Thread: Stock proofing your hunting dog

What is the best way to stock proof your dog. my dog is still a pup 5 months old and lives around a steer 3 cats a goat and untill today a chicken she seamed to just being a boofhead and harmless when barking at the other stock she was told off and by all appearances seamed to understand and behave. its not the first time she has been left alone with any of these stock with no problems went out for two hours today and she killed the chicken. before i resort to passing her on to someone else or bringing lead in to the equation is there some way of stock proofing her before she goes the remaining animals. Cheers

I assume my dog is not stock proof . So will not let my dog get in a situation that could result in him trying it on . I do reinforce it pretty much every time I take him on to a farm or near a farm . I growl him evey time he winds a sheep and reacts to it . It's a ongoing thing with my dogs , never had an issue with stock but am very tuff on them and I never say never . Interested how the pros do it

Never give your puppy the opportunity to learn bad habits, so put it in a pen when you are out. Chook house. Make sure can't get in with the stock. Only ever near stock when you are right there. Simple.

When she is with me she is under control, she will stop and behave, being wirehair x Gsp English pointer i assume she has a strong drive for the birds. we no longer have to worry about chickens as that was the last one. i want to be sure i can stop her from wanting to have a go. She responds to the basics and are training her for deer hunting. as you guys say if i assume she is not stock safe and dont provide the opportunity for her to have a go. it would be good to know that if she was to get off she would be safe on the 400ha farm.

I read ya post at work was about to answer on face value alone, but decided to leave it.

No pup is born stock proof and no dog dies stock proof.... Told to me many years ago by a top heading dog trainer.
Took me a few years to work out what the hell he was going on about.... But basically the temptation is always there.

As stated put ya dog away in a kennel when ya can't supervise it, teach it to ignore any stock but always be mindful the worse can and does happen.

Your dog killed a chook because of your fuck up, get a good kennel and run and some more chooks.
The upside is if ya can control her around chooks sheep and goats will be a walk in the park.

I do it by showing no interest in non target animals.

If the dog finds a possum...I just walk past and ignore it. The dog soon gets the idea and follows the master. But if the dog finds a pig I get real excited and lots of pats and praise is given.

If the dog continues to find possums (or whatever) then I will set it up to fail with an e-collar. Same with sheep etc...walk through paddocks on rope and chocker...do a bit of fencing work, let the sheep go about their own thing and pay no attention to them. Dogs are smart, they soon realise you aren't interested in sheep. But you may need to use an e-collar to bring the point home if the dog is really determined with a high prey drive.

Totally agree with kawhia about doing this until the day they die.

Kj

Originally Posted by kimjon

I do it by showing no interest in non target animals.

If the dog finds a possum...I just walk past and ignore it. The dog soon gets the idea and follows the master. But if the dog finds a pig I get real excited and lots of pats and praise is given.

If the dog continues to find possums (or whatever) then I will set it up to fail with an e-collar. Same with sheep etc...walk through paddocks on rope and chocker...do a bit of fencing work, let the sheep go about their own thing and pay no attention to them. Dogs are smart, they soon realise you aren't interested in sheep. But you may need to use an e-collar to bring the point home if the dog is really determined with a high prey drive.

Totally agree with kawhia about doing this until the day they die.

Kj

How do you get on when dog is unattended are you at a point where your dog can be off a lead and you dont need to worry about the dog going after anything.

Only advice I can give Mucko have your dog tied up when your not with her.Simple really.

One of my dogs is never tied up, and we live on a farm with stock everywhere...but he's a pretty special dog and I don't extend that freedom to my other dogs which are always in a kennel unless I'm with them. It all depends on the nature of the dog, but in general I kennel my dogs as it lets them relax and they don't feel the need to guard the entire property if kennelled.

Problems are compounded when there's more than one dog on the loose so I don't temp fait by having the others off all the time. It only takes one dog to do something it shouldn't and the others could join in if not supervised.

Kj

Originally Posted by Dundee

Only advice I can give Mucko have your dog tied up when your not with her.Simple really.

I was hoping not to have her tied up and hoping some sort of training could be done to control that drive, she is a great smart dog and part of the family and would like her to have the freedom to run around, she doesnt roam from the house at all. we she harasses the cats and goat it is only barking at this stag. Ecollar would be a bit hard for her but maybe the way to go.

e-collar is not going to help if you're not around to provide the shock when the dog chooses to investigate stock...

if you are not around to supervise it, you need to contain it, i don't see any other option...

Originally Posted by mucko

I was hoping not to have her tied up and hoping some sort of training could be done to control that drive, she is a great smart dog and part of the family and would like her to have the freedom to run around, she doesnt roam from the house at all. we she harasses the cats and goat it is only barking at this stag. Ecollar would be a bit hard for her but maybe the way to go.

You are looking for any fix other than the common sence one.
No one said the dog can't be part of the family and have some freedom to run around.
You sound like you are expecting her to just use her intelligence to just hang around the house and not get into trouble and if she does the next option is to flick her off to someone else, (who will likely kennel her anyway) or wait til she really screws up and then shoot her.

The puppy is five months old...she needs consistent and gentle discipline, and leadership from you. You will never be able to blame the dog if she mobs stock...

Mucko your dog is a pup and will soon transform into dare I say it a dog version of a teenager . The temptations are endless . It's like leaving your teenage kids at home with booze cabinets open car keys to your v8 and Visa card on offer .
A dogie motel or full dog run is the go and will make your life so much easy in future , and not to mention A more relaxed dog to train . I wish I had stuck to this as I'd had way less problems over the years .

I asked a farmer about this re sheep. He said to put the pup in a stock pen with a ram and the dog will never go near sheep again in its life. A bit of cause and effect.