Jump to content
BC Boards

Crazy Sheep!


MommaLove
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this topic, but here goes -

 

Juno's been on sheep only a few times and I mostly keep her away from my own livestock, until she is better trained. I have three dairy goats and one Shetland ewe.

 

The other day, the goats & sheep escaped and were out in the field where Juno and I were playing fetch. Juno decided she'd better get those darned ruminants back over to their yard, and set to work.

 

The Shetland ewe, instead of falling in with the goats (as she always does when I'm rounding them up), turned to face Juno and tried to ram her! The goats complied with Juno quite nicely, but that darned crazy sheep tried again and again to head butt Juno in the ribs. Luckily, Juno can outrun a sheep.

 

I called Juno off and put her in the house before going out to finish the job myself.

 

In the future, when Juno's better trained and I actually WANT her working the livestock, what the heck do I do about a sheep who won't co-operate? I never expected that ewe to have a face-off with my dog!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you want to overface a young or inexperienced dog with an animal that will resist or intimidate her. When Juno has time and experience, and particularly if she has a grip, she might be able to handle this one on her own. In the meantime, avoid situations that might have an adverse effect on Juno.

 

Folks who know a lot more than I will give much better advice. Meanwhile, my first thought was to make shepherd's pie out of her...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, if I am not mistaken, Juno is a pup. Her being in a situation like this can be frightening to a young dog and potentially cause some set backs in training. So, I would not let her work your goats and cranky ewe anytime soon. As a youngster and a newbie to livestock training she should still be on relatively dogged sheep so that this situation is unlikely to occur again. Once Juno has more training under her belt she hopefully should have enough confidence to handle the situation and to not back down to a challenge from a sheep. And with more training you maybe able to help her work through a situation like that.

 

Sometimes it really depends on the dog, too. For example, I have two dogs that I train, Devon & Teak. When Devon was a pup (maybe 9 months old) we were in the round pen at my trainer's and one of the ewes turned and faced him. He didn't move, stared at her, and she stomped a foot. He took a few steps closer and stopped. She just stared at him. Now he was within 2 feet of her maybe. She just stood her ground. And finally he moved in and nipped at her nose. She turned around and fell in with the flock. So, in this case, it turned out to be a good lesson for him, since it didn't turn in to a bad experience for a young dog. But Devon has always been a confident dog that has a strong presence on sheep.

 

Teak, by way of comparison, is almost 6 years and lacks confidence and is routinely challenged by sheep. They can sense her lack of confidence and constantly test her. I have to be more vigilant to help her through those situations or try to be a better handler and not to allow her to get into those situations or help her through them so that she can gain more confidence.

 

So, my point is, try to avoid those situations if possible until you guys have more experience and training and you know a little bit more about how your dog works. I understand that sometimes unexpected things like this happen and in thise case it worked out relatively ok. :)

Edited by WildFlower
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, guys! I have been keeping Juno away from the livestock - this was one incident that was unintended and won't be happening again. Fortunately, she was not intimidated by the feisty ewe, and we'll keep up with her training. When she's more experienced and I am a more knowledgeable handler, she'll get to try again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Should it ever happen again (because you never know), go over to the ewe and HELP Juno move her. Your presence could have bolstered her confidence just enough to where she would have not let the ewe intimidate her, and if the ewe still tried, you would have been in a position to stop her (with a whack to the bridge of her nose or whatever), and it may be that your presence would have made the ewe think twice about doing anything. You would have accomplished two things: helped Juno's confidence on sheep and helped her confidence in you that you have her back.

 

I probably would have run over there and helped/encouraged Juno to "go after" the ewe and then backed her up. This means I would have called Juno up to me and the sheep and then walked into the ewe's face waving my arms to encourage her to turn, all the while encouraging Juno to come right up there with me. It sounds like the ewe was willing to move off you, so I would have used that to my and Juno's advantage to make Juno think that she could make the ewe turn and move (when in fact it would have been me doing that with Juno right there beside me). In fact, I'd probably set up a confrontation in a more confined space and see if I couldn't repair any potential damage to Juno's confidence. The caveat is, of course, that I've had years of experience training dogs and working with sheep and so have the skills necessary to do that.

 

The problem with Shetlands is that they do tend to be independent and don't flock well, so it's not surprising that when you wanted to ewe to do what she didn't want to do, she found a victim she could intimidate and proceeded to do so.

 

The takeaway: If something like this ever happens again, go help your dog to get the task done.

 

J.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this topic, but here goes -

 

Juno's been on sheep only a few times and I mostly keep her away from my own livestock, until she is better trained. I have three dairy goats and one Shetland ewe.

 

The other day, the goats & sheep escaped and were out in the field where Juno and I were playing fetch. Juno decided she'd better get those darned ruminants back over to their yard, and set to work.

 

The Shetland ewe, instead of falling in with the goats (as she always does when I'm rounding them up), turned to face Juno and tried to ram her! The goats complied with Juno quite nicely, but that darned crazy sheep tried again and again to head butt Juno in the ribs. Luckily, Juno can outrun a sheep.

 

I called Juno off and put her in the house before going out to finish the job myself.

 

In the future, when Juno's better trained and I actually WANT her working the livestock, what the heck do I do about a sheep who won't co-operate? I never expected that ewe to have a face-off with my dog!

 

So you may have a relative of my Little Miss Iris? (I have four Shetlands myself). When the dogs get too close - where she can't see them behind her - she turns and stamps her little baby feet (she was a May lamb) and lowers her head like she is a giant ram. If they don't crowd her, she's cool.

 

Oddly, she is my tamest sheep (which is saying something because all of my sheep are tame!), always inquisitive, always first at the fence, and definitely first for a handout. She and the three others flock better than one might expect of Shetlands because they hang with one of the "big girls" a Clun/Tunis who is a burr.

 

(And no Shepherd's pie for this one, Sue :). Her natural black fleece is puppy soft.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...