Motion sensitive Border collie

[Chloe's mom]

I need help training my border collie. We take two walks a day and I have to walk at night so she doesn't see things moving. Whenever anyone runs by, walks by, bicycles by, etc she goes nuts. Otherwise she walks pretty well on a leash. She is also a maniac at agility training when she sees other dogs running, or when we go to my children's softball games. How do I get her under control?

[Samantha J]

Hello Chloe's mom,

 

 

I haven't been on here that long myself and am new to BCs (Holly is nearly 17months old) but Holly did used to bark and go to chase joggers/cycles/motorcycles and even the odd car. For us what helped was trying to stop the reaction as it happened. She new the word no as we had taught her this at home and so whilst walking we would be on the lookout for a motorcycle and the minute she was going to bark would tell her no. Then if she stopped then reward with small treat. We used to save a few bits of kibble from her meals for this. Sometimes we would make her sit whilst the jogger went by telling her to stay and leave and then good girl.

 

It was hard for a while but i think you need to keep trying and taking Chloe out at times when there is more going on otherwise you will never be able to take her out in company. Which i think is a real shame as my experience is that BCs love seeing new things/places/people etc.

 

Gradually it worked for us with her. I think you will get other advice and opinions on here but just thought i would share what worked for us.

 

Another way i have heard works is if you can get someone you know to perhaps jog past you a few times and work with her that way. The same perhaps for the cyclist, i haven't tried that way although i did use to jog beside Holly whilst someone else had her lead a few times so she knew jogging was ok.

 

When i read of the BC it seems this is a common thing with them, they love to chase. Now Holly's chasing is all done with her tennis ball.

 

Is Chloe getting any other excercise/play during the day as i think Holly would be wound up if she only went out in the evening. That perhaps isn't helping as she is perhaps all wound up.

 

Sorry carn't offer much more only that it's something Holly did too and she is much better now.

 

Good luck

[mbc1963]

I need help training my border collie. We take two walks a day and I have to walk at night so she doesn't see things moving. Whenever anyone runs by, walks by, bicycles by, etc she goes nuts. Otherwise she walks pretty well on a leash. She is also a maniac at agility training when she sees other dogs running, or when we go to my children's softball games.

 

My dog used to be kind of like that - because he was so afraid of everything. A guy ran at us once, and Buddy literally tried to hide between the curb and a parked car, shaking and cowering. Sudden movements by dogs or people - especially on bikes - would freak him out. Sudden movements by strangers still startle him a bit.

 

I think what worked with Buddy was the old standby: gradual, slow desensitization with rewards (clicks if you like) for calm behavior. The first few weeks, I flooded Buddy WAY too much, and he reacted constantly with barking, growling, and fearful breakdowns. Then I got smarter, and kept him far enough away from the scary things to avoid letting him have a breakdown. We did lots of walks in the woods, where very few people went, and I would take him off the path and have him "sit" as people did go by. Having something to do (sit) when he saw a fear stimulus seemed to help him a LOT. After just a very little while - a few weeks? - he started taking himself off the path and doing a "sit" when he saw scary things. What a smart boy!

 

So... that's my experience. Hope it helps! Sounds like your dog might not be scared, like mine, so maybe there's another trick someone else can give you.

 

Mary

[HighDesertSpice]

I need help training my border collie. We take two walks a day and I have to walk at night so she doesn't see things moving. Whenever anyone runs by, walks by, bicycles by, etc she goes nuts. Otherwise she walks pretty well on a leash. She is also a maniac at agility training when she sees other dogs running, or when we go to my children's softball games. How do I get her under control?

 

Hi: i took treats with me when my bc was new to my home. We would walk the off leash areas where we would have to share the path with bicycles runners, other dog paks, et al. As one of these approached, I would walk off to the side, and call H with a really good treat (not dry). Then she would sit and wait until the passer bys passed by. She was a cautious untrained, semi wild mutt and she reponded quite well to this. Maybe this will work for you two.

[andie71]

My dog used to be kind of like that - because he was so afraid of everything. A guy ran at us once, and Buddy literally tried to hide between the curb and a parked car, shaking and cowering. Sudden movements by dogs or people - especially on bikes - would freak him out. Sudden movements by strangers still startle him a bit.

 

I think what worked with Buddy was the old standby: gradual, slow desensitization with rewards (clicks if you like) for calm behavior. The first few weeks, I flooded Buddy WAY too much, and he reacted constantly with barking, growling, and fearful breakdowns. Then I got smarter, and kept him far enough away from the scary things to avoid letting him have a breakdown. We did lots of walks in the woods, where very few people went, and I would take him off the path and have him "sit" as people did go by. Having something to do (sit) when he saw a fear stimulus seemed to help him a LOT. After just a very little while - a few weeks? - he started taking himself off the path and doing a "sit" when he saw scary things. What a smart boy!

 

So... that's my experience. Hope it helps! Sounds like your dog might not be scared, like mine, so maybe there's another trick someone else can give you.

 

Mary

 

That is what Im doing with Cody. He barks like a craziod when a bike or person runs by us. I'm trying to desensitize him the same way you did.

[bettilu]

That is what Im doing with Cody. He barks like a craziod when a bike or person runs by us. I'm trying to desensitize him the same way you did.

 

 

Hi everyone! I'm new here...cars are my main problem with my 9month old, Bo. We live on a busy road and I have been previously walking him on a back road where there isn't as much traffic, but then everytime a car goes by, he goes into herding mode. Do you think that walking him on the main road instead will desensitize him to the cars?

 

Thank you! Lisa

[Samantha J]

Welcome Lisa,

 

 

In Holly's case she wasn't scared like Mary's dog of the traffic etc so my approach was different. Holly just wanted to chase and bark so the no command worked for her with that. If your dog is the same as she was it may work for you too. I would try and walk him on roads that had light traffic to start with. Otherwise you will always be saying no or sitting and waiting for traffic to pass (whichever method you use) and there would be no normal walking in between.

Then you can gradually go at busy times to roads with more traffic once he has learned that he can not chase every car.

I think it is good to keep him around some traffic everyday whilst working with him to ignore it rather than back roads with none otherwise he won't get used to it.

 

Good luck with it, i know it is hard at first. Holly is a lot better now but i remember that stage off her puppyhood very well.

[Samantha J]

Hi again,

 

Another thing i forgot to mention was that we used to take a toy sometimes, a tuggy or something to distract Holly from whatever she wanted to chase. This also worked too sometimes.

[bettilu]

Hi again,

 

Another thing i forgot to mention was that we used to take a toy sometimes, a tuggy or something to distract Holly from whatever she wanted to chase. This also worked too sometimes.

 

Thank you so much for the response....I make sure that he is exposed to the traffic daily (on leash of course...) and oddly, he really doesn't seem interested unless we are actually walking on the road...I'll just keep plugging along with it....he is super smart (as they all are) and definately wants to please, so maybe one day...I just want to be able to trust him off leash one day in our yard...we have an older BC/Shepherd mix and she is pretty much yard trained.