Hi Susan,
You can salvage the dog, but his confidence is shot.
It's now your job to build that confidence back up. Put the
ram away and any ewe that will challenge your dog. Get
a pocket full of smooth pebbles. Get your dog to bring you
the sheep and if any sheep senses the dogs lack of confidence
or turns to challenge your dog you must pelt it with a small
pebble. The idea is to get your dog thinking the ewe moved
because of his presence not because of the stone. You can
also teach your dog to "hit" a sheep to make it move. Get
a ewe or weather between your legs and pat it on the head
while telling your dog to "take hold". You just want the dog
to pop the sheep not to hang on or damage the animal.
After your dog knows this command you can tell the dog to
"take hold" any time a sheep turns to challenge it. Meanwhile
make every encounter with sheep a win-win situtation for your
dog. A barb ram can be nasty and if he's the horned type he
can really hurt your dog or even kill it. Working a ram is a job
reserved for an experienced confident dog. I personally never
work a ram when he's breeding his ewes unless it's an absolute
emergency. Good luck and be patient, your dog will come around.
Mona in Va.
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