Dog wont run

[hoff135]

Have a 2 and a half year old collie pup i got from working parents. Got her as a pup, took a year and a half before we got her to stop charging in and gripping one.

The current situation is she knows right and left but will only go out 10 yards, sometimes 20. She will stop and ill tell her to go by or away again and she just comes running back.

She has a very strong eye, but all she want to do is stalk up to the sheep and wait till one breaks off and then try and grab it.

She seems to have no instinct to round up sheep. This is the 3rd pup in a row thats ended up the same.

My old dog was a great dog, sadly failed to get pups from him. And is now old and cant do much.

If she wont run now am i right in thinking she never will?

Looking like im going to have to try and buy a trained dog

 

[M-J-G]

Has she been used to catch a sheep or hold them in a corner?

If you take her beyond the sheep will she drive them?

 

[hoff135]

Has she been used to catch a sheep or hold them in a corner?

If you take her beyond the sheep will she drive them?

She will help to drive them if thats whats needed. Ive not really used her to catch in a corner because once you go in to catch and the sheep scatter she will go after one and has cut quite a few. So i dont really do that

 

[CopperBeech]

Have a 2 and a half year old collie pup i got from working parents. Got her as a pup, took a year and a half before we got her to stop charging in and gripping one.

The current situation is she knows right and left but will only go out 10 yards, sometimes 20. She will stop and ill tell her to go by or away again and she just comes running back.

She has a very strong eye, but all she want to do is stalk up to the sheep and wait till one breaks off and then try and grab it.

She seems to have no instinct to round up sheep. This is the 3rd pup in a row thats ended up the same.

My old dog was a great dog, sadly failed to get pups from him. And is now old and cant do much.

If she wont run now am i right in thinking she never will?

Looking like im going to have to try and buy a trained dog

Dont take this the wrong way but if you’ve had three like it in a row, it’s something you’re doing.

 

[hoff135]

Dont take this the wrong way but if you’ve had three like it in a row, it’s something you’re doing.

Well id agree yes but the father does most of the dog training and is 72 and prior to this he never had a dog that would not work. They werent all top notch but most could do the basics.

 

[puppet]

Will it lie down or sit/stay on command away from sheep? I trained ours to fetch a stick with commands to lie, wait, etc depending where I threw it then had the dog anticipating the command before throwing it. Can you take it round on a quad bike to get it running better then get it to stay there?

 

[CopperBeech]

If it were my dog I would get it in the pens, get it used to being the other side of the sheep to me, build it’s confidence. I’d push it around the other side of the sheep using their movement and also be close enough at hand to growl and stop the gripping. Sounds like it’s a confidence thing / it’s confused what’s needed.

 

[hoff135]

Will it lie down or sit/stay on command away from sheep? I trained ours to fetch a stick with commands to lie, wait, etc depending where I threw it then had the dog anticipating the command before throwing it. Can you take it round on a quad bike to get it running better then get it to stay there?

Yes she will sit quite good and stay albeit you sometimes have to tell her quite often.

So for example i have 20 sheep not too far away heading away from us up the side of a field and i put her away to head them, she will go off a few yards and stop. If i tell her away again she will just run back to me. I can make her sit and the give her the away command again but she will just come running back.

I have gone round the fields with the bike and her working beside me, she helps but again she wont go very far.

 

[CopperBeech]

Has she ever run with another dog ?

 

[hoff135]

Has she ever run with another dog ?

Yes but makes no difference. My old dog will i kid you not go out miles, runs pretty wide but she has no inclination to follow. She will go out a short bit and stop while he carries on

 

[davidroberts30]

must be something to do with you having 18months trying to stop her charging in?

 

[Danllan]

My new dog is a pure Welsh Sheepdog, a natural but she was displaying the same problem you mention, more or less + with a bit of voice if excited. You could try walking / running with her to where you want her to go while using a different command. Then, when she's used to that, you stop moving and just give the command.

My whistle to get them to keep going in a direction I'm happy with, is a continuous 'peep - peep - peep - peep', I use it both for when they are around the sheep or in front of a vehicle and I want them to keep on moving. It works, and has fixed the problem in her - although I still see a bit of hesitancy sometimes, she will go on when I whistle.

 

[hoff135]

must be something to do with you having 18months trying to stop her charging in?

Well she has had a row more than once. Left to her own devices she wanted to charge in and single of one ewe and then grip it in the face. She has cut numerous sheep. Eventually i got her to stop this more or less but with dad she is still inclined to do this. Her instinct seems to be attack rather that herd. Im really not sure its ever going to change even though she is now in control

 

[lloyd]

Sounds like your dog is lacking confidence .
If it's been shouted at and someone has been too hard
with it then it's probably confused and takes the easiest option.
Have you tried rewarding it when it gets things right ?
Perhaps it's best for one person to be soley in charge of her.

 

[Woolless]

Try sheep in a round pen with her on the outside? Then she can't go in and grip and you can push her the way you want her to go. Once she balances the sheep, plenty of praise.

 

[CopperBeech]

It’s deffo confidence. Dogs don’t always know why we are telling them off. You are telling her off for running in and gripping, but to her she probably thinks you are telling her off for going off away to the sheep. If she will work a pen, hVe her behind the sheep there while you are at their head. Give her words of encouragement, and correct her when she grips. She will usually settle down and stop being so grabby, using the sheep inside or in a pen to position the dog where you want helps a lot. Also some dogs don’t like
Pushing past sheep, I always take my young dogs into the yards abs get them used to pushing up the side of the sheep and getting round them. Little steps and lots of praise, but really should have been done a year ago or more, by the age she is, you’ve effectively been training her to bad habits.

 

[CopperBeech]

I also agree that one god is what a dog needs. And one who it respects.

 

[hoff135]

It’s deffo confidence. Dogs don’t always know why we are telling them off. You are telling her off for running in and gripping, but to her she probably thinks you are telling her off for going off away to the sheep. If she will work a pen, hVe her behind the sheep there while you are at their head. Give her words of encouragement, and correct her when she grips. She will usually settle down and stop being so grabby, using the sheep inside or in a pen to position the dog where you want helps a lot. Also some dogs don’t like
Pushing past sheep, I always take my young dogs into the yards abs get them used to pushing up the side of the sheep and getting round them. Little steps and lots of praise, but really should have been done a year ago or more, by the age she is, you’ve effectively been training her to bad habits.

Ill see what i can do. This is quite an aggressive dog though, in a pen she is pretty brutal, im surprised she has not been hurt her self. If the stock box is loaded with sheep she leaps up with her front legs and head through the vent trying to get at them. Its not easy to praise her because im constantly trying to keep her back. Except when i want her to go she wont

 

[ISCO]

We never seemed to have time to train a pup so bought a trained dog which we now can't stop. He would be great farmers dog if he would stop. He goes both ways to voice commands but when he gets behind them he will lie down and then won't listen any more.
If the sheep move toward the gate he goes around them and keeps them on the same spot. He could keep sheep on the same spot all day.

He won't come back to us either. It takes a lot of persuasion to get him to stop. He seems obsessed and then after minutes of calling he will suddenly switch off and come back . I am going to try the circular pen and see if we can get somewhere.

We have treats for him but when he gets sight of sheep he will not touch them.

Frustrating things these sheep dogs!

 

[CopperBeech]

Have you tried running her with a muzzle?

Just to make you feel better I once had a dog who killed a sheep on his first training run. Pulled a hole in its side and it’s guts came out.

Dog ended up a real good dog.