By Guest
Date 14.03.04 02:57 UTC
My son has a 3 year old LARGE Aussie that is a biter. He has had extensive training and is now very obedient. However, he still tends to bite/grab anyone who is 1) leaving the house, or 2) confining him from the family.
I believe that this biting response is a result of hard-wired genetic herding, i.e., he does NOT want a family/guest member to leave the "flock", and/or he does NOT want to be separated from his "herd".
Am I being overly optimisitic, or does this dog have an aggression issue???
By grondemon
Date 14.03.04 06:55 UTC
Hi
Don't know about Aussies but we have Belgian shepherds and they HATE any of their pack being separated - when the children were young they would try and herd them all together - one of our males would tug at their clothing to try and stop them wandering off from what he thought was a safe distance. he only did this when we were out (on walks etc) and never in the house BUT we were always very careful not to leave him with the kids when small.
I do think it is a very strong instinctive thing with some herding breeds and in my experience it is not connected to aggression almost the opposite - the dog feeels that he's responsible for keeping 'his' family' together.