Lady down the road from me, who I don't know, but have met on walks, has a rescue Border Collie. Apparently the dog is as good as gold at home, but is what the lady terms as 'obsessed' with other dogs. I know nothing about Border Collies, but what she does looks like herding behaviour to me.

Anyway, this morning i popped to the football field round the corner with Indi as she wanted to go out and won't leave the whelping box when at home. The Border Collie came running over from the other side of the field, despite the owner trying to call it back. It started the herding behaviour and i kept Indi on the lead next to me and aske dher to stand still,a s I felt this was the best course of action, as walking away was making things worse. When Indi moved slightly, the dog bit her. There is no mark on her, and Indi didn't seem bothered. If the collie hadn't had a mouthful of Indi's fur, I wouldn't have knwon she made contact. The owner saw and apologised. No harm done, but I am aware it might have been worse.

I'm not sure what to do, if anything. The dog has shown this behaviour before, and with other dogs, not just Indi. I have never known it to bite before though. I have however, been walking Indi when this dog was being walked ont he lead, and it pulled the owner over trying to get to Indi. I don't want to 'report' the woman or the dog, but is it reasonable for me to talk to her regarding it's behaviour? I appreciate this is instinctive behaviour for the dog, and it is not the dogs fault really, but is it possible of rher ot change the behaviour, or should the dog be kept on a lead?

Firstly if any dog even atempted to bite my pregnant bitch I would have been very angry ,That dog should be kept on a lead and under control.Did your bitch try to defend herself ?I would have a word with the new owner I chance only.
If your girl is in possible labour you should keep her in your garden if you have one .Hope your girl is ok.

Your right it is an instinctive behaviour herding dogs do nip at the legs to move along, round up etc.

The owner needs to get this dog into balls to distract it's other instinct, usually from puppies Collies can be trained not to carry out this behaviour, although it is always going to be there. As this is a rescue dog it is harder to stop the behaviour as it has obviously previously been allowed to do it. :-(

When you see this lady again, who seems to be approachable and sorry for her dogs behaviour why don't you drop a really big hint that the dog could do with a trainer and needs keeping on lead as soon as the owner spots another dog, or the best and quickest idea is given a ball to carry, chase and retrieve.

Hope that Indi has her pups very soon, it is agonising waiting isn't it, hopefully this evening you will hear the pitter, patter or tiny feet. :-)

You did the right thing in just asking Indi to sit, wait next to you, I would probably have stood infront and shielded her too. 

If the woman takes no notice of you and her dog tries to nip Indi again in the future, have a water pistol on the ready to squirt it, that may deter the dog and the owner!

I took her out as she wanted to go,and the vet said it was fine if she wanted to go and I didn't go far, which it isn't at all, practically right outside the garden. She didn't retaliate, I think ti would take quite a lot to make her do that, obviously more than being bitten, or else she didn't feel threatened. She has 'told off' a couple of dogs before, one was a 6 month old border collie who was a bit too playful.

I will speak to her when I see her again, which probably won't be for a while. I have never seen her with a ball with the dog, so maybe that would help.

Thanks.

Having taken on rescue dogs and having had a pregnant bitch attacked (and by a BC) I am sympathetic to both parties.
I would suggest gentle to the woman to keep her dog on a long lead unless she can guarantee that it will come back as another owner may not be as accomodating as you.
Also i would ask if she is going to find someone such as a trainer/dog class/ behaviourist to help her deal with this problem (see if that gets her mind working!).

My last dog was a working BC....and as a pet dogs you need to put a lot of work into a BC to train them how to focus possitively and constructively on you . They are very highly stimuilated by activity and I worked hard training my BC in the basics up to 18 months when he matured and started being difficult and then it took me a further 18 months non stop training on a long line with dogs walking in inteesting places and varied activities #working' him before he was suitable to be off lead around other dogs and children running etc. then he was a fantastic responsive dog and safer and more under control than most dogs..but there is no understatining of how much work I had to do with him! Fun work mind! lol!     BCs get a bad reputation because people do ot put in the right amount of work. 

Thanks again all.

We encountered the same dog this morning. It was off lead while it's owner happiyl picked blackberries in the hedge! :rolleyes: I kept Indi on her lead and called to the owner to call her dog back. Dog ignored her, but owner managed to intercept it. I put myself betwen Indi and the Border Collie in the meantime, particularly as she is more likely to retaliate at the moment.

I mentioned to the owner that maybe throwing a ball for it would help, but she said the dog ignores balls. She apologised, saying the dog ignores her when 'onto something' and kept the dog on the lead until Indi and I left.

I will chat at more length to her when I get a chance, but it seems ot me that she is well-intentioned but a bit clueless. If I spent our walks picking blackberries, no doubt my dog would also find everything else more interesting than me. :rolleyes:

, but she said the dog ignores balls.

Unless the dog is a natural retriever you actually have to teach them to take an interest in fetching a ball...  it's funny how many people think all the dogs they see retrieveing a ball and giveing it back do it by chance without teacing or encouragement!  Mine didn't fetch so I taught him how to.

She should play with a ball but not let the dog have it to get the dog interested..play some tuggy games to get the dog inserted in her and associate her as being fun to be with. If she ignores the dog it will obviously entertain itself. She really ought to get herself off to training class.. her poor dog must be so fed up!

Perhaps you need to be a bit more force ful and explain to her that if she will not or can not control her dog she may live to regret it.

Other owners such as myself would have no compunction about reporting her to the dog warden and police if necessary if she did not take constructive advice.

Irresponsible dog owners such as this cause a lot of problems, the intent may not exist but the impact is the same.