When farmer Du Hebing's sheep dog died, and he couldn't afford to buy another one, he had a brainwave after visiting a local wildlife park.
The 42-year-old said: "They had a flock of rare sheep and as a joke one of the keepers had put a picture of a wolf in the enclosure. But I noticed that the sheep never went near it."
Du has got used to his neighbours laughing as he moves his sheep along the streets of Xi'an in the Shaanxi province in China, as reported by the Austrian Times.
"People laugh and point but it works - and the poster eats a lot less than any sheepdog," he said.