KF1984

^^^^ Sorry, I haven't quite learned how to use someone else's quote in my post. This is exactly what I'm talking about. Should a city dweller like me who is freaking out about her BCs "reactivity" try to rehome her dog to someone who knows the breed enough not to freak out? I am not really asking that question, I love my dog and am not about to do that, but I do wonder how to let Gypsy excel. To my credit, I have chilled out substantially the last few days. And yes, I am an inexperienced owner/trainer who has a rescue dog...I have no idea what her breeding/background is. I have no insecurities about admitting all this and please feel free to judge as necessary...as long as you judge ME and not my dog. As for the "grittiness" of BC's, sure, she is a but crazy about new people, but quite frankly she is about as balls to the wall as anything I've ever seen. So perhaps a bit soft in "city" type settings but I can't imagine any dog being tougher in work/play situations. I obviously can't argue this point as a breed wide thing, but as someone who has owned several dogs, I have to say, she is physically tough.

Sounds good. We will do our best to keep her comfortable and relaxed without pushing too much. As I said before, I certainly don't mind if she never wants to be petted or even around strangers...but I have very strong concerns that she will bite someone if not carefully managed, and if at all possible, I would like to do all I can to alleviate that tendency as she gets older. Has anyone ever had experience with a dog they may call reactive or aggressive towards strangers as an puppy/adolescent and having them just "grow out of it"? This is my first experience with this type of behavior and everyone is telling me different things: You have to change her attitude while she's young, or, She's just a teenager, she'll get over it. I feel like people here are telling me to just...stop obsessing over it?

Thanks for the suggestions, CMP, I hope we figure something out as well. In my most trying moments I have thought about trying to rehome her to a more BC experienced place, but I really want to work with her at becoming a relaxed, happy dog. She is so fun to watch play frisbee and is by far better at anything (non-social) than any other dog I have ever owned. I can see why people become addicted to this breed. Your descriptions of your dogs made me smile I am tempted to just call Gypsy bitchy most days and hope we can get redefine that.

Haha, she definitely only wants to cuddle first thing in the morning, once the day starts rolling, she is either fetching, stretched out on the floor or her bed, or playing with our other puppy. And she also will promptly get up and move if I start to fuss over her. She sounds like a ninja cuddler as well

I had been worrying about daycare...they say she does fine but I've seen her snap at dogs on her way in. Of course, those dogs were barking in her face so it didn't seem particularly odd. I will talk to my husband about creating her...the only issue with that right now would be the heat. His office has limited ac but by this time of year, the weather should cool down any day. It's at least worth a try. I have yet to try the walk outside to introduce new people for her, but have heard about it and think it could work. As for reactive dog classes, but vet behaviorist's business has them, but she doesnt think Gypsy is quite ready yet. As for her early socialization, we had her as a 10 week old and did the best we could with lots of positive interactions. She was around calm, vaccinated dogs and came with us anywhere she could...I made lots of trips to Home Depot around that time just to have her meet new people (at that time she seemed to absolutely love it). So I'm not exactly sure where we went wrong. But hey, she came to snuggle with me as soon as the alarm went off this morning snd is now playing nicely with our other pup...so its not all bad!

Thanks for the replies. Gloria-She has a crate at work, which she goes into if my husband knows someone she doesn't know is coming. But when someone shows up unexpectedly, she goes full on Cujo, jumping on them and snapping before my husband has a handle on the situation. He had been trying to counter condition her in these settings, but needless to say, nothing was improving. She is now in full time doggy daycare (my husband and I both work full time and leaving her at the house is not an option-she can jump fences ). She loves the people there and they say she does fine, but I don't know if it is stressing her out. We definitely instruct people to ignore her...that becomes difficult when she is snarling at them! But we keep her put away or on a leash and have strangers throw her treats if we have to have people at the house, and she very gradually (like a whole weekend) becomes used to them. I don't mind if she never loves strangers...I'd be great with her completely ignoring them. Debbie- My husband and I drew that same conclusion tonight. Our own anxiety over the situation has most likely made it worse. If we could figure out a happy situation for her while we were at work and sorted out how to have guests over (we frequently have out of town guests for weekends), I think I could deal with the rest. Of course we had an extraordinarily mellow dog pass away 8 months ago, so we have that memory in our heads and perhaps are putting unrealistic expectations on Gypsy.

Hello everyone! I am a first time BC owner who is doing her best with what I am not sure is a "normal" border collie (though it would seem that doesn't exactly exist). I got her at 10 weeks from a humane society; her litter was found abandoned as very young pups and they were bottle fed and raised at a foster home. Given that my husband and I have lots of time for dogs (he typically brings our dogs to work, we are both active, and I was planning on starting an activity such as agility), we decided were up for the border collie "challenge." As a puppy around the house, she has been a delight: learns tricks and obedience commands quickly, learned her "settle on a mat" (off switch), has never chewed or destroyed anything, and is snuggly to boot. However, her quirks slowly started to emerge, and we discovered that we have a dog who is leash reactive to dogs and people, as well as off leash reactive, especially with visitors at home or my husbands work. By "reactive" I mean barking, snarling, lunging, and jumping/nipping. Well, my planned activity of agility soon became replaced with trips to a vet behaviorist, counter conditioning walks with a clicker, and backyard frisbee. I am feeling very defeated as I think things are getting worse (she's 8 months now and we've been working on counter conditioning for about 6 weeks), and the situation is affecting my relationships with my husband and our other dog. I have noticed when I mention this to people they often say, Oh, well that sounds like a border collie alright! And then I am left to wonder, am I just completely clueless about this breed? Is this somewhat normal for border collies whose needs are somehow not being met (with exercise and/or stimulation)? I read people's stories on here and think of how wonderful these dogs seem. And truly, Gypsy is a wonderful dog in so many ways. I have never had a dog bond with me or show me love like her. And yet at the back of my mind I am thinking, can I handle this? Would she be a far better dog with someone with BC experience? So, in addition to venting a little (sorry), I have a question for you experienced owners: What is a "normal" BC? Are they distrustful of strangers but not aggressive? Do they tend to not like new dogs? If they are reactive, do they tend to "chill out" as they get older or get more amped up? Thanks in advance for your responses, I really enjoy reading this board!

I have a wonderful city pup who has attention 14 hours a day including several hours of exercise a day, but has been reactive towards people and new dogs...she is unbelievably sweet at times but needs plenty of training. Be prepared for plenty of training in addition to the "exercise" you planned on. Mine was a shelter pup and perhaps a breeder puppy will do better. Amazing dogs but be prepared for months of work and attention...but most likely worth it.

Thanks for the suggestions...everthing went about as well as possible, I think. She is very focused while playing frisbee, so I planned on playing that with her when guests showed up. Then, one guest at a time went in the backyard with treats to throw for her just in case, though honestly during frisbee she doesn't really have a care in the world. More treats to be thrown when we came inside, and in general everyone was told to ignore her. I can't say she necessarily like having people in her space, but she was happy just to sniff around as long as no one reached out to pet her. Has anyone had much luck in this area? I know BCs can be anxious in general, but I want her to know that when I tell her everything is okay, I mean it and she can relax. Again, I am working with a vet/behaviorist but advice from a border collie owner who has been in my shoes is always nice.

Hello, I have a 7 month old female BC pup who has begun to show signs of fear aggession towards strangers. It began as incessant barking and has progressed to jumping and muzzle punching when off lead (such as at our home our my husbands work). It will taper off after a minute or so, and if it is a guest we have in our home it usually only happens on the initial introduction. It has me so concerned that I had an appointment with a behaviorist earlier this week and am beginning various conditioning and clicker techniques to try and subdue this behavior. However, I have out of town family coming tomorrow and she is not remotely ready. Does anyone have any experience or advice for this? Gypsy is a sweet, energetic girl when with the right crowd and gets along great with our other puppy, but I want to make sure I am setting her up for success in every way possible. Thanks in advance!

I am in PDX, so info about stuff in this immediate area is most welcome. Thanks!

Thank you, everyone. I have been doing lots of Google searches to get this started, but haven't come across Kristin 's site. Thanks, Airbear! If Gypsy is showing a strong interest in herding( she is), should I try to foster that or would pursuing the truffle hunting be okay (she is supposedly mixed with hound and really lovesv tracking as well)?

Hello all! I just adopted a BC mix 12 week puppy a few weeks ago (my first foray into the herding dogs) and am looking into potential jobs for her as we do not have livestock. My husband and I are interested in teaching her to truffle/mushroom hunt (we live in the Pac NW). Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on training a border collie pup for this? We are huge dog people and she goes everywhere with us (including my husband's work), and I really want her to have something special to do. First time border collie owner.