kateh

double post because the original image was weird and rotated.

Just a quick word of warning -- this is a sad story. The woman who runs the barn I ride in has dogs in the barn. Today, she had a young, pure bred border collie who was new to the group. The woman explained that the dog is TERRIBLY shy, totally spooked by people, and told me how she wound up rescuing the dog. Dog's owner's roommate had a pet pot bellied pig. Dog herded the pig until it finally died of exhaustion. The roommate said the dog needed to go and the owner was planning to just euthanize the dog. My barn owner said - no, give her to me, and took her. Thank goodness. But my gosh, I've never heard of a border collie (or any dog) herding an animal TO DEATH. There's obviously so much going wrong here and that the dog is so terribly afraid of people is really heart breaking -- other than taking it slow, any hot words of advice here? I also just wanted to share since I couldn't find ANYTHING online about a BC herding another animal like this. Yeugh. PS: cute baby tax in the next post. My Niamh is all grown up.

Hahaha, border collies just sound like me. In dog form. High expectations! Clear rebukes! Nice when I need to be!

I've observed the warning snaps for sure -- but they're just warning snaps. I always correct her if they're POSSESSIVE snaps (though, she's not really a possessive dog - she's pretty easygoing, so we're talking like... once or twice). What I haven't ever seen is her growling/snapping at a dog entering a facility -- be it the park or otherwise. That's the behavior the daycare said she was exhibiting, so it wouldn't really be "warning snaps" since the other dog hadn't even made it inside yet.

Yeah -- I left that daycare. I'm going to bring her to a different place with a more structured routine and see how that goes. If the behavior repeats, I'd like to work on correcting it -- I don't want Niamh to develop bad habits anywhere.

So /I/ am making this harder on /myself/!?!?!?!? Thanks - I think all that's v reasonable and much more manageable than I was making it.

Whoa! I did some scent boxes today and we've done it all of three times and she's going after the right box EVERY. TIME.

(fwiw, she's not a pure BC -- she's a mutt of everything in LA, so presumedly pitt/german shepherd/whatever breed everyone hates right now, but her smarts and her looks just SCREAM border collie) So here's my game plan -- and thank you so much for all your help: I talked to some trainers & other facilities and it sounds like it’s daycare that’s the problem — either something happened there or they’re no longer able to give her the attention she needs, or there’s too much going on for her, or something else, but it’s limited to that location pretty much completely as far as I can tell so I've pulled her out. I think that whatever happened will keep happening because she isn't being taught any alternative. I'd rather have a door open to us down the road, just in case, but I'm trusting my gut here: the problem is stemming from this facility, for whatever reason. We're testing out some activity burners / classes every week or so - did herding yesterday, she seemed to take right to it! We met with a new daycare today who has a "rotation" schedule and a small-grouping policy. They group dogs with ~2-3 other dogs who have the same play energy. They get 30-40m or so of play in a yard and rotate between yards & rest in run-pens or crates, whichever is right for her -- I think that will be VERY good for Niamh. She needs enforced calm-down time. The trainer / guy at this place said that we can watch for a repeat of her behavior at the other daycare, but if it doesn't come up again... it's the location/people/whatever, not the dog. If it DOES, he's a trainer & has the capacity to work with her to teach her what isn't acceptable. He seemed inclined to think that it was more likely the energy of the place -- so many dogs, so much going on, all in one big pen, not enough people, etc. And honestly, I think I agree. He also did not seem to think a behavioralist was necessary at this point (my wallet says yay). (He also echoed what a behavioralist I spoke with on the phone said -- she was kinda like, uh, I don't think you need me) I'm keeping an eye on her behavior around other dogs when we go to the park (she'd rather play fetch, run around than play with them tbh), but I'm not going to panic too much about it.

I have no idea. They said they didn't have a video of it either, so -- no clue.

The heat is making this so hard!! I've been trying to walk her in the evenings, but even that's been rough lately: it's been 92 degrees at 10pm. Ninety. TWO. Do you guys have any MEGA UBER HARD food puzzles? because this yo yo figured them all out.

Yo - people who are defending this "re-home your dog" stuff can peace right out of this thread. Seriously - I get that forums are super fun for arguments and misunderstandings but no. People who are giving constructive ideas, thank you again! I laughed at the idea of putting us both in the biz -- oh god, noooOoooOoo. First, I don't think I could handle if she became an OVERNIGHT SUCCESS!!!! and second, it's actually a LOT harder / more complicated than that and it would wind up being "her or me". It's just not something you can kinda do "for fun". Teresa - She can totally just stay crated, I just like to give my cleaning lady a dog-free environment so no one is startled. If I need to do that, I will - just a last resort for us. Luana - god, I wish I loved running. I WISH!!!

I think you're reading into it more than you should.

Sure. When it's not 113 degrees.

Thanks for the thoughtful answers!!! I'm glad most of y'all are not pro-rehoming because ... that's not really even CLOSE to being where I am with her. At all. She doesn't whine or beg or demand attention ever, really. When I'm working, she sits nearby. She's quiet -- so quiet that I actually had a few weeks where the poor thing had a few accidents because she never told me she needed to go outside (we fixed that!). She doesn't have behavioral problems at home at all - none. But I do know that she needs activity and exercise & that's usually the first line when there are issues. The tricky thing is ... it's not around me. I do have a dog walker come sometimes (and reports are always glowing), but the issue is: I need her out of the house for a few hours every two weeks for my cleaning lady (SUCH PROBLEMS RIGHT???). So that's why we do daycare. I'll just need some alternative to that, sounds like. I'm checking out other facilities, seeing if they're a better match, but- yeah, gonna have to get creative. I'm also not annoyed with her, not sure why that came across. I'm mad she was a butthole at daycare. I'm annoyed with that, I guess. But 99.9% of the time, she's easy breezy. We did herding today and she took right to it; I'm testing out a few other activities and seeing how she enjoys them, but this is all kind of just on the assumption that "activity will wear her out & then she'll magically be cool when I'm not around". Which, who knows. I personally don't have a TON of interest in either agility or herding, but like - whatever, it's not for me, that's fine. I love the suggestion of tricks -- we're RUNNING OUT of them, honestly. She's great at tricks and knows so many I often FORGET what she knows. I'm all ears for new ones, but this is a dog who jumps in a circle when I say DRACARYS and who goes and sits by herself when I tell her "STAY OUT OF FOREIGN CONFLICTS" We know a lot of commands.

I am trying out the herding/agility/swimming stuff, but also: shzz's expensive! Given that I don't live on a farm, what are some thoughtful alts? How can I (cheaper-ly) recreate these types of brain/body exercises?