[Jacob-list] dogs and sheep

[SJohn21855 at aol.com]

Hi all,
 There has been some question as to my keeping the dog. I have woven wire 
fencing with a strand of electric on the inside, she does not get close to 
the fence, she is deathly afraid of the electric fence. I keep the dog in 
with the rams for protection for the rams and chickens and rabbits. She is 
very attached to two of the rams and will even break up a fight between the 
rams. I had a lot of chickens killed by raccoons and had a bear try to get 
into the chicken shed before I got her. I no longer have any of those 
problems. Before I got her she was on a chain and other dogs would come into 
the yard and stay just out of her reach - she hates small four legged animals 
(however, she likes the Angora rabbits - she is weird). I made the mistake of 
putting her in with the ewe's for a while and one of the ewe's got out of her 
jug with her little lamb and the lamb was killed. I was told by a couple that 
raised sheep for years with GP's as guards that dogs are allowed one kill, 
after that if they kill another one they should be put to sleep. I don't plan 
on allowing the dog the chance to kill another lamb, I won't put her back in 
with the ewe's. I don't understand her running the larger ram though, unless 
she thought he was going to hurt her rams, she has never done that before. 
She drew blood on each shoulder. Just a small puncture wound on each, so I 
don't believe she meant to kill him, although, maybe I am just putting my 
head in the sand and should grow up. That's why I wrote to the Jacob list, to 
get comments from those of you that know more about this than I do. 
 The ram is doing well, I still have him in a stall. He is eating and moving 
around normally.
 Maybe this makes things a little more clear (as mud, right?).
God bless,
Shelly