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Are all BC's so sensitive?


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Last night I went into the bedroom with my BC Lizzie to get a ball to throw. I'll throw a ball down the hall or basement steps while watching TV for her. Well last night she was so excited to play that she got tangled up in my feet and I went stumbling down on the floor shouting a few expletives. I wasn't yelling at my BC at all but for the rest of the night she hide behind a chair in the living room.

I made her come out a few times by offering her one of her treats, but when I showed her the ball she would run behind the chair again. She stayed there all night. This is the first time Ive seen this behavior. This morning she was fine like nothing happened.

Is this normal behavior for a BC?

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It sure is how Fergie acts. Heck, if Chuck & I have an argument, she hides. If we scold her, she acts as if we'd beaten her.

 

I wonder if there is a natural relationship between this and her reaction to thunder and such.

 

How does Lizzie do with storms or firewoks?

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Sounds like Jack. He is *very* sensitive. I've never met or had a dog so sensitive. He's brilliant, but also scared of his own shadow, loud noises and anything out of the norm. In fact, he saw DH with headphones on last night, and hid in the bedroom. :rolleyes: Harsh corrections or loud voices will not work when training him, either.

 

And, since he's a mix, I don't know if this is just BC stuff, or just him.

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I know I have to keep telling DH that he doesn't have to YELL at BJ to get a point across, just tell him and he'll get it. Yelling just causes BJ to shut down (just like it did when the kids where little . . . ) Yelling = ears shut.

 

I think it's pretty normal behavior for BC's.

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Debbie - I empathize with you - it is amazing how Bo is hypersensitive to DH's tone of voice!

And then he gets frustrated when Bo shuts down!!

 

I have also seen how my brother's BCs react to the various people in his family, so in my limited experience I would have to say YES they are very sensitive to your voice, even if you are not directing comments at them.

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Lord yes!!! Sometimes it drives me crazy! But then I think how many times I have NOT yelled because of Jackson, so it is a good thing. And it is difficult for me because I am naturally a yeller! But once I stop and talk normal, the dogs are fine! Usually I will call Jackson to me so he knows all is well.

 

Its funny about dogs in general though. When I had Cheyenne on the truck with me, if I were yelling at a 4-wheeler, she would get up in the pass. seat and bark her head off! Helping me yell! If DH were doing the same thing she would instead, go sit by his side, rubbing her face on his leg, like, hey, don't be upset it's ok! Weird!

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Yes yes yes!

 

It is nice that they are that way sometimes (you don't ever really need to correct behaviors like you might do with a great dane) but most of the time it can be a real pain. You have to be very careful that you don't shout around them - or else train them not to care. If you tripped while walking them on a leash and the leash jerked, they would think of that as a big correction. Poor dogs. But yes, as a breed, most BC you will ever meet are very sensetive dogs.

 

That is another reason you see a lot of people here looking for trainers with BCs. Otherwise, a correction that the trainer who doesn't know the breed might give them would be WAY to much!

 

I hope you girl gets over it quick!

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Lizzie is two years old. She gets a little afraid in load thunderstorms and wants to be near someone in the family but she never looked so degected as last night. We have never yelled or hit our dog yet the other day when I was swatting flys she looked like I was going to swat her too and took off.

Shes fine today. Next time it happens I'll have to sing or say sweet things to her as I fall to the ground. LOL

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I don't know if all BCs are as I've seen pretty hard and solid BCs. Mine is (was)extremely sensitive. My hubby curses like an Italian mafia - at least one cuss word in a sentence - and she used to hate it and hide under a bed. I asked nicely if he could tone down his cussing but he said it was the way they talk down under (I don't believe it)

 

So I had to change my dog instead of my husband which was more motivating and easier to do btw. I asked him to cuss 'lightly' and act all crazy and play with the dogs. I joined him and both of us were cussing and yelling and tossing balls and cookies while the dogs danced around us. She still senses if he's really angry but she learned to cope with it.

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I asked him to cuss 'lightly' and act all crazy and play with the dogs. I joined him and all 4 of us were cussing and yelling and tossing balls and cookies.
LOL!! I hope you had the drapes closed - what would the neighbours think?? :rolleyes:
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Count Riven in.. she is hella sensitive as well. One day my husband and I were goofing off and he acted like he hit me (hit his own hand though) and I flung myself onto the bed and was laughing but my head was in the covers (Riven was on the bed too). DH said she looked at him like "what the heck is wrong with you!!". He said he thought she was going to attack him. He told me to stop and look at her and the look on her face was like complete disbelief. He went to sit on the bed next to me and she took off. I called her back and waited till she calmed down then we hugged on her. Needless to say we dont wrestle or act fools like that in front of her anymore.

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Meg is very sensitive and it took her almost two years with us (after a bad start) before she started to relax and trust us. She is also sensitive in that she is super aware and focused on us at all times. Even in her crate, her eyes are always on us. She can pick up on the tiniest nuance of body language or tone of voice.

 

Ruby also has this awareness, minus the trust issues. Except when she too excited to notice a command, she really wants to do whatever we ask of her. We're working through the overexcitedness and she is improving...

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Yepper! Phoenix adds the tucked tail between the legs, ears back, head up with a look that could melt an iceberg!

Even if I just say in a normal questioning voice, not yelling at all, what are you doing?

:rolleyes:

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Josie is extremely sensitive as was our first BC, Maisey.

The point someone made about having a trainer who knows BC's is right on. The first trainer I took Josie to was not at all knowledgeable and it was a disaster. The girl was a screamer and both Josie and I left class with our nerves on end.

Once I got involved with a very sharp trainer who has 6 BC's of her own it was a totally different experience.

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My first border collie was what I would call a very hard dog - not sensitive at all, EXCEPT he didn't like loud noises like thunder, gun shots. Now Loki is very sensitive - goes under his chair if he thinks your going to groom him or hears loud voices, BUT could care or less about loud noises such as thunder. Go figure....

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So that's what you call it, a "hard" dog..... Makes sense. Ouzo's definetly one of those! You can yell at him and unless he knows you're close enough to catch him, he would not stop, he actualy is looking for ways to provoke us, wants to be chased and yelled at He'd look for something to steal (shoe, towel, socks), and come looking for us, and show us what he got, trying to start a chase, while knowing perfectly well he's not allowed to do it or he'll get yelled at.

 

If he does something realy bad, I get him in a sit position, and take whatever he's chewing off his mouth, and for those few seconds, his ears are down over his head, but the second I release him, he starts prancing around me, tryin' to steal something else and play again!

The few physical corrections he's received so far have little effect to him, just for the moment then off he goes as if nothing happened.

 

If he hears something strange or something falls down in the kitchen (often happens when I'm in there :rolleyes: ), he runs to see what happened. Might get startled for a second, especially if he was sleeping, but then he returns to investigate and find the criminal!

 

The only thing he's not very happy with is my new hair dryer, at which he barks and tries to steal it and run with it! If he gets realy P.O. at the hairdryer, he comes running with a squeeky toy and tries to cover the noise from the hair dryer with his squeeking (and let me tell you, he does a pretty good job at it )

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I laugh as I type this because it brought back a silly happy memory of my old Zeus....he used to be hyper sensitive to things....I collect alot of country/craft/Americana items in the house, and one of the items I pride is a small skinny Christmas tree decorated with red, white, blue lights and all kinds of patriotic ornaments, well....whenever we were playing with Zeus with his tennis ball, ect, in the house, if he even bumped into it, I'd say, Zeus, watch mommy's tree!!! And he'd jerk away from it, until it got to the point that if his ball landed anywhere near it, he'd bark at it and cower down so as to not bump this tree, or if he'd be wagging his tail and bump it remotely, he'd get all scared and run away and hide. So I had to share that silly moment of his, now that you made me think of him and smile at a fond memory. Funny how some things make you remember back to a happy time of a lost loved one and smile like that

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Queen - our eldest BC - isn't sensitive at all. My husband can yell at her round the sheep, and she just doesn't care! Shep is more sensitive.....if he gets yelled at, his ears droop and he has that "sad eyes" expression on his face! Shep is also gun-shy, and scared of thunder....poor baby!! Bob is timid by nature, so you'd think he would hate raised voices, but he doesn't seem to mind! As long as he's rounding up sheep, he's happy!

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My eldest Ashe will appologize for anything if he hears scolding. Whether its at another dog, a cat, one of the kids, my husband or the vaccume. It doesn't make any difference he is doing his "OH MY GOD! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!" routine of head down, tail down with only the tip wagging, and cuddling up to me to appologize for the wrong doing. Of course then we have to let him know that the world has not come to an end and that yes we so still love him very very much. Then all is right with the world.

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Starr would actually leave the room to go hide when we were watching Jurassic Park on tv. She didn't like all the noise on it. She can be quite frustrating when bringing the dogs back inside. If I yell at any of the dogs for anything while I'm calling them back in, she turns around and leaves --kind of aggravating when you're in a hurry to get the dogs in. She could care less about thunderstorms. I don't think the two are necessarily connected.

My Bette ran into a pile of training sticks in my garage once. They came crashing down all around her. She wasn't hurt, but it scared her. She's quite sensitive to the stick being swung in her direction (I've never hit her with it) and you can't use a raddle paddle at all with her. I've often speculated that if I ever sold her to another handler, they would probably see her reaction to the stick and think she had been mistreated with it before.

Renee

Renee

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