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May 04, 2023

Would an E-Collar work for a Sheep Dog Puppy?

Full Question:

I have recently purchased a replacement Large Guardian Dog puppy as our others are starting to age out of guarding the sheep. This new puppy is half English Mastiff and half imported Gumpr. He is 3 months old now. He is usually good about coming back to me when we are out feeding the livestock (he lives in 1/3 of our small barn 24/7, the sheep are in the other 2/3), but he is getting to that playful/chasing age. If the sheep don't run, everything is fine, but I had one incident where the sheep started running and he gave chase. I don't think a long line would work because the sheep are close to me when we go out to feed. Do you think an eCollar would work to enforce "no" if/when this happens again? He will eventually be expected to live with and guard the sheep. We live in an apex predator area.

Cindy's Answer:

I don't have experience raising LGDs but the one thing that may not be great is if the timing of an ecollar correction was not PERFECT the puppy could associate it with the sheep in general which might be a negative thing long term. Personally, I'd manage him with a long line right now and try to set up the scenario of the sheep running so he has an idea of what you expect. Maybe later you can add the ecollar along with the long line. I wouldn't do it yet. He's too young.

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