Author Topic: Sheep safe course - week 4 of 6 (Read 2887 times)

plumseverywhere · « **on:** July 14, 2013, 08:41:04 pm »

Just home. Exhausted but elated. Today the 3 of us there were asked to walk around with dogs trailing leads and 7 off lead dogs (all well trained and perfectly behaved!) were brought into the barn to mooch about while our dogs were instructed to 'leave, come' and required to ignore the dogs.
After that....we had dogs on loose, very long leads amongst sheep! Brilliant evenings training, the penny really dropped and our Murph didn't attempt to chase sheep at all. In fact he was more interested in my commands and doing everything requested of him 100%. Just taken him into the goats at home and read his body language as we've been taught, by doing so was able to pre-empt any attempt to chase and he was fantastic

I wish they had these courses across the UK , I can't put into words how happy I am with the results. Confidence is building all the time for both the dog and I and we are working well as a team. Happy

Old Shep · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2013, 08:53:34 pm »

that's brill Plums - it sounds really good. I'm sure many many people could benefit from this sort of training.

Torrin37 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2013, 08:58:33 pm »

Fantastic

sounds like both of you are doing really well. Sounds like a brilliant course, they would be really useful to loads of people - don't think we've got anything like that round here

shygirl · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2013, 11:01:26 pm »

are there any terriers in the class?
mine hasnt met sheep yet but is good with the goat kids when im there. i wouldnt trust him on his own though.

fiestyredhead331 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 15, 2013, 12:17:05 am »

so jealous, I wish there was something like that here as the collie we have needs some serious training or OH has threatened to take him to the vet if we can't find a home for him ASAP

plumseverywhere · « **Reply #5 on:** July 15, 2013, 07:44:18 am »

Hi Shygirl, this course doesn't have a terrier on it but its been run several times and I think they take all sorts. my dog is terrier X Samoyed (I know, weird combo!) but it means he has the herding instinct from the Sammy and the tenacity of a terrier too!
I think there are a few courses around but this one is Malvern Hills and subsidised by the conservators due to how many sheep have been killed. I travel about and hour and a quarter to get there but its really worth it

Moobli · « **Reply #6 on:** July 15, 2013, 11:51:58 am »

Sounds like a great course. I am helping a friend with two of her dogs who are overly interested in sheep and they are doing well so far.

Quote from: fiestyredhead331 on July 15, 2013, 12:17:05 am

so jealous, I wish there was something like that here as the collie we have needs some serious training or OH has threatened to take him to the vet if we can't find a home for him ASAP

What is the problem you are having with your dog? There are these type of courses across the UK (where are you?) or if your collie is keen to work then perhaps it might be kinder to find him a good working home?

fiestyredhead331 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 15, 2013, 11:05:51 pm »

the poor dog was bought as a pet by a woman on her own with 3 special needs children, because she thought he was lovely (which he is) and she'd never had one before. He was too much for her and her 2 rotties to deal with so was kept in a cage most of the time I gather so she was looking for a home with lots of space and she 'thought' he needed to be worked, came from good working strain blah blah so gave him to us. We could see from day 2 when we let him out that he had no clue what to do, just chased, caught and killed chickens, brought down 2 lambs while he was thankfully muzzled so we contacted his previous owner but she washed her hands off him. I haven't the time to start from scratch with him and I'm not sure if he could either. He gets too excited near animals, goes deaf all of a sudden and just goes for it, its a nightmare!
We are so far north there are very few opportunities for training etc, most people buy from people they know have trained and worked with the dog.

Moobli · « **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2013, 08:59:27 am »

How is he with kids and other dogs?

Poor dog, it doesn't sound like he had the best start. If you are wanting to rehome him and can get him to East Lothian/Borders area then my hubby says he will take him and try to do something with him. Do you know anything about where he came from originally? Who bred him or which lines he is from etc?

Do you have any photos?