Zola's mom

I'm having the same problem with my 6mo bc/gsd mix. She tries to herd my friend's 4mo pupp, Nala. It's getting better with time and exposure (I'd say it went from 100% of her attention gone when Nala was around, the first month, to now maybe 70% to Nala and 30% other things. Also at first she was mostly herding her, vs now she will mostly play and occasionally herd. Are your dog and the one he is herding friends? I mean, do they also play or is your dog just trying to herd him for no specific reason? My trainer told me that I had to teach my dog that herding Nala wasn't her job. Now if Nala's had enough and is trying to go somewhere without my dog, Zola (my dog) has to sit and stay until I release her. I tell her to sit, holding her collar or her leash, and I let her watch Nala "do her thing". Every time she tries to stand up I tug once and say "No" (repeat until she sits again). I only release her when she has been calm for a while (not always easy, but getting better). At first she would have so much trouble sitting and staying, would cry almost constantly and go straight back to herding Nala when released, slowly got better and better, and now she often sits, stays and watches, and goes slowly towards Nala to see/sniff what she's up to when released. I hope this helps you!

I thought about that. Though Zola is already in intermediate training classes (and does great even though other dogs are around) and Nala is very young, too young to join us in that series. We’ve been working on a sit-stay with distractions and somehow with a little work, Zola gets it, she listens; even with her favorite toys/treats/a rolling ball, ice cubes (her favorite thing) and even other dogs, just not Nala. Maybe I should hire a private trainer just to work on that? Nala is not a problem, I mean she does run up to Zola often but also still listens to her human and is interested by other things than “the other dog” ; it’s really like Nala is Zola’s crack, at the moment. Maybe time will help? We are organizing a 4 day camping trip all together, leaving tomorrow. I’m still debating about going (because of that issue), but I really need a break from the city; if we go, I’m planning to spend a lot of time with her on the lead, close enough but away from Nala’s reach. If we spend 4 days together ... she’ll eventually calm down, right?

You’re so right. Yesterday we went to a tulip festival in a big field; Zola did great on the first half of it while Nala was napping in the car, but as soon as she was around there was nothing I could do about her pulling. By that time I was at the other end of the field and I had to walk a good 500m with Zola going crazy on her leash, nothing was working to make her stop. I just got back from a terrible 35min walk; she has lost all of her loose leash skills. There was maybe two 3-4min moments where she suddenly seemed to remember we were walking together, but the rest of the walk was me walking the other direction while she was pulling forward, her running in a circle around me to go where she pleased, me trying to calm her down.. 10 weeks of hard work and it seems like I never put any effort into it. Arrr it’s so frustrating. So no more walks with Nala ... this will be challenging as I spend a lot of time with that friend. .. can’t wait for her to grow up

It might get better as he is still adapting to his life with you, it’s only been a week and a half! If it doesn’t, you could always try to damage proof an area of your house you can safely leave him in? Preferably close to the front door of your house.. Some dogs just don’t like feeling “stuck” / not seeing what’s going on. My very first puppy was like that - she never got used to being locked in a crate despite my best efforts (but she was the easiest mountain dog and I could leave her out of it without her damaging anything, from very early on). I made sure my current dog was close to exhausted, the first few times I left her alone in her crate. I timed our plays/outings/meal times so that she’d be falling asleep in the house before I’d transfer her to her crate to leave. That way she’d already be in sleep mode, and even though that moment of “oh no my human is leaving without me” freakout would happen inevitably, she’d quickly get back to her sleepy state of mind. In any case, you’re not the only one. Every day holds a challenge, but with patience and consistency it can only get better. (I strongly hope so )

I'm reading a lot about introducing a puppy to a new dog, but what about a very new puppy to an older puppy? Zola is 18 weeks. She is very active and happy, loves new people and dogs. She is quite submissive when she meets an adult dog at first, (lies down, shows belly) but as soon as the other dog wags its tail and engages in a play, she's jumping all over them, running, playing, etc. She LOVES playing with dogs. Still, she listens and has a good recall when I say it's over. My best friend, who we see almost every day (and who Zola loves almost as much as me), got a puppy a week ago. Nala is a 9 weeks, already pretty active, mini Aussie (super cute). We are sponsored paddleboarders and our plan is to spend the summer on our boards/camping with the puppies, since they can't hike long distances yet. I've already started training Zola on the board, and we camped 3 nights in a row, she's a natural But there is one problem. As soon as Nala is in sight, Zola loses it. She doesn't care about treats (even if she is the most food motivated dog I've ever had), she pulls on the leash and chokes herself (she never had before) and will NOT listen, will not look at me when I ask her to (it's been a very effective command I've been working on since day 1); there is only one idea in her head : play with the new puppy. The play is great - Zola gets on top of Nala, and they munch at each other .. I've honestly never seen her that sweet and soft with another dog, it's like she knows she has to be careful with the puppy. ALSO, Zola has been very protective of me since the 2nd week I got her (sometimes aggressive) over dogs getting close to me, and she seems to not care at all about me holding Nala in my arms or having her on my legs (the first few times Nala crawled on me I was holding Zola by the collar just in case, but she is having zero issue with her being close to me somehow, as all she seems to be able to think about is play/lick/munch the baby). I think she might "understand" that Nala is now part of her family, and she just can't contain her happiness? We've had puppy classes and are now in intermediate training, and although she is very interested in the other dogs in the class, when I ask her to focus she always does. She is amazing at 'stay', we work on it every day and I can throw a ball or her favorite toys, treats, etc, she'll stay. On walks I have her sit and stay when I see a dog or a person, and she does great with that too. Her training is going really well, but somehow, Nala is making her forget all of it. How should I approach this?

Hi! It seems like you are doing everything right. I did pretty much the same thing with Zola from 9 weeks, she is now 18 weeks and does well in the crate. I'm in the same situation as you (working from home) so I was lucky to be able to not rush it! She is 100% fine in the crate when I'm home, and does occasionally cry when I leave but settles after 2-3 minutes (I have subtly waited outside of the window closest to her crate a few times) I'm not sure I understand the problem you have / if you made a mistake while writing Does he cry, or has he not cried once? If he does cry, are you sure of it or does he whine when you leave and whine when you get back? It's possible that he cries the whole time, but also maybe he gets anxious when you first leave, and again when he hears you come back, which would make you think he has been crying and barking the entire time you were away. I had a foster dog for a few months last year, that would recognize the sound of my car from 5 floors up, and start barking/crying when I'd be parking. At first I was convinced he was going crazy the whole time I was gone, until I knocked on the neighbours doors to apologize.. who told me they'd hear him whine/bark just for a few minutes before they'd hear my key in the door. (I was so impressed; the elevator in that building was right in front of my unit's door so somehow he KNEW my car, my walking, my smell or something). Anyway. If he's played, had attention, walked, ate, drank, peed, you can totally leave him in there for 2h. He will get more and more used to the crate, and the fact that you come back when you leave. Good luck!

Thanks for your replys. She does have a crate, but I only use it for sleep / if I go somewhere in the day time. I'm actually scared to disturb the people below me, but they keep apologizing for their 17 month old kid that cries a lot (indeed) so I guess I can give it a try. She does great in it. I will try that, thanks. I got her to have a buddy to accompany me on multi day hikes and paddleboarding trips, so I'm ready to get her a lot of the exercise. At the moment I don't have her running, but when she is old enough she will come on jogs with me daily, when we are not hiking. I understand the idea about giving her less exercise so she is less crazy, but will that make her become a lazy dog? Also we had one camping trip so far, 3 nights, we were static in one spot but she was off leash the whole time, exploring around, chasing birds, digging in creeks, going in the lake, learned the ropes of paddleboarding and keeping her balance, slept in a tent for the first time (in her crate), and when we got back home, she was the NICEST dog, super calm, and so connected to me, for 2-3 days. Which is why I'm under the impression that the more she spends energy, the nicer she will get ... The article about fetch was very interesting and definitely concerning. I don't play it for very long because of her growth plates but definitely good to know that it isn't the best game for her to play throughout for life, physically and mentally.

Hi everyone! This is my first post on this forum but I've been leaning lots on here for 10 weeks now. Zola is half BC, half GSD. She looks a lot like a german shepherd, but seems to act mostly like the border collie (for example, the first (resolved) issue I had with her was her running around me or friends in a circle and nipping; she needs at least triple the amount of exercise recommended for her age since she was 8 weeks old, she is a master at fetch already, I have trouble with the off switch often, etc. Most of how she is is very "border collie like"). We spent last night at a friend's for Easter diner and slept there; as a result, now that we are home after last night + a day of off leash walking in the rain, she isn sleeping soundly next to me as I am typing those words. She woke up for a little growl when the food I ordered came at the door, looked at said food for a few minutes to make sure nothing in there was for her, and went back to sleep. I absolutely love her tonight! She is usually a lot more difficult. I study and work from home, spending most of my days with her. She sleeps amazing in her crate and wakes up when I get up, around 10am. She's pretty hyper in the mornings but I'm ok with it. I like going for a long walk, playing fetch in the park, finding trails to explore, training her, etc; I pretty much "give her" my mornings until 2pm when she calms down on her own, naps etc while I "go to school" (in my living room). I have eyes on her at all times, and she absolutely understands "no"; she knows what she can, or can't do, and throughout the day if she tries something she's not aloud, as soon as she hears "no" she stops and gets a toy. The problem I have is evenings. She'll get up around 5 or 6pm, devil suit on. Almost always looks for something she shouldn't be doing as soon as she starts waking up (like getting something out of the recycling bin, chewing on the sofa, digging into the couch, the bed, blankets, or outside when she gets out. I have a very good clear 'NO" which I know she understands, but at night, she stops listening, for some reason. She knows she's not aloud to do specific things, and night time seems to make her want to do those things even more. She usually calms down at 9pm but it can sometimes last until 10, 11pm. There have been times when I looked at her go and wondered if I should take her to the emergency vet because it seemed overly abnormal. She is teething which is obviously bothering her but she will go from frantically chewing on a toy or bone I'm holding, to trying to eat my office chair, I say no, she jumps on the couch and starts digging, I say no she runs to my bedroom, jumps on my bed, throws the pillows everywhere and rubs on the blankets. I put her down from the bed, she runs to the back door, gets in the yard, starts digging like a maniac. And she's not listening at all when she starts digging. The only thing I tried that will make her stop is if I exit the yard to the street without her - she goes to the gate and waits there. The second I return, she runs to her hole and digs more. I take her out of the hole, wash her paws, bring her back inside, she runs to the couch to dig, runs to the bedroom, etc etc. I don't think it's attention seeking, as she never looks to see if I'm watching, it's like she gets in her little destroy bubble and nothing will take her out of it. It's definitely not because I don't give her enough exercise time, some of the worst evenings were after a really nice long walk including off leash running around. I tried time outs, she freaks out, barks etc (I have people living downstairs so I don't want to make too much noise after 9-10pm) .. She is on the elimination diet for allergies (long story for next time but itchiness is no longer a problem) so all I can give her to chew are vegetables. She likes carrots and that will give me a break, but shreds them in a million pieces within 10 minutes and goes to the next thing to destroy. She loves the kong, but will throw it around and empty it fast, or if I put harder treats in it she'll eventually give up, and return to destroying other things. She LOVES playing with ice, but that too, will only excite her more and get her amped up for the next thing. One thing that will calm her down is lying her down in front of me with treats, and asking her to 'look" at me (into my eyes) for 5 seconds to get a treat. She is super cute. After 10 minutes of that (and I can see in her eyes that she is exhausted), I show her her blanket, lie her down, and she seems to want to lie there, but after 2-3 minutes she almost always returns to chewing frantically on a chair, couch, etc. / destroy mode as I call it. Is it just a phase? What should I do? WHEN will it stop? (and apparently she's not even in the teenage years yet??) --- The other issue I have with her is she is ressource guarding me from other dogs. I have zero problems with other humans, probably because I have a lot of close friends in my life and she's seen me hugging people countless times .. or food or treats or toys. But she whines like she's being tortured if I give any attention whatsoever to another dog, and if I pet another dog or try to give another dog a treat, she lunges at it in an aggressive way. She only does this with me; she respects that other people pet her and other dogs, even my best friend who she's spent days with, can play and hug another dog in front of her and she's ok. I've started avoiding having contact with other dogs if she is close to me, as I'm scared to make it worse by doing the wrong thing and I am terrified she will get attacked by a bigger dog she is trying to push away. Here and there if we encounter a friendly dog I'll make sure I am holding her collar, then pet the other dog at arms distance .. I think she knows I am holding her in those situation and can't do anything, so she won't be aggressive then, but will whine. I've been saying "no" calmly, then petting her when she stops (but since I only have two arms, she usually just stops when I stop petting the dog so I might be reinforcing her behaviour. Any ideas on what I should be doing to fix that (and can I fix it?) I started working with a dog behaviourist that asked me to hold her on a leash at all times in or outside of the house, and be her ressource guarder for an entire two weeks - keep all of her toys hidden and play with one at a time only, always holding the toy, even if it's a ball; hold her chews while she teethes, her water bowl when she drinks, hand feed her, etc. never let her off leash. I tried for two days but she went crazy (she needs to run around).. and I can't do that, the 10-20 min breaks I get here and there of her playing with her toys are NEEDED. Thoughts? Thanks!