Round Training Pen Size

[Tilly's Handler]

If this topic was covered before sorry for asking it again

When starting out with a young dog what is the normal size of pen to start with and what do most trainers expand it to

I have the chance to purchase 10 16 foot panels that I could use to start my pup with when the weather improves was wondering if this was a good size or not to begin with or start smaller and add to it

 

Thanks and Merry Christmas

Dan

[lookback]

If the pen is too small, the dog can feel trapped in there with the sheep, and might be aggressive (with the sheep) as a result - or if the dog lacks confidence, it might be intimidated and not want to work in there at all.

 

If the pen's too large, the sheep (and dog) may be too far away from you when you need to be close-bye to control the situation.

 

Over the years I find that between 28 and 30 panels of 6 ft each seems best.

 

But if you only want to train one dog, before you spend your hard-earned cash, bear in mind that I like to get the dog and sheep out of the pen and into the open field as soon as I can.

 

The pen (or ring) is wonderful for teaching the dog to keep the sheep together, but once this is more or less achieved, working out in the open is far better for most dogs. Even though the ring size I've mentioned seems large to us, dogs can still feel trapped in there with the "prey" and I notice time and again the dog improving once we get out into the field.

 

If you can borrow some panels, or use a temporary structure - made from bales of straw or similar - or even use a large building with the corners blanked off, it could save you money.

[Tilly's Handler]

I likely could make something with round bales I actually had not thought of that Thanks

[red russel]

60 - 80 feet across is a good size. enough room that the fence doesn't feel like too much pressure and there is room for you to back off your dog to release pressure. small enough that you can get your dog's attention and the stock can't run off.

[Smalahundur]

We are kind of contemplating building this. But it would ideally have to be multifunctional; Doubling as a round pen for longing young horses.

[Tilly's Handler]

When I was looking at purchasing panels I was also thinking of having them for other uses as well The panels are 48 dollars a piece so would be handy to have store inside last for ever

[juliepoudrier]

Tilly's Handler,

Are you looking at the tubular horse panels or cattle panels? Last time I priced cattle panels (which is what I make a round pen out of), they were around $27 each for a 16 footer.

 

FWIW, when I hosted Jack Knox for a clinic, he requested a round pen of 50-60 feet in diameter.

 

J.

[Gideon's girl]

Holy Cow!! I paid $97 each for seventeen 16' tubular galvanized round pen panals last year, a little more for the one with the gate in it. I have to pay about $20 for the 16' welded cattle fence panels, which is what my goat pen is made of,

[Tilly's Handler]

They are the cattle panels if I wanted tubular panels cheapest that I found locally were 185 a piece

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Aspiring Sheepdoggers,

 

Also: figure how you're going to get the sheep in and out of the round pen.

 

Donald

[juliepoudrier]

Wow, those prices are insane!

 

J.

[Gideon's girl]

We don't grow metal here so we have to pay dearly for it, I guess.

[Smalahundur]

Same here, hurdles and panels are very expensive. Buying them only to construct a round pen for dog training really isn´t worth it. When a started Gláma I made a temporary affair with sheep netting.

As Andy pointed out, if you are just training your own dog(s), you only use it for a short period of time

[Tilly's Handler]

Dear Aspiring Sheepdoggers,

 

Also: figure how you're going to get the sheep in and out of the round pen.

 

Donald

That actually is some thing I was thinking about I can move some of my quieter sheep with a grain pail the other option would be to build a small holding area off the training pen. There are 8 of my older katahdin ewes that are fairly easy to handle once they lamb was thinking of starting Tilly with them they should lamb first part of feb so they would be useable for may as for the other 132 they will need to be dog broke they are a mixed bag of odds and ends cheviot dorper soffolk cross ect and the few times Tilly has escaped they disappeared around the barn in a flash thankfully Tilly called off before anything went to wrong.

By the way Don really enjoy the Fly stories I think that she is very lucky to have found you

[red russel]

i don't hesitate to take one of my seasoned dogs back into the round pen for a quick spin. sometimes just to give them something a bit different to do or to work on something in particular at hand.

[5Bordercollies]

Getting the sheep into the pen is why I can't use my horses' round pen, a lovely 60 foot pen made from posts. Dan, if you're seriously thinking of using it for horses too you need it to be at least 60 foot across. Otherwise it gets too small when they start to canter.

[Maja]

My round pen is 28 m in diameter and I wish it was bigger. It you have a dog with a lot of presence It is too small. It's workable, but not ideal.

 

We built it out of wild-game fencing - in Poland this was the cheapest. The most expensive element were the posts. There are very good aluminum posts that can be driven into the ground - saves a ton of work.

[Tilly's Handler]

The problem here is I either construct a fence/pen that stands on it's own or move out in to a pasture field or hay field the barn yard has limestone on the surface or a couple of inches down in which requeries you to drill post holes this why I was thinking panels or tube gates had another suggestion of using plastic snow fence the township usually has a bunch they throw out every year anyone else tried this

[denice]

I worked in a round pen once that was lined with snow fence because the sheep and dogs just went under the panels. It made me dizzy. The snow fence is just rather solid looking to your eye as young dog is going around. I would try it out before you go to a lot of work. It is also easy enough to figure out how to lift up the bottom and escape

[Gloria Atwater]

If this topic was covered before sorry for asking it again

When starting out with a young dog what is the normal size of pen to start with and what do most trainers expand it to

I have the chance to purchase 10 16 foot panels that I could use to start my pup with when the weather improves was wondering if this was a good size or not to begin with or start smaller and add to it

 

Thanks and Merry Christmas

Dan

 

 

A friend of mine has a round pen that's 60 feet across in which I've worked young dogs and it works very well. I think anything smaller than that would be too tight for sheep, dog and you. Plus it's big enough to longe a horse, if you wish!

 

If you must build it free-standing, you'll want some kind of wings leading into the gate, so the sheep can't get clever and avoid going in by wrapping around it.

 

~ Gloria

[Smalahundur]

Since Gláma I am now in the luxury position I always envied in other board members, I have a more experienced dog to put the sheep in the round pen; good exercise for her, and it means I am not as restricted as to where and how I build the pen.