Sheep proof a dog

Curiousness99

Question at bottom...

I live up the hills where there are lots of sheep, my house is surrounded on all sides by fields with sheep, the sheep would be right up against the fence. I’ve one dog currently which is reasonably well trained and doesn’t have any interest in the sheep. The dog is out and about in the garden a lot and although he can get out, he stays within our plot. He has done this since he is a pup; we got him neutered specifically to reduce the chance of him wandering.

The dog is used to walking where there are sheep around and responds well to commands, recall or lies down, he’d be off the lead mostly, not in the same fields where there are sheep On the walks he knows areas where he is not allowed go near

I do put him on the lead or get him to walk to heel if there are sheep about and I don’t bring him anywhere where landowners have signs for no dogs, I wouldn’t go onto someone’s land without permission either, sheep or no sheep.

All that said,I still don’t trust him fully around sheep, particularly if I have him somewhere he’s less familiar with. There is always a risk that you come across a sheep where you don’t expect one.

I know that there are a few places in the U.K.( working farms) where your dog is put in a field with sheep and trained not have any interest in sheep, some train the dog to walk to heel once they see a sheep

Anyone know if there is someone in Ireland who does the same thing?

Thanks

charolais0153

Curiousness99 wrote: »

Question at bottom...

I live up the hills where there are lots of sheep, my house is surrounded on all sides by fields with sheep, the sheep would be right up against the fence. I’ve one dog currently which is reasonably well trained and doesn’t have any interest in the sheep. The dog is out and about in the garden a lot and although he can get out, he stays within our plot. He has done this since he is a pup; we got him neutered specifically to reduce the chance of him wandering.

The dog is used to walking where there are sheep around and responds well to commands, recall or lies down, he’d be off the lead mostly, not in the same fields where there are sheep On the walks he knows areas where he is not allowed go near

I do put him on the lead or get him to walk to heel if there are sheep about and I don’t bring him anywhere where landowners have signs for no dogs, I wouldn’t go onto someone’s land without permission either, sheep or no sheep.

All that said,I still don’t trust him fully around sheep, particularly if I have him somewhere he’s less familiar with. There is always a risk that you come across a sheep where you don’t expect one.

I know that there are a few places in the U.K.( working farms) where your dog is put in a field with sheep and trained not have any interest in sheep, some train the dog to walk to heel once they see a sheep

Anyone know if there is someone in Ireland who does the same thing?

Thanks

Never heard of it tbh. Would a shock collar work?might be unfair on an older dog not used to it perhaps

You could always fence in your garden, so your dog is safe and the sheep are safe. You could also walk your dog on a lead when there's sheep anywhere in the area so the sheep are safe and your dog is safe.

Curiousness99

Deleted User wrote: »

You could always fence in your garden, so your dog is safe and the sheep are safe. You could also walk your dog on a lead when there's sheep anywhere in the area so the sheep are safe and your dog is safe.

I hear ye

Hard to get everything across in email. We have a proper dog run and where we used keep the dog when no one is at home, dog was like Houdini and was always escaping from it (no matter how much chicken wire I put around it) to be found in the garden when we got home, we got lucky that he stayed in the garden. The garden is well fenced (and we’ve a big gate we close when we’re going out} but I know he could get out given experience of dog run, other pups from the litter are the same, one gets over a side gate somehow and has dug underneath a solid fence

I do put the dog on a lead if there’s a risk. I’m thinking of the very odd occasions where sheep have got out on roads under a fence or got through fences and are somewhere you’re not expecting them has happened in Coillte forest where I’ve been walking for 20 years and I’ve never seen a sheep before

I want to continue to walk him offlead but be 100% if I he came a across a sheep that he’d leave it well alone as I expect he would

wrangler

Curiousness99 wrote: »

I hear ye

Hard to get everything across in email. We have a proper dog run and where we used keep the dog when no one is at home, dog was like Houdini and was always escaping from it (no matter how much chicken wire I put around it) to be found in the garden when we got home, we got lucky that he stayed in the garden. The garden is well fenced (and we’ve a big gate we close when we’re going out} but I know he could get out given experience of dog run, other pups from the litter are the same, one gets over a side gate somehow and has dug underneath a solid fence

I do put the dog on a lead if there’s a risk. I’m thinking of the very odd occasions where sheep have got out on roads under a fence or got through fences and are somewhere you’re not expecting them has happened in Coillte forest where I’ve been walking for 20 years and I’ve never seen a sheep before

I want to continue to walk him offlead but be 100% if I he came a across a sheep that he’d leave it well alone as I expect he would

If dogs aren't wormed regularly their sh.t is harmful to sheep

Cran

Curiousness99 wrote: »

I hear ye

Hard to get everything across in email. We have a proper dog run and where we used keep the dog when no one is at home, dog was like Houdini and was always escaping from it (no matter how much chicken wire I put around it) to be found in the garden when we got home, we got lucky that he stayed in the garden. The garden is well fenced (and we’ve a big gate we close when we’re going out} but I know he could get out given experience of dog run, other pups from the litter are the same, one gets over a side gate somehow and has dug underneath a solid fence

I do put the dog on a lead if there’s a risk. I’m thinking of the very odd occasions where sheep have got out on roads under a fence or got through fences and are somewhere you’re not expecting them has happened in Coillte forest where I’ve been walking for 20 years and I’ve never seen a sheep before

I want to continue to walk him offlead but be 100% if I he came a across a sheep that he’d leave it well alone as I expect he would

Right I will try to respond to this without sounding to critical, as tbf you came looking for advice and that's what hopefully this is from years of training and working dogs.

If your dog is getting out their run, its not a proper secure dog run. You need to get modular panels or premade run and put on either concrete or paving slabs. If its a collie type or springer its needs to be bars not chain as they will climb out. Same for your garden well fenced is far from dog proof, if only out occasionally would say use a shock collar but train him properly. I personally don't like shock collars but they do work. Really a proper fence maybe 5/6ft high depending on the dog with some sort of wire mesh and the mesh also a foot out from the fence along the ground to stop digging similar to what would do with a chicken run is ideal.

As for training a dog for sheep it is not really practical for an adult dog they need to be raised from a pup, even that certain breeds it doesn't work. Also as Wrangler said dogs need to be regularly wormed or not allowed even on a lead into fields with sheep. The thing to remember is your dog will chase sheep, he will escape the garden and chase sheep, he will escape the current run and will chase sheep it is only a matter of time.

I have had the awful experience of a dog attack here, and we had to shot three dogs all pets. No one wins in that scenario, here we have 4 dogs all in proper secure runs and the house dog is never let out to an unsecure area because she will chase sheep. Hope that helps

arctictree

Sorry to say but it's only a matter of time. If you don't fence him in properly, one day he will either go missing or be shot. I've seen it multiple times.

Curiousness99

wrangler wrote: »

If dogs aren't wormed regularly their sh.t is harmful to sheep

Thanks I was aware of that

Dog is wormed regularly and I always bag any sh.t and take with me (I seem to be one of the few up the hills)

Curiousness99

Cran wrote: »

Right I will try to respond to this without sounding to critical, as tbf you came looking for advice and that's what hopefully this is from years of training and working dogs.

If your dog is getting out their run, its not a proper secure dog run. You need to get modular panels or premade run and put on either concrete or paving slabs. If its a collie type or springer its needs to be bars not chain as they will climb out. Same for your garden well fenced is far from dog proof, if only out occasionally would say use a shock collar but train him properly. I personally don't like shock collars but they do work. Really a proper fence maybe 5/6ft high depending on the dog with some sort of wire mesh and the mesh also a foot out from the fence along the ground to stop digging similar to what would do with a chicken run is ideal.

As for training a dog for sheep it is not really practical for an adult dog they need to be raised from a pup, even that certain breeds it doesn't work. Also as Wrangler said dogs need to be regularly wormed or not allowed even on a lead into fields with sheep. The thing to remember is your dog will chase sheep, he will escape the garden and chase sheep, he will escape the current run and will chase sheep it is only a matter of time.

I have had the awful experience of a dog attack here, and we had to shot three dogs all pets. No one wins in that scenario, here we have 4 dogs all in proper secure runs and the house dog is never let out to an unsecure area because she will chase sheep. Hope that helps

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advice and benefit of someone else’s experience. A few of the neighbors have had sheep killed over the years so I get the angst dogs can cause. The dog(collie/spaniel cross) is nearly 3 now and as I said is close proximity to sheep all the time and just doesn’t seem interested in them, they’re mostly used to him too. He’s also used to seeing my neighbors dog herding the sheep too

I’ve also decided against getting another dog on advice from neighbors that 2 or more dogs are much more likely to chase sheep. Any sheep kills that have happened around here have involved more than one dog as far as I know

The dog run is a prefabricated purpose built one (On paving stones) with 6ft high but still was not obviously up to the job, he could get out when he was a pup,

I guess I’m trying to minimize the risk of chasing sheep as much as possible that’s why I was asking about training but there’s more I could do I. Securing the fencing or put up an electric fence with collar

wrangler

Curiousness99 wrote: »

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advice and benefit of someone else’s experience. A few of the neighbors have had sheep killed over the years so I get the angst dogs can cause. The dog(collie/spaniel cross) is nearly 3 now and as I said is close proximity to sheep all the time and just doesn’t seem interested in them, they’re mostly used to him too. He’s also used to seeing my neighbors dog herding the sheep too

I’ve also decided against getting another dog on advice from neighbors that 2 or more dogs are much more likely to chase sheep. Any sheep kills that have happened around here have involved more than one dog as far as I know

The dog run is a prefabricated purpose built one (On paving stones) with 6ft high but still was not obviously up to the job, he could get out when he was a pup,

I guess I’m trying to minimize the risk of chasing sheep as much as possible that’s why I was asking about training but there’s more I could do I. Securing the fencing or put up an electric fence with collar

Elestric fence and collar is far from 100% secure. you seem to be putting alot of emphasis on you only having one dog but You don't know how a dog will act if he wanders and meets up with other dogs, also a wandering dog can cause accidents on public roads as well and do thousands of Euros worth of damage.
Everyone thinks that house insurance covers dogs but after a bad experience of my sheep being attacked I found out that the offending dog is only covered on the owners property by some companies.
Dog owner got some shock when he discovered that

White Clover

Curiousness99 wrote: »

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advice and benefit of someone else’s experience. A few of the neighbors have had sheep killed over the years so I get the angst dogs can cause. The dog(collie/spaniel cross) is nearly 3 now and as I said is close proximity to sheep all the time and just doesn’t seem interested in them, they’re mostly used to him too. He’s also used to seeing my neighbors dog herding the sheep too

I’ve also decided against getting another dog on advice from neighbors that 2 or more dogs are much more likely to chase sheep. Any sheep kills that have happened around here have involved more than one dog as far as I know

The dog run is a prefabricated purpose built one (On paving stones) with 6ft high but still was not obviously up to the job, he could get out when he was a pup,

I guess I’m trying to minimize the risk of chasing sheep as much as possible that’s why I was asking about training but there’s more I could do I. Securing the fencing or put up an electric fence with collar

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but as a sheep farmer I'd be expecting you to ensure that the dog doesn't get out to chase sheep. Minimising the risk may end up with the dog getting shot.

Curiousness99

i was genuinely looking for advice but can see the holes in what I’m posting

I can only imagine what it’s like to have sheep suffer a dog attack and I understand 100% that a farmer is legally entitled to shoot a dog(including mine) worrying sheep and regardless of the legalities I would agree with the farmer 100%

I think I am generally a very responsible dog owner, was just trying to think of a ways of ensuring the dog never chased sheep... some of the responses here have given me ideas.

Thanks for all the comments

John_Rambo

Can you bring the dog in to the house?

Curiousness99

wrangler wrote: »

Elestric fence and collar is far from 100% secure. you seem to be putting alot of emphasis on you only having one dog but You don't know how a dog will act if he wanders and meets up with other dogs, also a wandering dog can cause accidents on public roads as well and do thousands of Euros worth of damage.
Everyone thinks that house insurance covers dogs but after a bad experience of my sheep being attacked I found out that the offending dog is only covered on the owners property by some companies.
Dog owner got some shock when he discovered that

Sorry to hear about the sheep kill

Curiousness99

John_Rambo wrote: »

Can you bring the dog in to the house?

He’s in the house when we’re home and at night but yeah we probably could leave him in the house more the few when we’re not there during the day

I suppose since he stays put in the garden and doesn’t wander I’ve assumed Things will stay that way

He knows well he’s not allowed out. If a ball goes out of the garden he stops in his tracks and waits for me to climb over the fence and get it

arctictree

I'll add to this that we once had a spaniel that we trained not to chase OUR sheep. Of course, this didn't stop him chasing our neighbours sheep.

Curiousness99

https://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/dog-owners/sheep-worrying/2460/top-tips-training-and-further-help-for-dog-owners/

Anyway for anyone who is interested, the uk services referred to on this page is what I was aksking about .

But as the article points out too, best to have a dog on lead around sheep, full stop, again I was just thinking of those occasions where you come across a sheep when you’re not expecting it.

ganmo

As with all dog training most of the battle is training the owner

Sheep breeder

Curiousness99 wrote: »

https://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/dog-owners/sheep-worrying/2460/top-tips-training-and-further-help-for-dog-owners/

Anyway for anyone who is interested, the uk services referred to on this page is what I was aksking about .

But as the article points out too, best to have a dog on lead around sheep, full stop, again I was just thinking of those occasions where you come across a sheep when you’re not expecting it.

Fair play for sticking your head up here, reading your post your dog doesn’t seem bored and is getting exercise which is a good thing. Your dog run needs to be secure and have seen Harris fencing ( security rails)used and easy to put up. A dog that chases sheep is a problem but if a dog is controlled and minded at all time, this takes away a lot of the risk.
Now before the sheep people jump on me, we have had lots of sheep killed over the years and the last one two years ago when the sheep were being killed by neighbouring sheep fattener best collie dog that was left out at night who killed on surrounding farms and not on his own. Fact if dog is going to chase sheep it won’t be stopped till it gets a bullet.

Curiousness99

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Fair play for sticking your head up here, reading your post your dog doesn’t seem bored and is getting exercise which is a good thing. Your dog run needs to be secure and have seen Harris fencing ( security rails)used and easy to put up. A dog that chases sheep is a problem but if a dog is controlled and minded at all time, this takes away a lot of the risk.
Now before the sheep people jump on me, we have had lots of sheep killed over the years and the last one two years ago when the sheep were being killed by neighbouring sheep fattener best collie dog that was left out at night who killed on surrounding farms and not on his own. Fact if dog is going to chase sheep it won’t be stopped till it gets a bullet.

as soon as I posted or once I saw a few responses i thought I had made a mistake alright

Glad I did cause some comments have given me thought

I’m lucky that I can go out and do a few 1hour plus walks over the hills where there are no sheep the dog can get a lot of exercise. A tired, wet dog is a happy dog and less likely to get up to no good

I’ve realisd I have probably come a bit complacement, just cause I haven’t had a problem with my dog and sheep yet, it would be a disaster all round if there was a problem with any of the neighbors so you need to be vigilant and not take any chances