I have an Australian Shepherd bitch that will be a year in April. Lately she has been acting very strange toward me. She has been fine with my husband and the rest of the family(we live on same farmstead as my parents) but different toward me! First of all, if we are out with the cattle and she is standing between me and my mother she will turn and go with my mother and not me! In the house she has stopped listening to me, but will still listen to my husband. Also when it is time for her to come in for the night she will not usually come if I call her, but will for my husband. This is very depressing for me since up until about a month ago she never wanted to leave my side! The only things that I can think of that may be causing this are:
1. I have been giving her a lot of baths lately since it is so muddy, and she hates baths.
2. I trimmed her feet, legs and ears for the first time last week and she did not enjoy that either.
3. I am the only one who disaplines her. Everyone else will let her jump on them, ect.
I am always the one who has to tell her to stop. She could be ripping the house apart and my husband will
tell me to make her stop instead of 'yelling' at her himself. He says he does not want to be the bad guy. Well neither do I but I can't let her be an undisiplined dog who has no respect! My question is this... what can I do to make her want to be my little shadow again? Or is there anything I can do? What could have caused such a drastic change in her personality? I am just feeling really sad about this!
QT

~Oh just in case it is needed... she had her first heat in December. The changes have come along just this past month.

I can understand you must be feeling very upset your girl is not responding to you .I tend to agree too that certainly the 3 things you have mentioned may well have a part to play in her attitude, for example if you have called her to you, then given her a hated bath, or cut her nails etc, (you didnt cut the quick?!) she may well want to avoid you, esp. if she tends towards sensitivity.

If possible it is best to "fetch" the dog to do these things, and also make them as rewarding as possible. OK it can be hard to do this , but for example if you tend towards tellling her off if she fidgets whilst being groomed, consider rewarding her good behaviour instead with a toy, treat or play break so she at least doesn't have a totally "horrid" time ;)

Regarding no. 3, discipline, it is not fair for your family to let the dog jump over them when you don't - not fair on the dog, who will then see you as being "mean", nor on you who has to attempt to enforce the training. It really is important that everyone in the family is consistent and fair to the dog, or the dog will not be happy and not be certain as to what is expected, and this could cause confusion.

Best of luck

Lindsay

Hi QT,

I didn't realise my husband had a twin. :-) With my last dog and now with my puppy he absolutely refuses to do *anything* that the dog does not like. My X-husband would always ask me to, "make them stop doing that" -- referring to any or all 4 of the dogs I had at the time. (Perhaps this indicates something about the type of men I pick!)

The key is to make sure that you spend as much fun time as possible with your Aussie. I gave my last dog a reward anytime I subjected her to "torture." Clipping nails, grooming, bath -- they always ended with a treat of some kind and she definitely grew to expect payment for her suffering. Whenever you discipline your Aussie her reward her with a very happy sounding "good girl."

Oh, and don't be jealous of the rest of your family! It's a good thing that she is learning to trust them and bond with them as well as you.

Stacey

You could try putting her on a leash and hooking it to your belt. It will enforce your bond with her by being with her all the time. You dont even have to have it on all the time. Only a couple min. a few times a day is fine. I agree with the others about making everyone else (esp. husband) disapline the dog also. And always reward her for coming to you. You should also (if you arnt already) take her to obedience. It will help with the comands, and also if you take her the bond. Hope this helps.
Bigpoodleperson.

I had the same problem with my dog. I had him when he was 3 years old and he was quite aggressive when I had him so I was training him so he knew he was not the boss. Unfortunatly, the other people in my houshold at the time did not train him so he was confused and started to turn against me. I was the one telling him he couldn't do this and couldn't do that, but everybody else was letting him. This is so confusing for them and his reaction was to ignore me when I called him, became very aggressive when I tried to do anything with him and go off with other people in the house rather than me. I am now living with people who are more than willing to train him in the same way as I am, and he is like a completely different dog. And a lot happier to say the least. He knows his limits, where he can and can't go, what can and can't do and he is my best friend again. I think you need to have a serious chat about everybody training your dog in the same way. Best of Luck. It really is worth it.
Claire.

Hi QT! Our Aussie will be one in April as well! Anyway, I agree with Claire, your whole family should discipline your girl, not just you - no good just you telling her no jumping up, etc, if everyone else lets her. It means you are the one who is no fun to be with! I would also play loads of games with her, like fetch ball, or whatever she loves, and I was wondering, do you do any training with her? We do obedience, so Cody sort of automatically looks on me as top dog. (and he loves working for me - always really keen to learn more!). I think the most important thing is to make yourself fun - have a toy or toys that you only use during play, so that your dog will be more keen for it, or play hide and seek, giving her loads of praise and treat when she finds you - things like that. So you're not just doing the horrible old baths, nail trimming and telling-off!!
Hilda

Thank you all so much for your help! I have had a talk with everyone about the rules that my lil girl is to follow and the proper way of enforcing these rules. Also I have started to carry her favorite treats in my pocket and give her one everytime she comes up to me. She seems to be slowly coming around again... I also played in the snow with her today and tonight she is seems very happy with me. Thank you all so much, I really appreciate it!!
QT