Lamb fixation

[Guest Ragtimelil]

How would you proceed with a dog who will fixate on a lamb, if there is one in the group, and ignore the others? Should I work her MORE with the lamb? I can make her go back and pick up the others, but she will get right back to eyeing the lamb. Or should I just keep the lambs away from her? I've never trialed her because of this quirk. I don't trust her with someone else's lambs.

[Guest Amanda]

I love my "sand box."

I wouldn't stop trialling just because the dog eyes up lambs. Where do they really run a trial on lambs? Little ones, like the kind your dog is looking at.

Some dogs get odd on lambs. I am having to work mine on them just now and it's irritating. Lots of dogs can't understand how to manage them--they want to be nice but the lambs are tiny and idiotic at the same time. Dogs that get experience with them learn to cope, but it is never really the same as running on big sheep.

What you do depends on where you are headed with your dog. If you require the dog to help with lambing, it had better get with the job and you need to get out and send it around all the sheep and not let it settle on the lamb. If your dog is young and inexperienced, it might behoove you to only train with the lambs sorted off, since lambs complicate training. All mine eventually need to learn how to cope with them and in the long run, that's better. One way or another, you should not allow it.

[Guest Ragtimelil]

I love my "sand box."

quote]

:?:

Actually, I have seen lambs at trials. Half-grown ones are enough to get her going.

Thanks for the advice, though. I do need them to put sheep out now and then, lambs and all. Guess she'll just have to learn to deal with it.

L