The Poultry Keeper

hch4971 · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 24 Location: North Yorkshire

I got the goslings out in a pen on the lawn at the weekend. Murphy, our mastiff teenager went mental and was nudging at the wire and scaring them so I set up an electric fence using my old energiser. Poor Murphy got his first shock and screamed a little when he tried to run to the pen, he then decided to 'just look' through the tape. As he was looking he was panting and his tongue just caught the tape, the scream was like nothing you have heard before and he spent the rest of the day hiding under the kitchen table too scared to go outside. Bonus of his pain though is that he associates the pain with the goslings and now just pretends they don't exist and has stopped trying to barge into the room where they are every time you open the door. Im really hoping he stays away from them when they eventually go free range, thinking they will hurt his tongue!!

NannyP · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject:

Oh dear, I hope he does too, poor thing Sad

mojo · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject:

painfull but effective

vanessa · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 1231 Location: Correze

Aww bless! Yep, it can be a very effective method of training, and most dogs learn very quickly as they don't like the pain!! Good luck. Wink

CP · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 2:18 am Post subject:

Poor Murphy. Sad

Bet he won't do that again in a hurry! Wink

james419 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:18 am Post subject:

Apparently they used to train sheep dogs not to touch by tying them to a ram - after a but or two the dogs were very wary and would never touch the sheep, nasty way to learn but hopefully he is sorted for life.

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1312 Location: Manchester

I was tempted to try and find a ram to teach Shadow about Sheep - I absolutely can't trust her around them, twice she has got hold of one, and twice I have had to go cap in hand to the farmer, thankfully in both cases they were very nice about it, one was so amazed that I'd actually gone and owned up about it, he took down my details but then called the next day to say he couldn't even see which sheep it was so it can't have been that badly hurt. I think Shadow had got it's ear or something as she had blood all down her.

hch4971 · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 24 Location: North Yorkshire

I really hope he is too scared to ever go near them when they are out - might have to try the same thing to keep him off my front garden now!