hi, i posted here about 8 months ago regarding my blue merles behaviour......and got alot of good advice and support, so thanks! unfortunately, things are still not good and i thought id come back to see if anyone had any ideas this time round!

ok, about my dog....she is a border collie blue merle bitch - name is maiya. she is now 18 months old. small dog, weighs around 17 kilos. have owned her since she was 14 weeks old. got her from a farm in wales. she has not been spayed.

when she reached 9 months old, after only displaying 'normal' puppy behaviour, she suddenly changed. ended up having a dog behavioural psychologist round the house to help, and got alot of stuff to work with. some things got better, alot of things have got worse. i'll explain the behaviour she is dasplaying now rather than go on for hours about past issues.

1) hurls herself at the front door everytime somebody walks past the house, or a car drives by.
2) barks and jumps at the window when people walk by.
3) attacks people that come into the house unless slowly introduced - and they have to be sitting down, or she will continue to be aggressive.
4) sits at the front door every morning with her mouth waiting in front of the letter box for the postman to arrive, whereupon she goes absolutely mad, and proceeds to rip our mail to pieces.
5) barks outside in the back garden for no apparent reason for long periods of time.
6) digs massive holes throughout the garden - she has totally trashed it now.
7) when out on walks on the lead, she goes for everything that moves, especially bikes and prams.
8) when in  the car she will bark continuously, out of control whether in the footwell, the back seat or her cage.
9) will go for the 8 yr old living in our  house if her has any physical contact with me ie. hugging, playfighting etc.
10) uses the dog flap to go outside, but refuses to come back indoors unless called in through it. she will bark continuously until this happens. this includes when she wants to come in at 4am. (this is new behaviour - she has been using the dog flap for months). we have tried keeping her in overnight, but then she will just bark continuously until let out, which is much much worse than the original problem.
11) she will wait for people to leave a room, and if they try to close the door behaind them, she will jump up at the door, slamming it - barking and behaving aggressively. (this too is new behaviour)
12) she has started to urinate and defecate on the 14 yr olds bed - this is new behaviour. we always try to keep all the doors closed, but sometimes we forget!
13) she tries to attack the next door neighbour by jumping up at the 8 foot fence, which now has holes appearing in it because she hits it so hard.
14) we cannot take her to the vets because she is extremely viscious towards them (we have tried many different ways to try to stop her doing this, with and without the vet, but nothing has changed - we have had to resort to heavy sedation)

ok, thats all i'll put on for now - these are the things that bother us the most - other stuff is just naughty dog behaviour which we are in the process of dealing with. at all other times when maiya isnt displaying the above behaviour (which is getting to be few and far between now), she is a lovely, sweet, caring dog. its is for this reason only that we have continued to try with her. i am loathe to have to find her another home, but if things carry on getting worse, then we will have no option - it is very stressful, and is affecting us all (and the rest of the street!)

any help would be gratefully received. thanks, jo.

First thing guest is to join us so we & you can ask question and receive answers. OK now first question, you say you got the pup form a farm, do you mean that the pup was bred on a farm from working stock or did you buy her from a puppy farm?

Hi, i don,t know very much about border collies as a breed but feel sure that rehoming her can not be the answer. What would you tell prospective purchasers? it wouldn,t be fair on them or the dog. Have you contacted her breeders? did you meet her sire and dam what were their temperaments like? Having her neutered could help you say her behaviour problems started when she reached 9 months old. It could be hormonal. An animal behaviourist is another option i suppose . One things for sure you can,t keep living like this , owning a dog should be a happy experience not a daily nightmare as you seem to be experiencing.

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Melody

That's a lot of problems - poor you!

Have you had her BAER tested? Blue merles, especially if they have blue eye/s have a higher-than-usual likelihood of being deaf.

A suggestion for Number 4 - either have a mailbox outside your house or a wire letter-guard inside the front door so that she can't get in contact with the mail.

Number 7  - when you say 'goes for' do you mean attacks or tries to herd? If she is bred from working stock her herding instinct is likely to be very high.

How much exercise, both physical and mental, does she get? Many dogs, particularly collies, with behavioural problems improve when they are given more to do.

You may find it helpful to register (it's free!) so that you can answer our questions and give us more information.
:)

1. Keep at least two doors between her and the outside or at least one door and a stairgate.
2.Ditto as above
3.have her behind a stairgate and have visitors ignore her for now
4.Same as number 1 or get a wire mail box or mail box on the gate
5.There will be a reason.  Don't leave her in the garden for long periods of time.
6.Give her a digging pit in one corner, bury treasure there (toys, treats, bones) and teach her to dig in that place.
7.  Does she ever get off lead.  If she is scared of something and she cannot get away from it then she will do what comes naturally and instinctually to make them go away.
8. Have her sit in the car maybe eating her dinner or having treats or a cuddle until she can consistently do it quietly.  Then start the engine and repeat.  Then reverse out of the drive and back in again. and so on and so on.
9. Dog or child?
10. Close the dog flap and have her go in and out on your timetable.
11.Probably fear aggression but she is becoming confident with practice.
12. Remember to keep the door closed but along with everything else is an indicator of extreme anxiety.
13. Probably best to restrict her access to the garden to when you can be out with her giving her something more useful to do. i.e. playing/training.
14.So does she have a clean bill of health or have you not been able to determine that?  Same as the car problem really.  Desensitise.

I would be interested to know what the behaviourist recommended and what sort of training you have done with her.  Collies need lots of mental stimulation and exercise or 6 sheep and a few acres.
It would be a good idea to register so that you can answer questions about her.
Sally