EmilyandMaddox

Hello, I’m looking for a bit of advice for what I think is a fearful dog. My puppy is 7 months old. He’s generally quite well behaved for a puppy. We’ve been to two different puppy classes and are continuing to train him. Our biggest issue is when he gets spooked by something or sees something he is scared of. He turns into a different dog - he growls and barks. And then usually gets the zoomies and races around. Sometimes these zoomies involve jumping at us and snapping. If he’s on his lead he is more likely to snap (I know he wants to get away from what’s scaring him and it’s frustrating for him to be on a lead but obviously if we are by a road he has to be). What spooks him is not always predictable or obvious... for example he likes dogs but some dogs (usually bigger than him but can be smaller snappy dogs) will scare him but not others. He loves people but if out on a walk and we don’t see anyone for a while then the next people he sees will be barked at. It sometimes quite random, he manages well some days with lots of dogs and lots of people. Seems perfectly happy and doesn’t get spooked by anything. When we know these zoomies are coming we stay as calm as possible, crouching down helps him calm and we try and reassure him, if he’s calm enough we stroke his chest which does help him. Sometimes we redirect his attention e.g. throw something for him to chase so he burns his adrenaline that way. It’s not always successful and it can sometimes last 5-10 mins before he calms, other times it can be quite quick. Does it sounds like we are doing the right thing by him? Is there anything else that may help him? I am also concerned that this will be forever, I hope it’s just a phase we can get him through. Does anyone else have any similar experiences... if so what helped and how did you get past it? Thanks so much in advance. Emily

Hello, Thank you so much for your replies, it's great to get some information from other border collie parents!! We have changed things up a bit since I posted, which seems to have really helped! We have made the conservatory at the back of our house "Maddox's Bedroom" - he still has his crate in there but we now leave it open for him and he can come and go when he wants. Most nights he starts out sleeping on a blanket on the floor and then gets in his crate later on, which is great for us! Generally things have been going well, he now goes to bed earlier and settles a lot quicker. Slight downside is that obviously if we have another storm I think being in a conservatory will be difficult for him but for now it's working great and we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Thank you for all your positive words of wisdom and encouragement. Emily and Maddox

Hello, I’m new to the forum and looking for some general advice and/or reassurance! Sorry this post is long... We have a 6 month old border collie, generally things have been going well. He goes to puppy class and is learning well, is house trained and is learning boundaries. He can sometimes be a little anxious and seeks reassurance. He gets plenty of exercise and mental stimulation in the day. He used to be pretty good at going to bed, he sleeps in a crate downstairs and would maybe give a little whine for a couple of minutes before settling down and sleeping all through the night (between about 9.30pm - 6am). He then got an upset stomach one night and woke us up a couple of times. Of course we went down each time to let him out as he was alerting us that he needed to go to the toilet. However since then bedtimes have become a battle. He will cry and bark when put to bed. We tried the tough love approach but that was really unhelpful, he was clearly upset and we have close neighbours so it wasn’t great for anyone. We changed our approach and would put him in his crate and then sit in the room quietly talking. This seemed to help, he would bark/whine on and off for 5-10 minutes and then settle down and sleep. We’ve recently had a really bad storm in the night and this scared him. We went to him when he started barking to reassure him. He also gets an upset stomach when stressed so we let him out for that. Unfortunately he did have an accident in his crate that night. We have now gone right back to the beginning and nighttime’s are even worse then before. Last night we put a camp bed in the room he sleeps in and tried to sleep with him but this really didn’t work. He just stayed awake longer! In the end we left the room at about 3am, he whined for a couple of minutes and eventually fell asleep. It was a particularly hot night so this may have affected him. It has been suggested that we put his crate in our bedroom. We are reluctant to do this as we don’t want him sleeping there all the time and also we have 2 cats, their quiet space is upstairs and we don’t want to invade that. Sorry this post is long... does anyone have any similar experiences and if so what helped? Is this something he will eventually grow out of or should we be concerned we are never going to get a good nights sleep again!! Many thanks in advance, Emily