Sheep

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JudyN
Posts: 7018
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Sheep

Post by JudyN »

An incident on our recent holiday, which I thought may be worth mentioning...

... there's not many sheep round our way. Jasper has walked past a few fields of sheep with not much interest, though he did bark at my friend's sheep when they were just the other side of a fence. In Devon there were lots of sheep!

He didn't seem that interested in them, apart from a few stares. But then one evening, as we set out for a walk, a sheep popped through a hedge into the lane. We went back to tell the property owners, who were around at the time, and the sheep went into our garden. Jasper went mental, barking and whirling on the end of the lead, desperate to get to it. I had to hang on hard.

So, a lesson learnt. Just because a field of stationary white blobs is of limited interest doesn't mean that one solitary sheep clearly where it shouldn't be could be a recipe for disaster!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Flyby
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Re: Sheep

Post by Flyby »

I can walk my pair through a field of sheep and off the lead too, and not have any problem. Even the sheep don't seem alarmed by it. Would I trust my dogs in the same situation but with me not there? Nope. I'm not certain there would be a problem, but how long can a dog resist the temptation of furry things that run away and panic?
JudyN
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: Sheep

Post by JudyN »

Quite... and however reliable they are, there are always days where the devil seems to get into them and they take you by surprise. Some things are worth the risk or you could never let your dog off lead, but some things just aren't. And with a hunting dog with little exposure to sheep, bearing in mind what could happen, sheep are definitely not worth the risk!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
bendog
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:42 am

Re: Sheep

Post by bendog »

Yep,
Poppy is now pretty good with sheep when she is on lead. She does a damn good job of ignoring them.
BUT she also does a spectacular job of ignoring people having a Picnic, sunbathers who have had a BBQ and have their rubbish in a bag nearby, fishermen with maggots/mealworms, dropped sandwiches etc when she is on lead, only to then double back and pay them a visit as soon as I think (obviously wrongly!) that we are far enough away to let her off again.

She is fine with sheep standing still, but is far too interested in sheep running around for me to ever risk her off lead. Even Sash has proved capable of wanting to chase sheep, despite not much getting her attention, and Charlie would chase too. I don't believe Charlie would kill a sheep, but poppy would have a bloody good try!

Ben is 100% safe with sheep, as tested to the limit when a sheep headbutted him on a mountain last year! But even he has jumped and thought about chasing when a young lamb shoots out of the ferns and none of us knew it was there.

Also worth mentioning that for the most part sheep have seemed not too bothered by my dogs, but i have walked through several fields of horses which have gotten quite bolshy because of the dogs and even though I ride and have been around horses since I was a kid, it is pretty scary to be trapped in a field with a grumpy horse.
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