BorderlineCollieaholic Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 For the past week whenever I let Bandit out of his crate and take him outside, he will run as fast as he can till he is about 15 feet away, then whirl around and lay down as if I had given him the command. He'll just stay there staring at me with this amusingly serious expresssion until I take a step towards him, at which point he gleefully runs to me for a rub. Is this something Border Collie-ish, or just puppy play? Also, I realize Bandit is four months old and some rough and tumble behavior is expected, but lately he has developed a love of running top speed towards our nine year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and barreling into him, knocking poor Baxley over. Is there any way I can discourage this behaviour? Baxley is small and elderly and tolerant, but even though Bandit is just playing I feel that Baxley could unintentionally be hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTrain Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 This does not sound unusual to me. All of my dogs from the time thy were puppies have had the urge to run full speed, in fact they still do it. Body slamming is also that that unusual. Again all of my guys have done it. We have had to work on it. This past summer my best dog body slammed my wife and she got hurt. He is also not adverse to body slamming sheep. At play the dogs often do it to each other. As for the running and stopping to wait. At work or play my dogs will often run some distance from me and lie down to wait for a command but I do not recall them doing it at such a young age as your guy. I try to discourage it for fear of injuries. He sounds like a normal and happy young border collie to me, he sounds normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Whenever I let my dog out the door, he does the same thing. He'll run out to a spot a few feet off the deck, turn around, lay down on the ground and stare at the door. If I don't come out right away he will continue to stare at the door for hours until I do! I think it's a border collie thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afrancis Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 For the past week whenever I let Bandit out of his crate and take him outside, he will run as fast as he can till he is about 15 feet away, then whirl around and lay down as if I had given him the command. He'll just stay there staring at me with this amusingly serious expresssion until I take a step towards him, at which point he gleefully runs to me for a rub. Is this something Border Collie-ish, or just puppy play? Zoomies + 'the eye' + belly rub = bc puppy Enjoy! But in regards to the body-slamming of your older and all-suffering King Charles spaniel, I would try to discourage this since Baxley is probably not going to discipline him for you I might let Bandit outside just with you and leave Baxley indoors while the pup gets the zoomies out of his system and is allowed one-on-one time to play with you. I would start teaching Bandit the command 'leave it' so that you can apply it when he begins to bother Baxley, as well as using a gentle 'Tst tst' if he gets that look in his eye that he's about to slam. At that point you can also distract him with either a toy or a short training session with specific commands. Good luck! Ailsa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Boots Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I would agree that these signs appear to be completely normal border collie behavior. But as the other people said I would really watch the body slamming. Renoir, who we rescued just over a year ago is a body slammer. It was described to me that it is often a way to show or challenge dominance. Following this advice, he is never allowed to body slam humans, and if he even tries a small one is put away immediately. We have always let our dogs figure out their own pecking orders, within reason, as long as they are disciplining each other safely and properly. However, we always step in with the body slamming, there is just too much of a chance for real physical harm to come to someone else, even if they aren’t smaller and older, but especially if they are. Renoir gets a settle command when he starts getting to that stage in play and if he does the behavior then the alpha people step in and put him up and his play gets cut short. He is slowly figuring out that he can run full speed, wrestling and growling the whole way without physically body slamming into anyone. Although, it may have helped that he accidentally body slammed (ran into) a rail road tie one day and well, the rail road tie won. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnLloydJones Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 This past summer my best dog body slammed my wife and she got hurt. He is also not adverse to body slamming sheep. At play the dogs often do it to each other. I'd be upset if Senneca intentionally body slammed a person, but she absolutely loves doing it to other dogs in the park. She easily takes down dogs more than twice her own weight like that. The odd thing is that they love it. If your older dog doesn't, then I would try to discourage it, but typically, an older dog will let the puppy know if it's going too far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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