There appears to be two main contributing factors to sheep chasing problems : i) Curiosity - i) what is that woolly thing? and ii) Isn't it fun when it runs! By breaking down the problem, it becomes easier to solve.

I have six sheep specifically chosen for the job. Four lead trained youngsters who are confident with dogs. Henry, Chloe, Dot and Dylan regularly go for walks with my own dogs, four German Shepherds, a Rottweiller and a Shih -Tzu. As you can imagine, they have no fear of dogs! MaaBaa and Morris are not quite as confident. MaaBaa is about seven years old, big but not as brave as she looks! She will stand her ground to a degree but will run under pressure. Morris is sheep through and through! Say "Boo!" and he runs. He hates dogs! I have found that this combination of sheep characters works well for teaching dogs how to behave around sheep. First they meet the youngsters. This solves the curiosity aspect.

By socialising dogs with livestock we can help reduce the possibility of a dog giving chase in such situations. At training sessions these dogs are introduced to sheep who are used to dogs. .

These sheep do not run and give the dogs an opportunity to "investigate" these woolly creatures which satisfies the dog' s curiosity. Usually, after a couple of sessions most dogs ignore the sheep. Initially, the dogs are encouraged to pay attention to their owners by responding to simple obedience commands SIT orDOWN. whilst the sheep are present. The dogs are then asked to respond to these same commands whilst the sheep are running - usually to a food ! After the dogs and owners have achieved this, they are taken into an adjacent field where the "normal" sheep are. These sheep will run!! Again the obedience commands, already taught, are repeated in the company of these 'normal' sheep. Most dogs, once having been introduced behave around them, ignore out exercising.