My Collie and I

[maddy110]

Hi all

I'm Tonia and I have an eight month old BC called Leah. She is mad as they come and I have great fun walking her round the various lakes we visit. She is quite submissive yet sometimes she takes a disliking to some dogs and will snap. Is this a typical Collie trait?

She loves to chase cars which is something I am desperate for her to get out of. God forbid should some freak accident happen and goes under the wheels of a car She really is bad with this. Also, it doesn't help when it comes to getting her to walk to heel. Having a nightmare of a time training her to walk beside me and not pull. I have used a body harness which didn't really do much. She still pulled. I find the halti (the one that fits over the face - muzzle type thing) is more effective at combating her pulling.

If anybody has any tips or any advice to offer me it will be received gratefully!

Thanks

[BC-Liz]

I'm no expert but I don't think it's typical BC behavior to snap at dogs, I think that's just a dog thing. Some just don't like certain types of dogs. The best way to get over that is to socialize socialize socialize. As for the chasing cars this. Man that would scare me. What we would do when the dogs would pull towards something passing, usually a person or another dog, is sit them down and keep their attention with tricks and/or treats. She won't want to stay still for a while but just keep her attention and eventually she may just sit and wait for her treat as soon as she hears a car. Be an assertive leader when you walk and try and keep her at a heal, there's ways to keep their attention on you at all times when healing too. A couple trainers I've talked to have said to hold a spoon of peanut butter or a treat in your hand close to your chest so the dog is always looking up at you while you walk. The golden ticket for us was choke collars. Not to choke them all the time but as a quick correction. One pop of the collar with a firm no/heel and the dogs are right back in place. Which is good seeing as how I walk 3 dogs at once on suburban roads. It's always good to recognize when she's about to chase, and correct her before she bolts, an easy "eh eh...or in my case 'don't even think about it'" works wonders.

 

Now is the perfect time to train her, she's at a great age for learning...well any age is a good age for BC's. Good luck and remember, she's still just a puppy.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Hi, I just thought I would give you this link. You might find this technique handy. We don't want your dog getting hit by a car!

 

http://www.clickerlessons.com/looseleash.htm

 

Also, FWIW, I have a gentle leader for my dog as well (the one that goes around her muzzle) but my trainer just informed me me that perhaps it may not be the best option for a dog who is reactive to other dogs. Mine is quite reactive and she suggested that with this type of harness she can't properly give other dogs signals that would let them know she doesn't want to be bothered until it's too late and the dogs in her face and she's pissed. Take it for what it is, just a suggestion, i'm no pro, but I do see a bit of truth in it.

 

But BC-Liz is right some dogs just don't like some dogs, same as people really. Socialize the pants off her now before it's a problem though. She's just a puppy and she'll figure things out!

 

j

[Samantha J]

Hi Tonia,

 

Yeah lots of meetings with as many dogs as you can meet is what we did with ours too. Neither of my two have ever shown any unfriendly signals to any other dogs. We still like Holly to meet different breeds regularly now at 2yrs, just to keep up her socializing.

 

I use a halti harness for Holly, just using a training lead linked to the back mostly now though. If she is being a pain anytime as she still sometimes pulls when she is excitable i clip the other end to the front ring that pulls on her chest. It gives me a lot more control of her then. Still telling her to walk nice, heel etc.

 

Holly was a car chaser at that age and what we did was as soon as she was about to go for the car, at that second, shout No and give her a tug. It does have to be done at that exact time they are about to leap though. This went on for quite a while and was no quick fix but for her it did work and now she takes no notice of cars passing at all. She was the same with motorbikes, cyclists and joggers and we took a similar approach except we made her sit for the joggers to pass.

Zac doesn't go to chase but he does have to watch every car that passes, he is obsessed with looking at them so for him the approach is more talking to him with a leave it, lets go approach. Hopefully he will get better too as he matures, he is 7 months old. He acts totally different than she did so we are still learning ourselves with him.

 

 

eta - forgot to add i used the halti harness for Holly when i gave a tug at the lead, which was attached to both the back and front clip most of the time back then, not a big tug either, it was more a reaction tug that happened at exactly the same time as my No shout.

Zac is on a body harness at the moment, he is not big enough for the halti one to fit properly and we are finding with him just a body harness is strong enough with the lead on the back.

[Samantha J]

oops, double post, i thought i was just previewing it

[john landry]

Hello Tonia,

 

Try the “prong collar”. One of my BCs had (still does but to a lesser degree) the same compulsion – lunging at passing cars (they’re mostly large panel trucks around here). I tried the choker collars to no avail really – Alice now has a stronger and bigger neck! And they seem to really hurt her. I finally tried a “prong collar”. I hesitated since I do not like the look of these collars – they do look rather nasty. But, a minor miracle, the gal lunged once, gave out a mighty YIP! and doesn’t lunge anymore. She stills does the BC stare thing when the car approaches but no more lunging. She does not pull anymore either.

 

John Landry

[Janet808]

Hi Tonia, before we got Misty we did a lot of research on the web on the breed and what to expect. My husband had found a site that mentioned at the beginning the BC won't want to leave the yard, but right about the age of your dog could have a tendancy to run after cars. If your walking your dog and this is when she lunges towards cars, (Misty tried this and it scared the crap out of me) make her sit while cars pass. Also, make sure you shorten the leash so she has no where to go. This has helped a lot w/ Misty.

 

I had problems w/ Misty pulling while walking until I found a forum that told me about the gentle leader (pretty much like the halti) and that was a Godsend! I don't have any problems anymore. In fact, I also found if I tire her out a little before our walks I can now walk her without the gentle leader. I tire her out by playing frisbee.

 

You're going to find all these little quirks will work themselves out rather quickly as long as you keep up on them to put an end to the unwanted behavior. BC's are so freakin' smart, it will be like a lightbulb went on and you'll have your dream dog! Good Luck!