We have to pass through the corner of a field over two adjacent styles. The first has a space for a dog to get through, and the second has a dog gate. Told Lady to wait at the first style so I could look over the gate to see where the sheep were. All ok. They were lying down on the far side of the field so I climbed over and told her to get on. Through she trots and comes face to face with a ewe as it stands up from where it's been lying down out of sight on the far side of a big oak tree right next to the first style. Their noses are not more than 10ft apart. Before I have time to react Lady turns and ambles up to the second style and waits to be let through the dog gate. The ewe trots off in the opposite direction. I've spent a lot of time training Lady to ignore sheep and today it paid off in spades. I think if there is a message or a learning point here, it's that it's definitely well worth the effort prioritising what training is important and has to be second nature to the dog even if some other aspects of the training end up being a bit sloppy.
Re: When training pays off! That is seriously impressive! Riley and Obi are on their way for sheep desensitization training !!!!!
Re: When training pays off! [/brag mode on] 8) [\brag mode off] It just really struck me afterwards how important it is to get the basics that keep the dog safe correct and firmly instilled, and I thought this was a good example. Pointless if your dog never sees a sheep though. ;D
Re: When training pays off! That's fab - opportunities for sheep training are few and far between for me but I really must make an effort to find some. I have some next Saturday, but they'll be a fence between the dogs and the sheep. Better than nothing though.
Re: When training pays off! I think there are courses you can do with your dogs, but I'll post how I approached it later - just been called away.
Re: When training pays off! I'm lucky in that I know the chap who owns the sheep and he let me train around them. I turned down his offer to put Lady in with a couple of rams. Also didn't follow up with the offer to put her in with the mothers and lambs (just as bad!). Don't want the poor girl to be battered and bruised. Anyway over a period of weeks I walked lady at least once a day past or through the sheep on the lead and gave her the Ah! Ah! if she looked at them or lunged and the good girl if she focused on me or the path ahead and ignored them. We walked through them and around them and sat among them until she just plain ignored them. I then moved on to walking her off lead at a distance around the sheep and over a period of weeks got eventually quite close without any reaction. In the winter we also did quite a lot of picking up in fields with sheep and Lady focused on the retrieve rather than the sheep. In fact it was picking up that got me going on getting her used to sheep. Her very first retrieve was in a field of turnips from the middle of a flock of sheep where her first bird had come down. She did fine but after that we kept being put in among the sheep because Lady was "steady" with sheep (which she defo wasn't!). I had two or three problem encounters where Lady bounced off after them but she did recall away from them. All in all I ended up being confident she'd be fine as long as the sheep were calm and more than about 50 yards away. Anything nearer and I put her on the lead for safety's sake. Didn't go anywhere near expectant sheep either. Also with strangers sheep I wouldn't go anywhere near them with Lady off lead - not a responsible thing to do but it was good to know that if I made a mistake it would be ok. Had a couple of funny incidents. Came to the end of a dividing hedge in a lane to find a ewe with 2 lambs looking at us. Lady most interested and put her ears up and wagged her tail until mum advanced towards her when she legged it up the lane tail now firmly between legs. : Then the time I took my eye off the ball (again!) and Lady went through a kissing gate without permission. I found her having a wee in the midst of a group of rams that were lying down chewing things over. ;D Anyway today was a good test and gave me some confidence.
Re: When training pays off! Well done Lady. Excellent training David. ;D. My old lab was and S&S are scared of sheep. If one popped up out of nowhere like that they'd be off in the opposite direction. :-\ Maybe it's the sheep they've been exposed to. During the winter we quite often have sheep from another farm on one of the grass fields. For some reason these sheep don't seem to care about dogs and basically stand their ground which quite frankly I find rather disconcerting never mind the dogs. :-\ You've done brilliant with training her David.
Re: When training pays off! [quote author=David link=topic=8418.msg119011#msg119011 date=1413978316] I think there are courses you can do with your dogs, but I'll post how I approached it later - just been called away. [/quote] Yes, I absolutely must find one. I will. Thanks David and Lady - definitely something we will do.
