I have a 14 month old border collie cross, which i have owned since she was 9 weeks old. She is extremely nervous in temperament, something which |I know is typical of the collie breed, but megan is worse than most. She has always been terrified of cars, she used to lunge at them but now she becomes very stressed and stops dead, completely focused on them, then becomes desperate to escape. She also has become very nervous about any strangers. She is usually not too bad with women, owing to the fact that she has had more contact with females, but is awful with men. She becomes very defensive barking and growling like mad, even to men that she has met previously and was ok. She has awful chase behaviours, particularly bikes and joggers, but anything that moves will do, usually accompanied by frenzied barking. Becuase of this she is now nervy if we meet children on walks, because the tend to be fast moving and unpredictable. Owing to this I have to be very careful when she is off the lead. She has never bitten, but may nip, if given the chance. She has attended training classes since 6 months and is doing well despite being nervous. Strangely enough she has no problems with other dogs apart from being submissive. With us at home she is fine, particularly with my 10 year old mentally handicapped sister. Is there anything i can do to improve her behaviour when out?

If your dog was in the class then the dog should hear about your calling. The dog would not chase the jogger or bikers. This dog is dominant. Nipping is biting. IS the dog neuterrd or spayed. You must still train teh dog. Do you train the dog alone or with other dogs?? Where do you live. I would love to help you with training. I do live in Newmarket.

I train her in a kennel club good citizen award club, in which she has completed two awards and is working on her bronze with many dogs present. She used to have problems with her recall but after constant work she finally has a reliable recall. When she sees the bikes or joggers she becomes completely focused on them and becomes deaf to my call until completely satisfied she has chased them away. Yesterday she barked at a stranger, a male, but I called to her and after 10 seconds or so she responded, this is a really good improvement. I am sure she is not dominant, she is very nervous and submissive, I have studied a lot of books and she shows no dominant behaviour, she follows every instruction we issue her with apart from when she is chasing. At one point we thought she may be dominant so we followed some dominance reduction techniques, such as only letting her through the door once we have gone through and she always eats after us.Although i believe she may nip, she never has, but this is typical collie behaviour for herding sheep, and she looks like she might if given the chance. She is not spayed yet, as she has just finished her first season and the vet wants to wait until 3 months after her first season. We live in Hampshire. I really do believe that her problems stem from nervousness rather than dominance.

You have to go out and train the dog on the street where the car's do drive. Do you let your dog sniff when your dog has to go on heel? Never let the dog doing it. When he has to go heel he has to go heel and nothing else. If the dog does sniff then then the dog is in CONROL. You don't want this. There are 2 possitions to go on heel. One is the nose is the same hight of your leg and the second is the shoulder from the dog is in hight of your leg. Do you let the dog watch? Or does he has to go straight forward? A dog who still is chasing bikers and joggers is in comant. You do not want this either. You might try this. You see when a biker or jogger is comming. A dog who is taking off will look first of his " PRey" before he runs. You have this second to call him. IF the dog does not come throw him the leash in his neck. Try to hit him when you throw the leash. You will get his attantion. And you have to yell No. Or what ever comant you thought him. If your dog is on leash and you see a biker or jogger put him in the sit or down possiton . Let the jogger or biker pass. If your dog reminds in this possion when the person did passed praise him. Try to do this all the time.
A dog who does bark at a stranger has sometimes a good reason WHY he is doing this. Animals do have a second face. They can sense danger very fast. When i was a teenager i use to pet sit a shephard. She loved everybody. She was not trained at all. Then 1 day a stranger came up to me and asking me for a pharmacy. So i told him where to go. He ask me if i can go with him. Oh boy i never thought of my shep. She started her low growl. And i got scared. She never had done this. This man took faster off then you could think off.

I used to train my labrador . HE was very dominant. It was a male. He was abused . You name it the man done it. Loved by the woman hated by the man. A friend who trained her 2 dobie's. She thought me the dog training. Her father use to train bloodhounds. And she did learned it from him. When i did got our dog from the shelter she told me come in my yard. Her 2 dobes where in it. And then my male lab. MAle lab's do never like other males. I didn't knew it. Until i was reading the www.animalplanet.com. I told her why did she said it. She said. She sensed my dog behavior and she does know her dogs. Her dog's thought the lab how to love the water. Yup you are right. A lab who hates the water. One day she was mad at her dog's. In my eyes they never done anything wrong. very well trained dog's. She said they do not listen. The comant has to come in a second and not 2. So she did put her dogs in the down commant and was walking around them. In a circle. It was funny too watch. She told them this: If you do no tlisten, i put you in this possition and let you here. I do wonder who is going to feed you. ' They had puppy eyes. Looking to me then to her. And she told me. Never and ever fall for this. They know what did they done wrong.

Hi Lucy,
Sorry to hear you are having problems - it sounds like you may have to change your own attitude though. Meg feels she has to be in charge for some reason, not because she is a dominant dog, but because she thinks you are not the top dog! This will make her stressed, especially being a collie, so you will need to change things so that she is clear that you are firmly in charge. Obviously I don't know how you are with her on a day to day basis, but try not to be soft with her - if you want her to do something, 'tell' her, don't 'ask' her! If she knows you are the leader, she will be a more confident and secure dog.
Hilda

Thankyou for replying. What should I do to make her think I am top dog? I thought because she does what I tell her in the class and when I work at home she might think I was in command. I do agree she has taken on the responsibility of protecting me when out on walks. I don't usually let her get away with things though. I am worried that the problem with strangers and children is getting worse and I dont quite know how to stop it.

Your dog is fearful. You mentioned several things she as afraid of: men, cars, children, fast movement.

Dealing with fear can be very frustrating - but fortunately, the solutions aren't that difficult - but take some time.

The easiest thing to address is be sure your dog is getting a lot of exercise in a non-stressful setting - fetching ball in the garden? - at least twice a day for 15 minutes. And be sure you are feeding a quality food with no artificial color or preservatives.

Next, you want to be giving your fearful dog a lot of simple commands at home with lots of praise. Sit, down, and so forth to build her confidence. Also, once she is 100% on her commands at home, she is more likely to obey your commands in a stressful situation, which will help her be confident.

Now, the hard part. You have to desensitize her to EACH of the things that stress her. This is done gradually and is measurable. For instance, if you want her to be comfortable riding in a car, you would start by doing pleasant things with her near a non-moving car. Slowly, over time, you should get her comfortable with getting closer and closer to the car, until she ignores it. (You can actually measure the distance from the car getting shorter and shorter.) Then you would try to get her to sit in an unmoving car and accept treats. Eventually, you could start the car. Eventually, a very short ride - maybe only two or three feet - and so on. Build from successes. Never push her beyond her comfort level or you will have a great big set back.

The same with men. If you can get a friend to help, see how close a man can come to her on the sidewalk before she gets upset. When you see her tense up (bark, tail between legs) - hand signal your friend to come no closer and to back up two steps. Note the distance. Give her a command (sit) give her a treat. Repeat the next day. The distance should get shorter each time. Eventually, your friend will be able to walk past her. And one fine day, he'll be able to give her a treat. Make sure your friend turns his side to her, stoops down and hands the treat under her chin. Facing her or leaning over her will worry her.

Hi

I also have a nervous collie (definitely not dominant). I just wanted to say that I certainly don't think you should be hitting yours with the lead. I was told by a very reputable training company that I should do similar to mine when she barked (was told to not actually hit her but hit near to her to startle her). I did this but then found that she became terrified of me. Every time I moved she'd jump (mind you, so would I if someone hit me every time I talked). I now "ask" her to be quiet and give her lots of praise when she does and that's worked AND she not scared of me any more!

Have you got a car and is she scared of that? If so why not try coaxing her in leaving the doors open she she doesn't feel trapped and giving her something nice to eat. You could try some meaty treats so when she stops dead in the street you can waft them in front of her nose to get her attention (or the clickers used in clicker training could do it but if she's anything like mine she will prefer the treats).

I will look in my many books to see what advice they have for you.

Thankyou for your advice, 'gyp5y5' and 'nikkismomjill', it was really helpful. it was interesting to hear that your collie is nervous and not dominant. What affects your dog? You mentioned that you had barking problems, what was she barking at? I was also advised to use a remote spray collar, but i was reluctant for a similar reason, i was worried that she would associate the activation of the collar wiith the approach of the stranger and make her even more fearful. She is actually ok when travelling in a car, she is reluctant to get in, i hve to throw a treat in for her first, but when the car is moving she always lays down and sleeps. I sometimes wonder if this is because she is ok or if she is stressed. She reacts most to cars going past. I have tried offering her treats when cars go past when walking on the pavement but she was so stressed she wouldn't take it until all the cars had passed and the street was quiet. As you say maybe i should take her away to such a distance that she will take a treat and work from there.
'nikkismomjill', it was interesting that you mentioned food. we had to change her diet from pedigree puppy complete as it contained too much protein which was making her hyperactive. she is currently fed on bakers complete. what diet would you reccommend? getting her to play ball is the easy part, she lives to play ball, and carries one from the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed!
Thanks for your help, if you think of anything more i'd love to hear from you. :-)

Hi Lucy,
Yes, it sounds as though Meg is fearful - but at the same time she is taking everything on board, which won't help her confidence. Can you give her something else to do when situations occur, eg, I have taught my dog to 'watch me' and he will look at me no matter what distractions are going on around him, until I praise him with a bit of cheese or a game of throwing ball. You could put something like that into practice, first by anticipating, like when you see a bike coming and you don't want Meg to chase or bark at it, so I would say 'sit' and 'watch me' until bike had passed, then praise her (treat or game of ball!). Have her collar high on her neck, so that if she does try to jump away when bike goes past, you can pull her straight back up into a sit with it. Remember loads of praise after. I think any negative sort of treatment, like shouting, etc, will not help her.
Also, what do you say to her when there are lots of cars going by and she is scared - if you are saying things like, 'it's okay, you poor dog, etc' and stroke her, you are then praising her for being fearful. You need to be very matter-of fact - 'come on now, it's nothing, let's go..' - note your tone of voice!
My dogs are on Oscars (dried food) diet, which is 22% protein, and they behave and look well on it.
Hilda

Thanks for your advice, i will try to put it into practise. I have been trying to distract her with treats when bikes and joggers go past (she is on the lead) and we do seem to be making some progress,he seems to look at me expectasntly when she sees them! Big improvement. She knows watch me so i might add that too. they
I must admit i have been guilty of mollycoddling her too much when cars are around, however i'm so sick of it now i'm very unsympathetic pulling her along telling her not to be so stupid!
Thanks again,
Lucy