# Dog & Sheep. Chase prevention advice.



## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Anyone had their dog go after sheep?


I ask as I keep visualising (premonition) my 18wk old dog going for them. With much livestock in the local area I am somewhat concerned that my dog will go for them one day. :shocked:

She has been off-lead for about 2 weeks and generally is responsive to recall. However she knows that sheep are in the fields as her sniffer goes into to overdrive whilst walking alongside the hedgerows. 

I really dont want her in those fields with livestock as the local farmer is known to be 'trigger happy' .

Anyone know of any proven techniques to prevent the inate response of a dog chasing livestock? Obvsiously reenforced recall and maturity help, she is only 18weeks old.


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## happysaz133 (Jun 5, 2008)

I'm not sure how acceptable this is now...but when our first family dogs were pups, the 'thing' to do was put them in a field with a ram, then soon learnt after a few bumps not to chase sheep. And neither of them ever went near a sheep. They are in long enough for the ram to teach them, but not long enough to do any harm to the pups. (Oh and just for the record, this wasn't done by me, I was only about 1/2 years at the time, but my parents have told me this was a common way to train dogs against sheep. I haven't had to train any since then.) 

Maybe you could speak to the farmer as ask if he knows any techniques? I hope you can work something out, I know some trigger happy ones around me too, thankfully, my current dogs aren't sheep chasers.


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## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Good advice, and made me chuckle. Ram & Dog 

Will try and have a word with the farmer is I get a chance! Usually speeding in his 4x4.


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## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Hope my Ridgeback will not be a 'chaser' either. 

There not referred to as herding dogs but are known to assist in rounding up livestock in South Africa.


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## james1 (Sep 21, 2008)

Finn will chase almost anything that moves and I did have an incident on a croft where he was very happy springing at all the sheep - Ive not repeated the visit , now older all I can say is that if I let him chase on first sight rather than calling him off then hes much harder to get back. If you ask them to stay, heel or come before they start to run they (mine is) are a lot more controllable. 
I can call Finn off birds, squirrels, cats (regular animals) even during/after the chase - im not sure what he wants to do with them but after running across a road ive made a bit of a point of leave commands and general recall which although hes still keen to get back to does have him stay close by.


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## Ridgielover (Apr 16, 2008)

WaveRider said:


> Hope my Ridgeback will not be a 'chaser' either.
> 
> There not referred to as herding dogs but are known to assist in rounding up livestock in South Africa.


Some of them work in the UK too 

My big lad, now nine years old, is really useful on the farm, and we only moved here 4 years ago so he didn't start til he was five. He's great at helping to move the sheep and the cows. He was invaluable at the weekend when we had to move sheep about. One of my bitches tries to help but gets a bit excited. But she will run from side to side behind them, following movements of my arms - and she's 8. There have been times when we wouldn't have got the cows into the barn without them.


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## Jo P (Dec 10, 2007)

The only *perfect* prevention in my experience is keeping your dog on the lead when near the livestock


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## Beardy (Jun 4, 2008)

Definitely keep the dog on a lead. My GSD chased a sheep years ago & caught it, & I have never forgot it. It was my fault, he went through a stile in front of me & a flock of sheep were the other side of the stile. It was a walk I have done many times & never ever had sheep been in there before. There was no sign up either, the stile was very high up & I couldn't see the other side, because of the drop the other side. The sheep scattered & Zak went after them. He targeted 1 & actually got hold of it's fleece, luckily he did not injure it, luckier still that the farmer was not about He is normally obedient, but instinct took over, the thrill of the chase etc. Only a couple of years ago my terrier took off over the North Yorkshire Moors. We were being sensible, the sheep were approx a mile away. She doesn't bother about my chickens or goats, but the sheep she decided to chase were literally a dot on the horizon. She didn't even know what she was chasing, but did she run. I thought that we would be coming home without her! It was only the very thick heather that stopped her going any further. I think that I have been lucky on the 2 occasions that mine have chased sheep, you might not be so lucky. 

I have also heard the ram theory, might be an idea if the farmer can be persuaded & the ram isn't too big


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## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Jo P said:


> The only *perfect* prevention in my experience is keeping your dog on the lead when near the livestock


The problem is defining/gauging what is near? I may walk alongside I field that has sheep adjacent. The dog can smell them and I worry that come a gap in the hedgerow, it's party time for her!!


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## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Ridgielover said:


> Some of them work in the UK too
> 
> My big lad, now nine years old, is really useful on the farm, and we only moved here 4 years ago so he didn't start til he was five. He's great at helping to move the sheep and the cows. He was invaluable at the weekend when we had to move sheep about. One of my bitches tries to help but gets a bit excited. But she will run from side to side behind them, following movements of my arms - and she's 8. There have been times when we wouldn't have got the cows into the barn without them.


Nice to hear from a R.Ridgeback owner on the forums. At times I have the illusion that there are few owners on the forum.

Did you have an issue with jumping up at people when your dogs were puppies? It's probably the only trait I am having an issue with. PM me as to not take the topic off course! Thanks.:thumbup1:


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

You might find this site, article (and book) very useful:
How to control predatory chasing in dogs - David Ryan CCAB

I have the book and it gives a very detailed step-by-step training method to control and stop chasing.


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## lemmsy (May 12, 2008)

MerlinsMum said:


> You might find this site, article (and book) very useful:
> How to control predatory chasing in dogs  David Ryan CCAB
> 
> I have the book and it gives a very detailed step-by-step training method to control and stop chasing.


I have also read this book. I'd thoroughly recommend it. :thumbup1:

His other articles are also definately worth a read


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## WaveRider (Sep 8, 2009)

Cheers. Will give it a bash.


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## dodigna (Feb 19, 2009)

we had this really awful experience in Richmond Park when ray was around 12 months, we passed a group of deers so we thought to put him back on the leash, he didn't badge an eyelid so we thought good he is not interested. Fools! We walked on a bit when about 50 mtrs down the hill we let him off again, mistake! He just turned on his heels and run up, turned once I swear he had a grin on his face! He ended up chasing deers for 5 solid minutes, went off sight and brought them all back; much to the horror of the people in the park.

They aslo called the police on us and we nearly got fined £1,000, but must admit the policeman was chuckling a bit looking at a very exhausted dog flat on the grass... 

Goes without saying we never returned to Richmond Park!


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## barnesy (Nov 10, 2009)

We live in a rural area, where the sheep & cows are rotated through different fields, plus we have geese, rabits and deer. All for our GSD to chase. 

When we first got her she manage to catch a rabbit and kill it, next day she thought she would chase a cow, as she was off the lead and just took off... and got kicked - some would say that was karma.... 

Since then she has obviously been wary of cows. We now only take her through those fields on the lead.. The problem with cows are they are very curious animals and will come quite near, unless shoed away. This does make her nervous, but I try to be positive so as to make it worse.. 

When it came to sheep, if she was on one side of the wire fence, and they were on the other if off the lead she would run the length of the field.. Once she even ran straight into the wire fence and bounced off - she shocked herself, but it was funny... Thankfully unable to get at the sheep, but it is still considered sheep worrying and as far as I am aware you can still be procescuted - especially at lambing time!

I always make my dog sit down and calm down before taking her any where near livestock and always on a lead. If we come through a field with Sheep, again, I will make her sit and wait, always distracting her is the ears prick up, until I want to move on, keeping her close to me and distacting when her body language changes. 

It takes time, but I would say 9 times out of 10 she now ignores them. I will never have her off the lead as I know she will chase. It is their nature to chase animals and having seen her kill a couple of Rabbits - I would rather be safe than sorry. 

Hope that helps  

Good luck.


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## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

I introduced Dave to sheep and cows from an early age- before he was 8 weeks I would carry him.
It didn't make much difference!

Where we walk just past the point the first dog gets let off the lead there is a gate with a gap under it. There used to be a large rock in the way.
Well yesterday it was Dave's turn off lead first and he is going through a bit of an ''I can't hear you'' phase. He spotted the sheep and ran off. I was yelling at him to come back, he went over the hill out of sight. Fraser handed me Bully and jumped over. By the time I had tied one of the others up he was on his way back. Idiot dog that he is!

He got put back on his lead and didn't get let off atall for the entire walk.
We got a bit further on and there was the farmer doing his rounds! Thank god he was like 3 fields away!


I am going to start teaching dave that sheep = down. Or something, so that if he 'stares' at them I tell him down, then if he is off lead and he is used to going down I will be able to catch him.

My old dog had rabbits for the cue to heel. 99% of the time he would come back.

It's terrifying when your dog runs off chasing something! I'm scared they will hurt the animal, or get hurt, or lost!


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Not long after I got Ziggy (a collie cross), she chased a flock of sheep. She was ahead of me on a footpath (no sheep) that went into a field (lots of sheep). Some people coming the other way opened the gate and let her through. She ran the flock across the field, then came back to me - I was calling her the whole time. As we live on a farm with sheep I took this very seriously. 
I made her fear sheep by pretending I was scared of them. Whenever we walked through a field of them I would make myself tense up, and if any of them were close, I'd put her behind me like I was having to protect her from them. It worked - she now thinks sheep want to rip her head off and stamp on the bits!
One day we were on the shore where there's a nice walk and a parking place. We went down to the far end and on the way back found about 30 sheep had escaped from their field and were between us and the car on this quite narrow strip of land - and I hadn't got a lead. I got Ziggy to walk to heel through the flock which she did beautifully. And I'll never forget the time some escaped lambs on the farm here ganged up and chased her up the road!
Around livestock, it's crazy not to have the dog on a lead. There was a dog off-lead that was shot and killed a few years back (in the Lakes I think) when it just suprised a couple of sheep from behind a rock. It wasn't chasing them. I think the owner was fined too.


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## josie.kenyon (Nov 10, 2009)

I have a ridgeback X and I have problems with her jumping up at people - she's 7 months now and getting fairly big, its a bit of a problem as there are a lot of frail elderely people in the neighborhood!

She also loves to chase anything that runs away from her (but she's terrified if they run at her) she's caught a chicken before (unharmed) and wants to chase sheep but I can generally call her off as long as she doesn't get too close as she then goes 'deaf' but whenever I know any animals are around I keep her on her lead.

I wouldn't mind hearing some advice on training!


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

If your dog is off-leash on farmland and the farmer thinks it is a threat to his livestock he will tell you. If you your dog is off-leash and chasing livestock the farmer has every right to shoot your dog, it is up to the farmer if he wants to exercise this.

Putting a dog in with a ram is a no brainer. Why would you ever want to put your dog in such danger? One blow and the damage could be terminal if not instant. Would you go in with an angry ram?

If you are on farm land respect where you are and put your dog on a leash. If you think there might be livestock in an area put your dog on a leash. It doesn't take much to ensure your dog is safe and so are the livestock.

If you are on farmland and feel threatened by any cows then by all means drop the leash as they will be bothered about the dog and not you and the dog can run faster than a cow, you can't.

If you think that your reactions to your dog are quicker than your dog's reactions to what it is seeing and wanting to do think again. Get it on a leash and then there is no room for error.


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