays off. Good Girl Lady x
