Charlie Mopps

Background So we got a great border collie named Patrick from a breader. She normally bread working dogs, but in Patricks case he was a classic "Shy dog" afraid of everything, including sheep. She wasn't able to find a home for him, but we wanted a cuddly dog and didn't have any sheep so she gave us a discount and we drove 5 hours each way to pick him up. He was so nervouse he farted all the way home... man was that stinky. Patrick is an AWSOME dog. The smartest dog I've ever seen. He loves to sit up on his butt on the couch like hes a human in-between my wife and I so he can lean either way and lick either one of our faces. When he's with us, by himself he is the perfect dog. The Problem Patrick is pretty insecure. He's afraid of strangers, other dogs, our cats, Women in drivethrough windows at McDonalds. He hides under the kitchen table and peeks out at the cats. If they move to another room, he darts in there and hides under a different table so he can keep an eye on them. That's not really a big deal... but the real problem is, if strangers want to pet him he hides under the same tables and growls... if they persist he trys to nip... not really bite, just a quick snap. When we go to the dog park, he runs up to other dogs... but when he gets there he stands as tall as he can, but is clearly nervous. Then he trys to nip the back of their neck. We went to petsmart training classes, but they were so terrible we just stopped. We have friends that can bring their dogs over, but he is so obsessed with hurrasing the other dogs that it's embarressing. Nothing we say or do will distract him from annoying the poor other dogs. We can get a personal trainer... but they charge $80/hr... and that would be a real stretch for our budget. I don't normally condone shock collars but I'm really considering one. Any other ideas out there?

its cool, Ir ead it in the other post. Very helpfull

(moving this from another thread) Background My wife and I have wanted a border collie for a very long time. And recently we started looking for one. We tried rescue places first, but had bad experiences with most. But we finally found a breeder that was very nice and had 1 puppy left from her last litter. His name is Patrick. Now, right away, you're thinking "Why only 1 puppy?" and we were to... Well, the breeder bread working dogs and trained them. She also has classes in her area where she trains other peoples dogs, that sort of thing. Patrick was 6 months old and had NO interest in sheep at all. He's a typical "Shy Dog" in that, he wants to be in his parents laps more than anything and is not at all interested in herding, jumping through hoops, or anything else that your typical working dog would want to do. So she was looking for a "family home" for him. Which was perfect for us. Patrick has turned out great. He's a "Mellow" dog (well, at least compared to other BCs) He's 9 months now and VERY well behaved. He goes right into his crate when asked. He plays with Tennis Balls and Frisbees in the back yard... by himself. He doesn't get the whole "bring them back" thing yet. He has chewing issues, but as long as we keep well stocked with Pigears he's fine. My wife walks him for an hour a day. I play vigorously with him in the backyard for about 30min a day (he's on a full tilt run most of the time) and he also plays on his own outside quite a bit. The Question The only problem is the thing that makes Patrick unique. He IS shy. When new people come into the house, he is ears down, tail tucked away. We have them feed him treats and he warms up a little. If there are a lot of people in the house (thanksgiving) he has no idea what to do. When we take him to the dog park he LOVES it. Running without a leash, sniffing all the dogs. But he sometimes jumps and trys to bite their necks. I believe this is related to his insecurity. He wants to put them down on the ground. Especially the little dogs. We are specifically worried about children. He is afraid of them, despite being around them regularly. They just approach him in a very bad manner, usually yelling and sometime "Hitting" him (they think they are petting) he has tried to nip at them several times. It's only defensive, but its not acceptable. We just started an obedience class, but my wife picked out one at Petsmart. And it is terrible. They don't have a clue what they are doing. With all the barking dogs and noise, we could barely hear anything and poor patrick was scared and growling. Whenever another dog trys to sniff my wife he gets very possessive. Does anyone have any tips for us? Thanks!

Um... I put it under "Training Discussions" sorry if thats the wrong place. I'll repost.

Topic moved to:HERE