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Spatial Awareness


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I am perplexed by this dog on my Search and Rescue team who I'm watching this weekend. I know he has some, to a lot of Border Collie in him, but others have suspected (and reinforced by their comments, my suspicions) there is some ACD in him too. He is appox. 2.5 years old and was rescued about two months ago. He's a nice enough dog, just... weird compared to my dogs and most other Border Collies I know.

 

With that background here is what bugs me, when walking him on a leash he drifts into you, then if you keep walking and bump him or step on his toes he leaps out of the way like he was surprised by your presence. Or if there is a dog on the opposite side of you he is walking he will dance around in front of you to get to the other side, then when he hits the end of the leash and gets yanked back, he acts surprised with that, but then tries again. I took him out on the bike today and road over a paw twice and bumped him with the tire twice (none on purpose) but I wasn't going to crash off my bike because he was being an idiot. He will stand on your feet and in everyday activities will trip over something on the ground or step in his food dish when going over to eat.

 

So with that being said, I don't know if he needs to be taught some spatial awareness or if he needs to mature and grow up a little OR if it's just how he is.

 

Advice please! Thanks guys :)

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Gosh. Could be any of those things! There are some reflex, and other neurological, tests a vet could do to make sure his motor function is ship shape. That might be a good place to start. I bet they wouldn't charge you much more than an office call. I've know dogs, however, that will just stay underfoot no matter how much they get stepped on, or run over and are otherwise graceful beasts. You might try reinforcing him whenever he is in the correct position. Even if he had neurological problems; you can teach him that he gets reinforced every time he is at least 2ft away from your feet.

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Dear Doggers,

 

Some preliminary observations on an interesting topic.

 

I have had Border Collies run full tilt into a large, perfectly obvious tree. I have been put on the ground by a Border Collie coming through on a shed. Their focus can blank out everything else.

 

That said: I remember reading n article in WSN some years back wherein a british SAR handler explained why he'd gone from German Shpherds to Border Collies. "Because," he said, "They always know where you are."

 

At some big trials, the dogs cannot see the handler to whom they are fetching sheep yet they do so unerringly. If my dog and I are separated at a trial I expect him to return to me at the handler's tent or the car.

 

Donald McCaig

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One exercise is to lay a ladder on the ground (an extension ladder) and walk the dog along the length. The dog will need to place its feet with care to avoid tripping over the rungs. This was an exercise we used in beginning agility to help teach the dog to be aware of where it was placing its hind feet in particular (as most dogs would be aware of where they were placing their front feet).

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He kinda sounds like a clueless young dog that needs to learn some focus and discipline/rules.

 

Targeting with his feet might help. You can use an empty plastic feed pan turned upside down for several different exercises - target with his front feet, target with his back feet, pivot with 2 feet staying on the pan.

 

Training Kenzi to walk up steps backwards seemed to give her excellent hind end awareness (but she didn't start off clueless so YMMV)

 

Also training him to climb a ladder might help.

 

Pretty much any sort of structured training that requires him to think about where his feet are going!

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That said: I remember reading n article in WSN some years back wherein a british SAR handler explained why he'd gone from German Shpherds to Border Collies. "Because," he said, "They always know where you are."

 

Strange thing to say. All my non BC dogs know where I am whether they can see me or not - even (especially) the deaf and half blind oldie. If anything my BC doesn't even know where he is at times, never mind where I am - that focus thing. I have no doubt he'd eventually come to and find me but "always" knowing where I am - no.

 

I can think of reasons why a BC might be preferable to a GSD for SAR but that isn't one of them.

 

Going back to the OP's problem - my BC was the clumsiest dog as an adolescent - no respecter of space or objects people or dogs in the way from A to B. As others have suggested, work on teaching him he had a leg at each corner improved his coordination.

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So with that being said, I don't know if he needs to be taught some spatial awareness or if he needs to mature and grow up a little OR if it's just how he is.

 

Advice please! Thanks guys :)

 

Cavaletti is a horsemanship exercise that has been adapted to dog agility training. Low jumps, sometimes spaced irregularly. The web has sites to purchase equipment. Agility trainers often simply arrange their existing poles, standards and other equipment in a sort of obstacle course of random closely spaced low jumps that requires a dog to gather/collect itself as it negotiates over/through them. The above suggestion of using a ladder laying flat on ground is one form. Best wishes on teaching him coordination . -- Kind regards, TEC

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I can think of reasons why a BC might be preferable to a GSD for SAR but that isn't one of them.

Well, it isn't reason for YOU, but apparently it was a very good reason for the fellow Donald quoted. Different strokes and all that....

 

Even my 15-year old deaf dog will go back to the vehicle if she gets separated (usually because she goes off on a mission and can't hear me calling her back) from me. But then again, that's not the same thing as space issues anyway.

 

I had a border collie x aussie I used to jog and rollerblade with. Generally he was good about that, but on occasion he would forget me and my space and barrel across my forward path, which of course invariably caused a fall for me. It was random enough that I couldn't prepare myself for it. I eventually gave up jogging and blading with him once I adopted the now-15-year-old mentioned above (who was a great skating/jogging partner).

 

Danielle,

The ACD owners I know would say that the dogs have a high pain tolerance, so running over him by accident isn't likely to make a big impression on him. I agree with the others who have said that you will likely have to teach him to be respectful of space. It's probably also a bit of adolescence being reflected in his behavior, but it won't hurt to teach the awareness anyway.

 

J.

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Personally, I'd tend to think that spatial awareness is more of an individual dog issue instead of a breed thing. I wonder too if it has something to do with his previous life. Kipp and Kenzi both seemed to take awhile to open up to me. They were fond of me, but at the same time they didn't have a need to work with/be aware of me. I think a big part of it was that they'd never learned to work with a person since their life before didn't really include people. It took several months to get the BC focus/awareness to come out.

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