kelpiegirl Posted April 8, 2008 Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 Anyone have an opinion on this? When you work sheep with horns, do you believe dogs look at the sheep differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted April 8, 2008 Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 I believe mine did after a full curl barbatos ram ploughed her to the ground. Took a bit of convincing to get her to go pick that one back up to join the herd. Since then, she watches them horned sheep pretty good. But I think an experience like that would make me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted April 8, 2008 Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 I think the short answer is that a good dog notices everything. But, part of the long answer is that dogs see things differently than we do. I don't think they think "That one has horns" but rather, "That one carries itself differently." Horns are one of the factors that leads to dominance in the flock (just one), and I imagine that adds some confidence to the individual sheep in question. On the other hand, I've noticed fully horned sheep get somewhat more nervous when moving in low visibility situations. They must spend some brain power watching out that they don't get hung on something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiegirl Posted April 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2008 Thanks everyone who wrote in. I bet it does have, as Becca said, more to do with how the sheep behave, knowing they have some good protection, than just the dog noticing the horns or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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