my year old collie pup has recently started chasing shadows,moving lights,and reflections-the other day i even saw her clocking the moon!shes always done it to some degree,but  has got worse lately.all my other collies past and present have exhibited this type of behavior t o some degree and ive always laughingly accepted it as part of owning collies,but now someone said it is ocd,and i must stop it,and now im worried!she has plenty of exercise,training,and we have just started flyballwhat do you think,please?

I think it's normal Collie behaviour.  I do lots of exercise and mental stimulation with my boy, he still gets fascinated by reflections and tries to "catch" them. 

I have never considered it odd, and I think it's part of the mindset of a Collie - I've just got to be busy!  If all your Collies have had the same behaviour, I think you will find that there are more folk that will tell you it's normal, than the people who make a big deal of it.

My boy isn't abnormal, he's a lovely, reliable, sound boy - as I am sure your girl is.

Don't you just hate "labels"

well I must have had "abnormal" collies too then!!

I think every collie in the world has ocd - it's one of their charms :-D  Mine chase the rainbows made by the sun hitting of a crystal that hangs in the window :-)

I have a collie cross terrier and you still need to be very careful.....my boy is absolutely obsessed with shadow chasing. We thought it was cute to start with but now if he can he is at it all the time. He at one stage was so bad he was inventing shadows to chase. He learned if he put his was to a light source and wagged his tail....there would be a shadow. If it is bright outside we have to made sure the shades are pulled and if he is outside he has to be constantly redirected. It was so bad at one stage the vets wanted him on a high dose of sedatives (basically to dope him up so all he did was sleep) to see if that would reprogram him. We didn't go down that route but did try skull cap and valerian ...which made him freak. He would waken from a sleep terrified he didn't seem to know where he was half the time. He even bit a friend of mine when she walked past him...he didn't recognize her. 

Now he wears a DAP collar and does much better. Still chasing shadows but he can now be distracted from it.

Also the vet wanted to put him on Epi-phen as she says it is a form of epilepsy....I just think he's just a smart kid who gets a kick out of chasing things....Collie x terrier...can't expect anything else...he was born to chase and when no one plays with him....he amuses himself....but like anything fun it can become addictive and then it's all they think about and that is when it becomes a problem...

So cute as it can be sometimes....I would suggest you don't encourage it. Normal or not...:-)

One of my Aunts has a collie-cross that loves to chase reflected light, (only does it in the house), my aunt says the dog is 'chasing faries' :)

well thankyou,all of you!I wasnt worried till I was told that!When I told my son,who has lived with me and my collies all his life,he laughed,looked incredulous,and said,"collies are born with that,arent they?"and that from a mere male!Ill keep an eye on her,obviously,but im pretty sure shes normal!-er,do collies come in normal?thanks again everyone!

Our friends used to have a Rottie who was obsessed with shadows and used to pounce on them. They did try and stop him but failed and just let him have his fun!!
However in his latter years he developed arthritis in the shoulders which the vets said was due to the constant shadow pouncing. He lived a long happy life and is very much missed now.

My collie doesn't and i only know of one other that does (and that one is deaf) so i don't think it is quite as common as people say.  (i know a fair few collies through agility, flball and my job). My spaniel however is a shadow/light chaser. He's a lot better that he was when we rescued him but he's still not right, we think he uses it to get an adrenalin high , particuarly when stressed. I personally try to not encourage it as i don't think it is a healthy obsession and try and help him find other ways to calm himself. 

I think the problem comes when there isn't an obvious thing that the dog has become fixated on. My boy likes to catch 'fairies'! Initially it was the flies in the summer, in winter it progressed to specks of dust in the sunshine (with 5 dogs in the house there's a lot of dust), or even just watching a piece of fluff on someone's trousers! I don't worry about it 'cause if I get worried about what he's doing then he's going to pick up on my stress and in turn will become stressed. I've been told it's not healthy? Why not? He's got bloomin good eyesight and he's keeping himself amused ... he could of course put his energy into ripping up carpets or being destructive or similar.
I wouldn't worry, however, if you find it gets a bit too much I would introduce some quite down time ... for my lad it's a little while in a crate with a nicely filled kong!  And yes, Collies do come in normal ... it's all the other breeds that aren't ;-)

> And yes, Collies do come in normal ... it's all the other breeds that aren't ;-)

:-)  :-)  :-)

I'll second that!

My mentor (of my toy breed), says he doesn't like Collies.  It's the way they look at him!   LOL

I just love Collie eye!

ha ha,too true!