Jump to content
BC Boards

Reaction to other dogs. . . .


Recommended Posts

I'm not sure if this is just a Blaze quirk or a Border Collie thing. But whenever I discipline another dog (say I said "Jake NO!"), and Blaze is in that same area, he always comes slinking over to me like I was directing that punishment at him. Which I wasn't.

 

Don't know why he does this, as I wasn't even talking to/looking at/near him. But I don't want him to think he's doing something wrong, when he's not, when I correct another dog.

 

Does anyone else's border collie do this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boots does this, even if I'm yelling at the cat for scratching the furniture he will lower his head and lay down w/ ears back and a guilty look on his face. But it is definately worse if one of the other dogs is getting in trouble. I rescued Boots when he was 10 months old and while he has always been very sensitive, he has never shown sign that he was abused. Although, he has always been the type to try to do everything perfect and gets very down if he can't figure out what I am asking of him. Renoir on the other hand could care less whether he's getting in trouble or someone else is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daisy does this at day camp. The lady (who happens to be neighbor) that runs the program told me on Monday that when any of the dogs misbehave/get to rowdy that she says "Max Bummer!". Then the dog is taken to a kennel for a time out to settle down. So I guess now whenever anyone gets a "bummer" Daisy times herself out. :rolleyes:

 

I think it is a Border Collie thing. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm interesting! Wonder if it's just a Border Collie thing?

 

I think it just has to do with dogs being sensitive, not breeds per say. Obviously certain breeds tend to have softer personalities, though. Rose and Summer will both do that if someone else gets corrected. Rose will go kennel herself many times. Nard on the other hand doesn't give a care in the world even if he's the one being corrected. All of my dogs are relatively soft personalities, but Summer and Rose really go over the top trying to appease people for some reason. They get very upset whenever anyone is upset no matter what. If I correct another dog, sure enough Rose and Summer will slink over to me and start trying to make sure it's not them that's in trouble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What makes you so sure Blaze "knows" you weren't unhappy with him (too)?

 

Dog are pack animals. Anytime there is tension in the pack, they're nervous. Different dogs express this nervousness in different ways, but it's the nature of pack animals to always pay attention to the state of the pack and to do what they can to resolve tension when it occurs, regardless of who or what "caused" it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What makes you so sure Blaze "knows" you weren't unhappy with him (too)?

 

Dog are pack animals. Anytime there is tension in the pack, they're nervous. Different dogs express this nervousness in different ways, but it's the nature of pack animals to always pay attention to the state of the pack and to do what they can to resolve tension when it occurs, regardless of who or what "caused" it.

 

I'm not sure I understand. I never said I knew that Blaze knows I wasn't mad at him?

 

The rest of your post is interesting. None of my other dogs do this and I've not seen anyone else's dogs do this, either. Lizzie could really care less unless I put a "Lizzie" infront of what I'm correcting her about or if I'm looking at her. Jake. LOL Jake doesn't care if your correcting HIM!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daisy is that way, hugely. If Juno's being corrected, she gets a very miserable, hangdog look, head down, slinking, looking up at me with soulful eyes. Meanwhile, Juno remains as cheerful as ever, no matter who's being corrected. Daisy doesn't get sad if she herself gets corrected, so perhaps she just hates not knowing how to make that worrisome "Ehh ehh ehh!" sound stop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't even have to be correcting one of the dogs! If the idiots, aka dispatch, has got me riled, and I tend to be very vocal, ahem, the dogs scatter, and Skip tries his best to crawl inside me! Except Cheyenne. She knows when I am angry with her and acts accordingly. But if someone other than her is in trouble, she could care less! I really hate that. It's like if I punish one, they are all affected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I only have one dog, I can't be certain how Daisy would act. But I do know that if I am having a "passionate" conversation with the other half, she will come in between us and try to break it up. We never really fight, but I get excited very easily. The louder the voice, the more urgent Daisy thinks it is. She's even barked at the person talking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dog are pack animals. Anytime there is tension in the pack, they're nervous. Different dogs express this nervousness in different ways, but it's the nature of pack animals to always pay attention to the state of the pack and to do what they can to resolve tension when it occurs, regardless of who or what "caused" it.

 

Chesney is like Blaze (and others). He is very in tune with everything I do and is very observant. I think Alaska makes a good point and I think we, Border Collie owners, notice this more with them because from what I have seen with this breed is they are VERY concerned about pack and pack structure. I haven't seen other dogs care about pack structure as much as Border Collies (not saying that they don't have the pack dynamics, but it seems that Border Collies hold more true to pack mentality)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I am in the minority. When I had Blue (who is no longer with us) and I scolded Tia for something Blue would show very little interest or concern. Now the funny part is that when the roles were reversed and it was Blue that was gettng in trouble (rarly happened but on occasion she was not perfect LOL ) Tia would rejoice, even if she was in the other room I would here her tail start to hit the floor as it began wagging.

 

LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...