Stock Proofing the Mutt

[juz]

Has anybody had any luck stock proofing a dog that has already chased sheep and cattle? tryed penning him up with some rams but they wouldnt have a bar of him.Shock collar does nothing, highest setting and Boost and he keeps running. Genarally fine but every so often wants to chase them.Never Bitten stock though I feel thats probably next. Hes a 18mnth old boxer, about ready to give him up but the misus is really attached to him. Any other ideas would be awesome!

[flyingbrick]

move the shock collars probes to a more sensitive part of his body.

[juz]

We already cut his nuts out!

[DieselBoy]

There is absolutely no reason a dog can't be trained out of a certain behaviour.

It just takes patience.

But most behavioural problems originate with the owner

I say that, because chasing stock is usually a sign of boredom (unless its a Collie ).

First you need to look at why he suddenly decides to go for a skid and chase the stock....

Is he bored??

Dogs need ALOT of mental and physical stimulation, if you aren't supplying that stimulation, they go amuse them selve's. (unless its a Labrador, it'l just go eat something instead )

It might seem obvious, but if a dog is tired, it's not going to go chase the stock for fun is it??

He would much rather be chill-laxin in the shade watchin you do the hard work

That should solve the problem

But you do also need to teach him that he is not allowed to chase the stock for enterinment.

First you need to train him on a command to "stop".

Teach him that what ever he's doing, playing, eating, walking what ever, that when he here's the command to stop, thats it, he must stop.

Once you think he's got the hang of that, step up the repercussions for failing to stop.

Set him up so you can catch him in the act of some other bad behavior, give him the command to stop.

When he doesn't stop, boss dog (thats you ) gets very unhappy, practice your growl and dominating stance and make him feel very small and threatened.

You can then set him up for a fall with the stock. Do it in a controlled environment, give him the command to stop, wneh he doesn't, you know what to do.

Depriving him of some of his perceived dominance will also go along way to preventing his urge to go hunting the stock alone with out the boss dog as his guide.

Keep him tired and entertained, easiest way to get rid of boredom behavior.

Doesn't always work though, I lost a good dog because I couldn't train her out of jumping fences and she ended up out on SH1

[juz]

Thanks dieselboy, Hes been through all the standard training.puppy school, obedience classes have walked him through stock and on a lead doesnt want anything to do with them. Hes run/walked everyday and if not takin to work with me hes on a run at home. Were both very patient and have put huge amounts of time into him, Will try more with the stop command though. Thankfully the stock hes chased (so far) is familys and they haven't minded but we live amongst dairy farms now and need to sort it.

[UBZ]

been in the same boat myself before. as long as the dog hasn't had a taste you should be able to ween him out of the behavior.

Comes down to the dog weighting up the consequences , have fun chasing or upset master. if you really are the boss (top dog) then the choice is easy.
My girls loves to chase balls , but she wont chase one out onto the road because that means at least an hour on a very short chain which she hates more than anything.

An effective tool ive used before is to get a water pistol with a mild detergent mix in it ,and have a mate spray the dog in the face just as it starts to chase , goats are also very good teachers.

[Paint]

set him up on a real long rope, enough so he can get a good run on, go out into a paddock where hell be sure to chase sheep, cattle whatever, let him do his full sprint after somthing and just before he gets to the end of the rope scream stop, hell hit the end of the rope and come to a full stop from a run, ouch thats gotta hurt , normally ends in a face plant in the dirt, just dont use a choker chain as that might kill him, after doing that twice a day for a week youll have it sorted, training dogs is all about repetition, doing this once a week would be pointless, just takes some patients and dont show any frustration, they pick up on it, reward the good behaviour with play, food or whatever your dog really craves.

[albundy]

Dogs, children and staff that work for you all have two things in common to get good behaviour.......strong, realistic boundaries and good firm discipline.
But seriously, I think Dieselboy has the answer for you. I have owned dogs since I was one year old and boredom will do it all the time.
Al

[juz]

Thanks, yeah do agree with the boredom, reckon another dog would help?! need me a hunting dog!

[2roky]

lenght of 1/2'' alkathene pipe works wonders when its time to give the dog a stir up.

last dog i had 1st we would walk him through a paddock on a standard lead and every time he looked at stock hed get growled at and lightly tapped with the pipe, not to hurt him but to make him realise you were watching, do this a number of times

then take him off the lead and get him to walk beside you, every time he looks at a animal growl at him and touch him with the pipe.

then let him chase one dont encourage just let him do it on his own accord growl at him and if he keeps going give him a good slapping along the side of his body, thighs work well as a target.

might take a few sessions of this but he will very quickly associate chasing stock with pain and wont do it

[skid]

dont get the cops to train him

hes sure to bite then