Rescue Border Collie fear issues

[acheson.ruth]

Hi Adrienne!

 

I’m hoping for some guidance on our rescue BC. He is 8 months. We’d had him 4 weeks. We don’t know his history up to age 5 months but most likely he was born on a farm or a bad breeder and had next to no socialization up to that point. He is very fearful but at the same time is coming along quite well. I also have 3 girls aged 3, 4 and 6 and have no experience with dogs.

 

There are lots of thoughts and worries whirling around my head right but I’ll try to stay on point!

 

1. Barking at visitors. Ned had been very shy of visitors (we don’t get many) but not reactive. Then last week we had a really unfortunate event where my mother in law arrived unannounced and surprised him (and me) at the back door, came out in a big puffy coat, big bag swinging. The back door is also the path to where he feels safest. So she freaked him out and he barked and growled. I sent her back inside but she came back out again 30 seconds later. Then again I sent her in and again she came out (with her husband 😫). I was pretty mad about the whole thing but I guess they didn’t do it intentionally. Since then he has barked, growled and gone mad when anyone comes to the house. Hackles up. I’ve kept him in the kitchen, clapped my hands to snap him out of it, said “quiet”, then reward when he complies. He will then quieten down after a few goes at this (though he is still nervous). Am I doing right? The irony is that when the dog trainer came round, there was not a peep out of him!

 

2. Herding - ? This is coinciding with an interest in my 3 year old and I wonder if it the start of herding behaviour or something more serious. He barked at her this morning when she was sitting quietly on the couch and I could see that he was starting to zoom in on her and jump at her. In combination with point 1, this has me a little worried. There could also be a bit of frustration as I have been keeping them apart more and more and I wonder if that is likely to make things worse and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

3. General socialization. Ned was not lead trained and I’m starting to make progress with the help of your program! Should I work on the fear of visitors before thinking of the world outside the house? He can be fearful in the back yard, if he hears voices or the 2 GSD pups next door, do it can be hard even doing outside as he obviously feels more worried when he is restrained on the leash.

 

4. General fit with our family. I probably sound like a horrible person even thinking of sending Ned back to the rescue. He was in a foster home for 8 weeks with 2 kids aged 3 and 9, so he was “road tested” with young kids and another dog. We were advised 1 hour’s exercise playing ball should be enough for him. They did not mention that he doesn’t know and has limited interest in playing fetch! Not being lead trained, and being so fearful, really limits my options for exercising him properly. I am dreading the winter already. I was very clear in my conversations with the shelter that I could only commit to 1 hour’s exercise a day (more when possible, of course, but I could not guarantee more than an hour daily). In the foster home there was so much going on that I think he shut down and they did not see his normal doggy personality or issues coming out. Border Collie was in my list of “definite no” breeds due to exercise requirements, need for stimulation, herding children, etc., and I checked and double checked with them - “are you SURE he won’t morph into a normal BC needing 3 hours exercise a day plus games?”. Knowing nothing about dogs, it is obvious that he is always looking for a job as working dogs tend to do.

 

Not everything is bad :) he is super smart, I’ve taught him lots of basic obedience and even the trainer remarked that he has an excellent temperament (he is not a positive trainer, so Ned’s temperament was properly put to the test!). The aggression is born out of pure fear. He will go and hide in the utility room like big beautiful scared baby who just would love some time and tlc.

 

I would love your thoughts on the whole situation. I know he is also in that funny fear / teenage period. Sorry if I’ve rambled on a bit (a lot!). I feel bad criticizing the rescue people as they are doing their best, but I do feel a little let down as I have pretty much zero experience with dogs and was totally reliant on their advice and experience. I’m not afraid to put in some work and he is a great dog. I just need a reality check from someone who knows what they’re doing!

 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks a lot

Ruth

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello there, and welcome to the forums!

I will try my best to address the issues one by one. I will be posting several posts.

 

Issue 1: Barking at visitors.

 

I have posted in the archive a "case study" of how I address this type of issue. It can be applied to anybody including guests. It may be worthy of working on this with the help of your trainer to ensure the behavior modification process goes smoothly. Very important to keep an eye on threshold levels and avoid situations that flood him (as it happened with your mother in law). For unexpected visits, it may help to put a sign to call prior to ringing the doorbell/knocking or entering announced.

 

Here is the article (you will need to be logged in to the member's area to access these links):

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

 

It's great that you report he is coming around well, although fearful, here you will find some tips for fearful dogs:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/helping-fearful-rescue-dog/

 

2) Herding

With border collies this can be issue and it is often seen to a greater extent when these dogs aren't provided with sufficient outlets for their instinctive behaviors and mental stimulation. If you are concerned, place a baby gate to keep your border collie separated from your child to prevent your border collie from potentially rehearsing troublesome behaviors at least until he is trained and more responsive to you. Discuss your concerns with your trainer.

 

Border collies are highly energetic dogs equipped with a strong urge to work and an instinctive predisposition to want to control everything that moves if their instincts are not channeled. Despite the fact that border collies are no longer used for herding as much as they were in the past, these traits and natural instincts will still be present to some extent. When these strong instincts are not properly channelled, border collies may want to chase and herd other dogs, people (in particular rowdy children playing), cars and cats.

 

These dogs are very intelligent, but that doesn't necessarily make them the easiest to train because they tend to think ahead and try to anticipate. I love Nicholas Dodman quote on this breed, he says 'Border collies have been said to be the smartest dogs. But that makes having one like living with a genius on too many cups of coffee."

 

Here are some tips that may help:

 

-Engage your border collie's mind with 'find it' games, interactive toys, puzzles and the many brain games seen in the course.

-Invest time in training your border collie. Border collies thrive when they are given directions. Ask your border collie to perform desirable behaviors such as eye contact, sit, stay, heel, lie down, come or even tricks using valuable rewards to reinforce those behaviors. Mix and match these commands so not to bore your dog. The obedience 101 course has guides on how to train these.

-Use your training to redirect your border collie's chasing instincts. Ask your border to make eye contact with you and heel when there are distractions. Ask your border collie to sit when there are cars passing by. Ask your border collie to lie down and stay when a cat is crossing the road. Reinforce with valuable rewards (treats, toys a game of tug).

-If your border collie has a hard time focusing, it means that he hasn't been trained yet for that level of distractions and is over threshold. Increase distance from the stimulus and find that sweet spot where your border collie is better under control. Practice at this level of difficulty before moving to more challenging levels.

-As soon as the vet gives you the OK (growth plates have closed) enroll your border collie in some fun canine sports. In particular, herding trials are great as border collies get to do what they were bred for, but if there are no sheep in your area, the sport of Treibball (where dogs get to herd large balls) can be equally satisfying. Other fun sports include Flyball, disc dog, dock diving and canine musical freestyle.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

3) General socialization. Ned was not lead trained and I’m starting to make progress with the help of your program! Should I work on the fear of visitors before thinking of the world outside the house? He can be fearful in the back yard, if he hears voices or the 2 GSD pups next door, do it can be hard even doing outside as he obviously feels more worried when he is restrained on the leash.

 

I think walks are important. How is he outside away from the yard and the barking GSD? Would it be possible to drive with him to a quiet area where he can walk without being exposed to too many stimuli? Some fearful dogs do better on a longer leash so they feel less trapped. Training an emergency u-turn if you see a trigger coming his way may be helpful until he is more confident in facing triggers. Make sure to have lots of high-value treats to create positive associations and reinforce desirable behaviors.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

 

The "hear that" method may come handy in getting him used to the GSD pups:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

Edited May 27, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[Adrienne Farricelli]

4) General fit with our family.

 

If you do not have a positive trainer, I urge to find one to continue working with him as the last thing a fearful dogs needs is negative associations. It is difficult to say how things will turn out. There are too many variables such as the time, the dog's temperament and energy levels (some BC are more high strung than others), how the dog responds to training/behavior modification, how he reacts around the children etc. An aggravating factor is that he is in full peak doggy adolescent stage:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

 

Last but not least, if he turns out not being a good match, please don't feel guilty. It would be unfair if you must struggle to meet his needs and it would be unfair for him not having his needs met.

 

Hope this helps,

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Adrienne

[acheson.ruth]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply Adrienne. Plenty to think about! It’s all so new to me and the unpredictability makes it a bit hard to find my feet.

 

One quick question on the herding - I realized earlier that it is directed at my youngest when she is sitting on the couch. Paws up, jumping towards her and even barked today. She was sitting quietly, no running, shouting or squealing that could have caught his attention. Any idea why he could be being so specific?? I guess the answer is as you have said above, to distract him?

 

Thanks again.

Best,

Ruth

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome.

It's difficult to say what your border collie is trying to do without seeing the behavior in action. If this happens when your child is calm (meaning no sudden movements, squealing voices that may overstimulate), it may just be attention-seeking or play behavior (the barking in play behavior tends to typically be high-pitched) and you would notice lowered body, tail wagging and the popular "play bow." Many dogs engage in this behavior when things are getting "a bit boring" and they want to "activate things" and possibly start a game or get attention. This type of behavior is often seen when owners come home from a long day at work and sit on the couch. So if your dog does it when your child is mostly stationary, it could be a way of seeking engagement. This can be rather innocent, but if the dog is overly aroused or not trained to respond in a moment's notice, it may risk getting rough. If no engagement is received, some dogs may go further and escalate in some more rude behaviors such as pawing, nudging and barking more in hopes of getting want they want.

 

Generally with herding behaviors, there is a certain body language taking place and the behavior is often evoked by movements although some may do so also without the classical triggers. Dog behavior can be highly variable and there are no rues set in stone. Typically when herding border collies will "give eye" (stare intently) stalk, and crouch down, carrying their head low, hindquarters high, and tail down. It can't be denied that we can sometimes see a combo of behaviors and dogs may intermix herding behaviors with play or other components.

 

In any case, if this behavior concerns you, it always best to avoid rehearsal of it and practice ways to prevent it from happening. This can be done "holistically" by providing outlets for pent-up energy and lots of mental stimulation (better spread throughout the day rather than all lumped in one hour) and then by training your dog to become responsive to certain cues that can redirect the behavior.

 

It's important to initially train these cues away from distracting stimuli and aim to attaining solid responses before applying them to the situation in which they are needed. Ideally, these cues are applied before the behavior appears to be taking place. So for instance, if your border collie has arrived to the point of barking and attempting to jump, you would redirect quickly before that happens right when you notice he is staring or approaching. This takes careful attention to body language, good timing and a dog's solid response to the cue used to distract.

 

To interrupt the onset of the undesirable behaviors it is possible to use the "positive interrupter," or redirect to an activity such as targeting your hand or coming to you in response to a verbal cue.

 

A positive interrupter involves training dogs to respond to a noise or command that tells them to immediately stop whatever they are doing and come towards you. I like to use a smacking sound as seen in Look into My Eyes from the Brain Training for Dogs course. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/look-into-my-eyes/ A positive interrupter may be used to replace a time-out or as a way to interrupt play before getting too rough or an unwanted behavior before escalating.

 

Since border collies are very movement oriented and attentive to body language, you can train hand targeting to use as way of distracting. Make sure to make the hand movement quite noticeable and you can add a verbal cue as well to get attention. Here's how to train targeting: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

 

Another option to use a valuable interactive toy (stuffed with food) to interrupt the behavior and redirect. You can attach a verbal cue to add distracting value. For example, you can say "timeout" and provide a stuffed Kong to redirect. You want your dog to associate the word "timeout" with giving the Kong so that he quickly responds. Initially this requires a conditioning period to create the association, but dogs catch on quickly. For example, you would hold a Kong stuffed with a few goodies behind your back and say "timeout" and then offer the Kong. You would repeat this several times and start adding distance, like saying "timeout' from across the room and then giving the Kong once the dog reaches you. Then, once you have a solid response, you can place the Kong on a nearby shelf or counter and say "timeout" ad then both you and your dog rush to the shelf together and you give the Kong (teaching this comes handy to cover those instances when you don't have a Kong ready but you need a response). The word "timeout' sort of bridges the coming to you with the going together to get the Kong.

 

"Distracting" accomplishes several things:

1) it prevents rehearsal of the problem behavior (the more dogs behave in certain ways, the more they put roots)

2) it provides the dog with an outlet for instincts and mental stimulation

3) it reinforces alternate behaviors which take over and put roots, ideally replacing the unwanted ones

4) it can potentially promote extinction (in other words, once the alternate behavior puts roots and then undesirable behavior weakens, there are chances the undesirable behavior stops occurring from the get-go especially when the dog is provided with outlets for instinctive behaviors and mental stimulation)

 

Of course, when it comes to dogs and children interacting caution is always needed. Having a behavior professional invested in force-free techniques guide you through behavior modification is important for safety and correct implementation.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Adrienne

[JMFS]

Here's a thought, and I could be reaching for an explanation here, was your 3-yr old all by herself when this behavior occurred? Maybe away from where everyone else, or just you, was? I don't know much about herding, but I wonder if one stray human might be bothering him and he's trying to get that human grouped together with the others.