Q&A: Professional Dog Trainers – HELP. Problems with my overly protective / aggressive border collie mix.?
Question by alanna: Professional Dog Trainers – HELP. Problems with my overly protective / aggressive border collie mix.?
Hey guys. I have a border collie / sheltie mix, who just turned one. I love him to death. However, he is EXTREMELY overly-protective. It’s like the older he becomes, the more protective he gets. I know it’s natural instinct in a border collie to “protect his flock”, but this is getting out of hand. He always aims to please us, and is always responsive to the word “no”, but it’s when he goes into his “crazy mode”, that he acts like we’re not even there. He just completely focuses on whatever he’s ‘protecting’ me from. If anyone comes into my house that he isn’t familiar with (especially children), he goes insane. We either have to lock him outside in the back yard, or put him in his kennel. He also has leash aggression. The moment his leash is on, he goes into super protective mode. If a dog or person walks by, he lunges at them, snarls and shows his teeth. I love bringing him to the dog park, but it’s almost become an embarrassment now. I’ll bring him up to the gate, and if any dogs come to greet him, we can’t even walk inside any more. If I’m lucky, and can get him inside, it’s also a nightmare. He LOVES playing with other dogs, but if the dogs get at all near me, or if I try to pet any of them, he snaps at them, lunges and growls until they go away. Sometimes he won’t even let other dogs inside the dog park, and I have to put him on his leash to get him away from the entrance.
Do you guys have any pointers on how to train him out of this??
Please don’t just say “go to a trainer.” I am well aware of this, but at the moment, I don’t have money for a one-on-one trainer, and am saving up for it.
Thank you!
Best answer:
Answer by Caiti
This sounds like a dominance issue. Usually they stem from a number of other small issues that you may not notice that actually allow your dog to take a dominant position in your family – unfortunately my best advice is to talk to a professional trainer and have them observe the dog. I know you say you can’t right now, but it is still my best advice.
You need to be careful as this can turn into a much more serious aggression issue.
Make sure your dog isn’t around you when you eat; your prey is yours and you don’t intend on sharing. Make sure that when you take him for a walk, you leave on your terms, not being pulled along by him. Put him in the yard plenty, even if he tends to whine. You need to be very assertive, but it’s at a risky stage where again, the help and advice of a trainer is a must.
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I saw this on the dog whisperer. He started with walking on a leash and lots of discipline. You have to assert your dominance and show that you are pack leader so that he feels that he does not have to protect you, in fact you are his protector. I don’t remember all the details, sorry. Maybe you can find it online, it was a pretty good show.
STOP taking this dog to the dog park. You are ABSOLUTELY BEGGING for legal trouble. People like you who insist on showing up there with dogs who have NO BUSINESS being off leash or even too close to dogs they don’t know are the reason why I stopped going. I can’t understand why you enjoy doing this. It sounds like it frequently becomes a miserable experience for the both of you, as well as for the better adjusted dogs who have to deal with the disruptive behavior. And it’s just one more opportunity you’re giving the dog to practice bad behavior. People are so confident they can control the situation, right up to the point where the vicous, bloody dog fight breaks out. The dog park will not cure your dog of his problem. The dog park is not positive socialization. The dog park is not emotionally or mentally beneficial to him in any way shape or form. All you’re doing is providing more triggers for the negative behavior. When the dog gets to feeling uncomfortable in a certain situation and reacts by displaying aggression, and the offending party backs off and gives him space, it teaches him a very powerful lesson: Displays of aggression are highly effective for relieving his stress and making other dogs give him a wide berth. The more chances he has to see how well this works, the more likely he is to do it.
The first fallacy is that the way to fix dogs like this is to keep forcing them to accept exposure to the situations that trigger the aggression, thinking that eventually they’ll realize nobody is out to do them harm and they can relax. It doesn’t work this way. The first step will be a hard one. You may have to learn to accept that you have a dog that you may never be able to live with in the way people commonly like to live with dogs. He may need to have his environment strictly controlled, and spend most of his time in a crate when you have visitors. He may never be able to stop and greet other dogs and humans on walks. You may never be able to let him play with children. You have to minimize his exposure to situations that trigger aggression and then train him to focus on you while ignoring everything that makes him feel anxious and insecure. This is priority one. He can be around other dogs, but should not be allowed to interract. He can walk past people and children, but should not be encouraged to go greet them. Nor should anybody be encouraged to touch him or acknowledge him.
It may be that you might be able to get more social behavior from him down the road once you calm him down, but probably not to the extent you’re hoping where this just goes away. Some dogs are genetically hard wired to behave in a certain way, and life is more about teaching them to control it than about eliminating it.
I totally agree with Eharri’s post and especially the part
“This is priority one. He can be around other dogs, but should not be allowed to interact. He can walk past people and children, but should not be encouraged to go greet them. Nor should anybody be encouraged to touch him or acknowledge him.”
Socialization isn’t always about charging around with other dogs anyway. It is about dogs IGNORING other dogs as if they are no big deal.
This “protecting” you really has to stop. Google NILIF and really work with it. No privileges at all until this dog realises that YOU decide on who comes into your house and YOU decide who you will speak to and what dog you stroke.
And definitely no offlead anywhere if he is likely to behave like this. The trouble is also that when your dog reacts like he does to other dogs, then it can make those dogs start having problems which really isn’t fair on their owners.
Quit thinking of this as “protecting” because that carries some positive emotions. He is taking charge and telling you who will be allowed near and who will not. Being a dog’s flunky is less positive, right?
You need to train him to walk correctly on lead. He also needs to be trained to Sit, Down, and Stay. You may think he already knows all that, but he is not doing it. He is not walking on lead correctly if he is charging at people. He desperately needs obedience training with an experienced trainer. He will give you trouble when you start enforcing the rules (such as Sit means to park the rear, now) so an experienced trainer who can work with a dominant dog is necessary for you.
anytime someons mentions caesar millan throw it out the window. “pack leader” theories are extremely out dated.
when a dog approaches give him treats. but dont get too close. as soon as he spots a dog you need to start giving him treats.
it teaches the dog that new dogs equals treats or good things. this is not easy to work with at all. i would actually say to seek professional help. but if you can do this effectivly it will work.
you dont want to try this when the dog is face to face with the dog though because it will be so worked up it wont care what youre offereing it.
go to a dog park. and stay far enough away to where your dog notices the other dogs but is not reacting(barking, growling). every time a new dog arrives give him treats. and as time passes make your way closer to the fence. when i say “time” i mean days. you should go a month without stepping foot in the park. or even face to face with the fence.
ive worked with a dog where it two months for it to confidently step foot into a dog park.
you dont want to use physical punishment(choke collar etc) for this because it will not relate bark to being corrected it will think “theres a new dog *bark bark* *correction* so if a new dog comes around im going to be corrected” get it. it will mkae things worse.
the same thing will work with ppl. leash her. have some come over. stand a few feet from the door… if youre far enough away from the door it wont lunge. but rigth when some walks in give him treats. give those ppl treats and have them throw the treats at the dog. dont even think about letting them pet him though. dont even let them get too close. the closer they get the more stressed out the dog gets until he is more comfortable around them.
go to http://www.dogforum.com... create an acct and seek help there ppl way more educated on dogs than the ppl here.
I also have a border collie and we had some of these issues too
Firstly, don’t worry about your dog’s “crazy mode” as this is completely normal for puppies and they will grow out of it soon!( we had the same with our’s)
To stop his leash aggression ( this is going to sound weird) but we found this trick in a training book; if you fill a little spray bottle ( the kind you can buy from pharmacies empty or body sprays come in – NOT aerosols though) if you fill this with a mix of a citrus juice and water ; and squirt once at his face when he shows behaviour such as the leash aggression. It doesn’t Hurt the dog in any way but is effective as dogs hate citrus smells and takes him by surprise!
We did this on our dog when he used to jump up on us and when he bit the lead ; and he was so shocked and taken back he ummediantly stopped and soon he stopped altogether
Lastly to adress the food protection( we had this problem too) . We started to teach him the “leave ” command so now everytime he is given his food , he won’t eat as long as we tell him to “leave it”. He’s so used to doin this before food he does it automatically now! it establishes the “ranking” within our household, the dog must know he is on the bottom, so he respects those above him.
Try deliberately eating a snack before you feed him to enforce leadership; once his food is in his bowl put ii where he can’t reach and eat a small snack as he watches you, naturally in a pack of dogs, the leader of the pack would eat before those lower in the hierarchy .
Apparently the cleverer the dog , the more their desire to be “leader of the pack”
Good luck!!!