# Teaching lamb to lead-sulking?



## sheepy (Mar 24, 2007)

Hi 
The kids have a lamb they rescued from a set of quads, she's been living in a puppy pen on the lawn (  ) and is about 3 months old-she's the kids pet and they absolutely love her  I'm going to move her into our established orchard (which is directly off the yard) which has plenty of feed and the trees are too big for her to damage. The kids have said they'd like to take her out with them when they go for walks (and maybe use her as a school mascot at an upcoming fair) so I've read up and today I tied her up with a collar outside the kitchen window where I can see her, and boy has she put on a performance! She's now thrown herself on the ground and is refusing to budge, I checked to see she was okay and she's fine, is this normal? I'm going to leave her there for an hour and then put her away, I'll do the same thing all week, will she ever learn? I've ordered a head collar for her (I didn't want to tie her in it until she's calmer) when should I start to use it? Have I left it too long to teach her?
:help: 
Sheepy


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Sheep don't respond well to collars or being tied out. Get a regular sheep halter. Lead and when sheep balks, gently pinch just above the tail head, this will make the lamb move forward. Just keep working with it. Forget the collar and tie out, it won't work. If she continues to balk while being led with a sheep halter, have someone place one hand behind the head, and the other under the chin and lead her by the head until she gets the routine. My kids have trained literally hundreds of sheep to lead for show purposes, most of them will sort of lead, only a few ever walked nicely on lead. Sheep just aren't cooperative that way. Good luck. Maybe treats will work. Mine like bread.


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## sheepy (Mar 24, 2007)

Both the sites I could find on sheep (and all the ones on goats) said that tying them up was the best method to start??? I'll be getting her a halter tomorrow hopefully, I have tried leading her before and just ended up hurting my hands, she's very strong. I thought sheep were one of the easier animals to teach to walk nicely on a halter, it seems Iâve been mislead. A local person trained a sheep here to walk in a harness and even jump small show jumps, I think the kids have something like that in mind. She's an only sheep and a poddy, I thought that might help-I can use the bottle as a bribe. Maybe she could even learn to carry a pack with info pamphlets about sheep at the local field day 
Sheepy


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

I always use collars on my sheep, no reason not to, especially if you're staking them out.

I also only lead mine with the collar. I've tried halters in the past and find them completely inadequate. I would think if your kids have been playing with her, she'd be friendly and want to be with them. But if she doesn't, try having some grain and walking with her. She should figure out pretty quick that being with the kids means getting treats. I keep a bag of goodies in my pocket when I go out with the sheep; they get to the point where they frisk me every time they see me, and when we go for walks all I have to do is reach into my pocket and as soon as they see or hear the bag they come running. I can turn my girls loose on the trail like pack goats without any worries.

Sheep are very dramatic, though, when they're first learning. They tend to throw themselves down as though they've had a heart attack. I wouldn't start the leading process by teaching them to tie...teach them to lead first and give to the pressure, then tying will be a snap. Tying first just means you'll have a sheep who first fights when tied, then fights again when leading. And think of a dog when they're learning to come along on a leash...you can either drag them or you can coax and encourage and get the job done in half the time


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## Goatsandsheep (Jun 7, 2006)

Agree with DocM tying up never worked for us. Use a halter, don't walk in front try to stay by the shoulder area. Sheep walk better if they can see where their going. You can try have someone walk in front with a little grain in a bucket to follow. To be honest my kids don't teach their show sheep to lead on a halter just by hand. The first time the halter goes on their fight a little but calm down within a few minutes. G&S


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

I made some rope halters last year and fashioned them after horse halters. What I don't like about commercial halters is that they slip and slide around the animals face, the rope ends up in their eyes and they slip off far too easily. Especially when tied.

I suppose if you've got a head strong sheep that needs more control, a halter for leading would be more practical. But for a sheep that's accustomed to being handled I've never had a problem with using a collar, not even on the rams.

Here's a pic of DD taking the sheep down the road. Collar on Bessie, everyone else following behind. She went through the creek and down the trail, no one balked or refused.


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## therealshari (Jul 10, 2007)

We used a dog halter with one of our little bottle babies. As we were outside working, we'd just put the halter on him with a lead and tie him to a nearby tree. We also put down some creep, a little hay, and water, as he was about a month or better at the time.

He'd call to us for a while before finally settling down while we were working.

Here's the link since I've not figured out how to actually show a picture here.

Freezer, our bottle baby


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## sheepy (Mar 24, 2007)

I had the idea of making rope halters (same as the horse ones) but I should have known that if you can't even tie a knot that stays a knot you shouldn't attempt rope halters! Thanks for the info everyone  Would you say that sheep lead quite well? Would a lead trained sheep walk around a fair ground without any pulling etc? Also if I'm training by myself would a 'rump rope' (like for horses, goes above hocks in a loop over the rump though the ring on the halter) be okay?
Sheepy


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

Different breeds and different personalities will determine if your sheep will lead super easily or not. However, I've yet to see a determined kid in the show ring with a lamb that wouldn't easily lead. 

The rope halter knots are simple enough, sheepy. I took a horse halter apart so that I could see how they were made. The key to a good halter, IMO, is having that bit that goes down from the jaw to the nose band beneath the face, and the loop to attach a lead to. All other small animal halters seem to find it acceptable to attach your lead to the side, and that pulls everything off center.


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## Goatsandsheep (Jun 7, 2006)

This is a good web site I believe it was her emerald awards project for 4-h. It for showing lambs but may help. http://lambinators.homestead.com/articles.html
Second page shows how to make a rope halter http://www.n4hccs.org/pilotapps/2006/sheep/SHp05_11.pdf
G&S


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## RandB (Aug 13, 2002)

Oh Sheepy, 

I started laughing to myself reading this... Sheep must be the balkiest critters on earth! After years with horses, we got some sheep and found out just how different they are! We have had about 30 of them so far, and not one would lead nicely with a halter. Now granted, we didn't have a lot of time to spend on it, but some of them are quite tame and will follow us around willingly, especially to get some food, but put the halter on, and watch out - instant balking! One ewe my DH named Flopsy, because after being dragged a few steps, she would just flop on the ground and we would actually have to DRAG her if we wanted to move her any further.
All this being said, at least you have a good situation where your kids have lots of time to work with her. I think that idea about one person leading and the other one pinching her at the rear, or maybe poking her until she moves forward, might work with a lot of practice. At the same time they are doing this, they can tempt her with a handful of sweet feed, maybe. They actually aren't as dumb as some people think, so I bet she will learn if they have the patience to work at it. Let us know if they make any progress!


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

If your kids have plenty of time and patience, they can try putting a collar (or halter) on her and just standing there holding it for a couple of minutes, then taking a step or two slowly, wait, repeat etc etc. When the lamb balks, just stand still and keep a bit of pressure on the rope until she takes a step towards you, then let the rope have slack. Little by little, they (the sheep) learn that pulling away just makes the rope tight, and stepping towards you makes it loose. Moving forward to follow is more comfortable and trying to get away less so. My Shetland lambs usually put up a fight the first few times and panic themselves into jumping in the air or throwing themselves on the ground, but after a while they do learn to follow, especially if you lead them to a place where there's something good to eat. I just use one of my dog leashes and so long as I walk slowly and calmly enough (speed seems to make them nervous), mine will follow me when I need to take them somewhere.


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## sheepy (Mar 24, 2007)

My sheep are mostly East Friesians and Dorpers-or some cross thereof. I also have some wool breeds too. The Dorpers are personality plus, but they are super stubborn and won't do anything they don't want to-they are pretty smart as well. The East Friesians seem pretty laid back so far, although they tend to be less herd orientated than the other sheep, one of my rams spends a lot of time off to one side by himself (he's perfectly healthy). I'll continue to try and make my own halters-it could take me awhile! I'll continue on teaching the lamb to lead-I'd like to be able to lead her from her night time pen into the orchard without any major hassles, the kids would like to teach her to carry a pack with sheep info in it and also jump some small jumps, I'll let everyone know how it goes. BTW the lamb we're teaching is a Dorper x East Friesian, she's got a Dorper temperament though.....
Sheepy


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