Hi all
     
Can anyone help me? I have an 18 month old Borzoi bitch who is not spayed. Her behaviour is very frustrating. She is a lovely dog indoors but outdoors she changes. Her problem is other dogs. When she is indoors any dog can come in the house and she will not mind and be friendly towards them, at training classes she is fine and at shows she is fine. When she is out on walks she is a problem. On a lead she will go to attack a dog when it is very close, not aggresively but does a little bark and nibble (not playing at all) i restrain her and tell her to be nice, she then stops this behaviour and sniffs the dog then leaves it alone.

When she is off the lead i muzzle her. If she sees another dog she will shoot off and goo death. She will run up to the dog barking and go to attack it. But once she has done this she will leave the dog alone. I call her and she comes back. When that dog carries on with the walk she will repeat her attack.

She is really confusing me. Why is she ok dogs everywhere else but not outside? Has anyone else had this experience?

I thimk her problem is fear based and she wasn't socialised as a young puppy. I didn't get her until six months old, which i shouldn't have done but i couldn't leave her once i saw her. She is a good show dog though and i want to breed from her in the future. I want to sort out her behaviour first.

thanks lurcherlover

Borzois are sight hounds and her behaviour outside is pretty much what many borzois I have met can be like. They get over excited and want to be with other dogs so they chase off in this manner. The "attack" is not what it seems although to other dog owners it can be alarming.

Contact doghouse_358@yahoo.co.uk

Steph is a borzoi owner, breeder and trainer, she would be pleased to help you. Her borzois are well behaved and calm she has had experience of dealing with this type of behaviour as well. She is a member of this site.

Thanks polly. I will be contacting Steph shortly.

I don't know whether your Borzoi was friendly with any other dogs as a pup but one of my dogs does exactly the same and I'm sure that it's because his "best friend" as a puppy was rather boisterious and now when I think about it was way over the top with him and although he didn't show signs of fear then he definitely does now.

i don't know if she was friendly as a pup cause i got her at six months old. The only other dogs she had seen were Borzoi. I think this is the reason of her bahaviour as she had no socialisation when a pup. When i first got her she was terrified of everyone and everything. This is the only problem i have with her now.

I dont know if this is actually aggression, or excited, bad mannered play.

The reason i say this is, this behaviour is almost identical to that of my ancient saluki x....

I got her at 9 years old. She has lived with an elderly collie bitch, and other than that, had never socialised (working dogs dont play, go off lead if not working, get toys etc etc, according to her old owner).....

She plays, by hurtling up to other dogs, growling loudly and pinning them down, letting them up and doing it again, and again and agaiin.

If told to 'sod off' by other dogs (like my dog Rocky does) she will just play chase.

If the other dog submits and lies down she carries on.

It is just a game to her though, not a very nice one, but its a game nonetheless.

As to what you do about it, that i cant tell you. Perhaps set her up with dogs that will say 'sod off' in a good natured way... i dont know.

Muzzling her stops her biting, but tahts all it does, and i suspect she isnt actually biting anyway. She can scare and upset dogs by doing this even muzzled, even if she doesnt bite...

Gah, these sighthounds are sent to try us!

Em

Sounds like typical sighthound behaviour :D

Not all sighthounds do this! My greyhounds don't and neither do my lurchers. (Collie/Greyhound crosses). I think it is nervous aggression. She is fine in enclosed places but not when she is out in the open. I think she wants to make other dogs think shes horrible, so that they don't try and hurt her. I think her problem is down to a lack of socialisation. My aunt owns a male borzoi and he is lovely. He plays like an ordinary dog with others. But my aunt has owned him since 8 weeks old and he was well socialised. I just wanted to know if anyone could help on how to solve the problem.

Did you email my friend? I forgot to say she only picks up her mail every few days. Your bitch is displaying perfectly normal behaviour for a borzoi. I suspect her hunting and chasing instinct is very much stronger than what you have encountered in your other sight hounds. I have found this with some gundog bitches their instinct to hunt drives them on and they get a dose of "selective deafness" where as my boys have not been so inclined, they prefer to wait until I tell them to do something. You might understand your bitches actions if you research how they were used for hunting, from there you would have a good idea how to start to channel her energy elsewhere, and avoid the behaviour you do not want.

Hi Polly. 

I haven't mailed your friend as of yet, but i will get round to it. I did think from the start that it may be in her instinct, but she only started this behavouir when she was around 11 months old. When i first got her at six months she wasn't sociable with other dogs but she wasn't aggressive. If she saw a dog she would just bark from a distance and stay close to me but as she got older she got more confident. Maybe when she is out in the open she thinks shes allowed to treat dogs as her prey. Wolves that she can chase and pin down until someone reaches her? But as i said my aunts borzoi doesn't display any of this behavouir.

 

It could be....

But more likely (if she is anything like my loopy longdog) that lack of socialisation means she doesnt know how to PLAY.

Given that in a scary situation, Abby will choose screaming like a banshee or running away over fighting, i would not be surprised if yours is the same, although i know there will be differences in behaviour between a borzoi and a saluki x.

At first i was horrified by Abbys actions with both my young lurcher Dill and my friends collie cross bitch Leela.

But on watching, she just thinks this is a GREAT game. She has never drawn blood doing this and as a dog who has spent perhaps 8 years of her life taking small deer, fox, hare and rabbit i highly doubt she wouldnt hesitate to do so if that was her aim.

The fact that she backs off and doesnt try to pin Rocky when he shouts at her and tells her to naff off, but keeps up the chase game proves to me in her case it IS rude, bad mannered play, from a dog who has never learned the rules.

Could this be the case with your bitch??

If it is, then my previous suggestion to let her play with dogs who WILL tell her to get lost in a non aggressive manner might do her the world of good.

I know a few lurcher/sighthound owners with dogs with both borzoi and saluki blood who suffer the same problems, more often those with lurchers from a working background who were never really socialised as pups.

Em

Hi Theemx 

I don't think her behavouir is like your dogs. If a dogs goes to tell her off she will run away. The only time she will retaliate is with small dogs. But even then she will give up. She doesn't play. She has no interest in playing with strange dogs. She is fine with dogs she knows though. All she wants to do is run instead of play but thats what sighthounds do. She has never worked. The only encounter she had with wildlife is a rabbit. She saw it and of course she chased it but never caught it. i'm sure she would be good working dog if she did though.