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Dear Bob,

I have two young dogs (a dog and bitch -15 months old) of champion stock from the same litter. The young dog is as keen as mustard and learning fast, hopefully he will turn out well. The bitch however is simply not remotely interested in sheep. I have taken her to the sheep for a few minutes at a time while avoiding putting any pressure on her - no rough voice and no forcing her against her will. I've left her for a couple of days then tried again. She studiously ignores them or very occasionally will approach them then immediately go off and eat poo! I am at my wits end as I cannot think of any way of ecouraging her to get interested. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

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Dear Bob,

I have two young dogs (a dog and bitch -15 months old) of champion stock from the same litter. The young dog is as keen as mustard and learning fast, hopefully he will turn out well. The bitch however is simply not remotely interested in sheep. I have taken her to the sheep for a few minutes at a time while avoiding putting any pressure on her - no rough voice and no forcing her against her will. I've left her for a couple of days then tried again. She studiously ignores them or very occasionally will approach them then immediately go off and eat poo! I am at my wits end as I cannot think of any way of ecouraging her to get interested. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

 

You pretty well need to just take her to sheep and let her watch your other dog or dogs work and then try her again. Take her where she can watch a trial or lots of other dogs working on sheep or cattle and see if she will get interested. I would not try any inducement techniques for a while as you need to just wait and see right now. When you say champion stock I would hope you are talking about ISDS style trial champions and not show champions. It is quite likely that she hasn't turned on to stock yet but that is very rare as the dogs are usually the later ones to come on to stock. Patience and let her watch lots of dogs working and see if she gets interested over the next while........Bob

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You pretty well need to just take her to sheep and let her watch your other dog or dogs work and then try her again. Take her where she can watch a trial or lots of other dogs working on sheep or cattle and see if she will get interested. I would not try any inducement techniques for a while as you need to just wait and see right now. When you say champion stock I would hope you are talking about ISDS style trial champions and not show champions. It is quite likely that she hasn't turned on to stock yet but that is very rare as the dogs are usually the later ones to come on to stock. Patience and let her watch lots of dogs working and see if she gets interested over the next while........Bob
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You pretty well need to just take her to sheep and let her watch your other dog or dogs work and then try her again. Take her where she can watch a trial or lots of other dogs working on sheep or cattle and see if she will get interested. I would not try any inducement techniques for a while as you need to just wait and see right now. When you say champion stock I would hope you are talking about ISDS style trial champions and not show champions. It is quite likely that she hasn't turned on to stock yet but that is very rare as the dogs are usually the later ones to come on to stock. Patience and let her watch lots of dogs working and see if she gets interested over the next while........Bob

Thanks,

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

George

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Thanks,

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

George

 

I'll give you an example of a late starter. My old Turk dog worked cattle from the time he was 5 months old but did not turn on to sheep until past three. He absolutely had no interest in those little things out there and I was worried that he would never work them. Finally, after many times of letting him watch sheep being worked, he turned on and never looked back. Bob

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  • 2 months later...
Hi Bob,

Just to bring you up to date.

About a month after my last post, my young bitch 'switched on' and she is as keen as mustard. She is now every bit as good as, if not better than, her brother. What a relief!

Thanks for your reassurance.

Kind regards,

George.

 

Glad to hear that things have worked out for you.....Bob

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