Puppy and hot wire troubles.

babsbag said:

I don't want to pull, push, carry, or drag...she is too big. The second time she hit the fence I had to carry her back to the barn and that was 2 months ago and it was a chore then; I think she would have stayed in the creek all day. Food may be my only option. That girl just becomes dead weight at the barn door.

Click to expand...

Maybe "little one" needs to fly out!

I only use food as a motivator in situations where other methods have failed, and in this case, this pup is not wanting to come along.
The sooner you get going on this the better because the longer you don't do it, the less chance there will be to turn her around without considerable effort. @southernbychoice showed you some great halter ideas. I think you can benefit by reading some books too (see below).

@babsbag please make an effort to take her down there a few times a day. Are you sitting down there with the goats as I recommended?
Turid Rugaas' books are books that I insist my puppy buyers read. They are simple, forthcoming and a gold mine of information that can help you better understand
and communicate with your dog. Please consider them. She even has a book on pulling. Calming Signals is a must read. When you begin to realize the messages you are or may be sending
out to your dogs, it can make a huge difference in how they interact with you.
Here is an Amazon link to her books. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=turid+rugaas

I have no pet store in the little town I live in and TSC and Walmart didn't have what I needed. I will be going to the "big city" next week to look for a harness; I am sure that Petsmart or Petco will have one for her.

X2!

No pictures???

Until you get a harness you can do what we do with the long lead. We use the long lead as a harness for our herding dogs but also for Maisy when we first started working with her and her sitting and refusing to move.

You run the lead around the dogs chest and put the clip over the lead line. Then connect the clip end of the lead to the dogs collar. The line itself is free to move in the leads clip but all of the pressure is on the body and not the neck.

Just an update...Alondra is doing GREAT. She goes into all of the fields just fine, no fear at all. When I opened up the new pasture she couldn't contain her curiosity and there was no wire in that field so she was "safe". Since then a wire has been added and she doesn't care. She even goes into the fields that she was afraid of before. I see her look at the hot wire, but she doesn't run from it. She did this on her own, in her own time. I did buy the harness but never put it on her...(building a dairy has consumed my life. )

I will often see her with the goats laying under a tree and watching...good girl. She will be the only one right with the herd on a hot summer day. After dinner she goes out on one last patrol before I lock up the field at night. At night I hear her bark as needed but she is not a needless barker, none of my dogs are. The fights between her and Mia seem to have subsided and Mia lets her rule. (let's see what happens when one of them comes into heat) They will share spilled kibble but they won't share a food dish. I'm ok with that too.

She will be a year old in a few days and I am happy to report that she is a successful LGD. She is great with all the goats, no chasing at all. I have not trained or worked with her and chickens, which was her original purpose but after seeing her with her goats and with Mia (they are a good team) I won't remove her from the herd.

I am very happy with her, she is a good girl.

So glad she overcame her fear...sometimes they just have to figure it out on their own I think!