thanks, another 5 weeks in plaster though

As I have said, he wasn't BORN wanting to chase. He USED to be absolutely fine around livestock. This is a LEARNED behaviour brought about by the experiences he had. He shows no aggression towards sheep at all - when he chases them he doesn't show any drive to kill or hurt. He wants to play with them and behaves much in the same way as he does around other dogs in the park when he's off-lead. He gets over-excited in his 'play' and then ignores commands.

I DO put the safety of my dog first!

as the example i gave with my staff earlier - that could change easily and like you say he never use to feel the urge to chase but he has learnt it, he may learn to become more aggressive.

That said, im sure you are trying your very best to do what will help both you and your dog and if it means planning for something that may never happen - that cant be irresponsible

It's not coming across that way...

I do know a young NI that is walked off lead and yes he does chase sheep - the owner has been warned by the farmer but his (the owner's) response is 'he only wants to play with them'. A few weeks ago this dog was running around a field and knocking the sheep to the ground in 'play' before running off onto a road (we caught the dog before he was run over), he's a year old what happens when he's older he may not only want to play?

I have to say though, the FCR in question was nOT easy to train. He was highly distractable and his recall was poo. He wanted to go and see everything, bird, squirrel, small child, person, dog, cat...as soon as he saw something that was it and no amount of chicken, liver, toys, stupid voices and running away from him did the trick...I wouldn't say he was biddable. You're right a lot of FCRs are exceptionally biddable and easy to train as a result, the one at my feet is exactly that...but not all Flat coats....
It took a LOT of time and effort on my part, then on the part of someone else to get his recall as good as it now is.

I don't agree with zapping a dog just incase it escapes...you can't live your life on what ifs.

We haven't done this for a while Dawn, wish I had more time...it's fun!


You can wear a dog out by getting it to use it's brain much more than you can by letting it go for a run around.
Dogs that are trained not to poo in a specific area (the house) by using painful or frightening methods, will often become worse through nerves.


What is his recall like around otgher dogs?

My uncle has a sheep farm. A few years ago he had a collie that worked great with sheep up to a few 100 meters from my uncle. Once this point passed he would work fine but at one point he would go nipping the sheeps legs. Unacceptable behaviour. They tried everything for over a year and then he came to me. I gave him the e-collar so that the dog could wear it for a few weeks to get accustommed to it. few weeks later i returned and we set of to herd his sheep. distance over half a kilometer. I administerd 2 corrections. The first one lighter than the second. that was it. He never nicked a t the sheeps legs again.

Differnce between getting rid of a workingdog or having a great dog.

I find that the E-collar is a great tool that has to be used when necessary and in combination with other tools.

Every tool can be misused and some tools look more harsh than other but this isn't necessary the fact

greetings

Johan

I can only guess from this post that you have only read a few posts on this thread. If you read back you will find I keep my dog on-lead when we're anywhere near livestock. I appreciate it's a long thread but it does become tedious for me to keep repeating myself.

I don't usually live my life around what ifs. However, as we are surrounded by livestock, my dog's life is at risk if I don't train him to respond to commands EVEN WHEN livestock are nearby. It may be an unlikely 'what if' but the consequences are HUGE.

His recall around other dogs is MUCH better than it was. It used to be pretty much non-existant. These days he will come back every time (sometimes not as quickly as I'd like). It helps that I have another dog now whose recall is fab and he seems to be picking up a thing or two.

I am going to repeat the last paragraph in the other thread as it is off-topic here.

So in answer to my question, you don't think your dogs breeding has any part in him chasing sheep