Having Problems with a Non Sheltie!

[suristo]

Monet is coming along beautifully. At petsmart he's beginning to become a social butterfly. Well, he's at least starting to emerge from the cocoon, which is better than being hidden in the dark somewhere. He gets so excited when we get into the parking lot. At my parents house, he's amazing. He bounces when you ask him to go outside. He has the zoomies major any time you go out. His sit stays and wait commands are getting longer, his recall is improving amazingly, and he is beginning to get heel. He stopped hiding under my chair in the puppy class, and no matter what dogs and people are in there, he can always do his commands.

But at my apartment, it's like he's still in major freeze mode. Why, you may ask?

Because of a 35 lb Border Collie mix of my roommates. He is terrified of her. She's a terror. Sweet as the day is long, but she's hyper and wants to use him as a play toy. Problem is, her play is really rough and terrifies him. Any time he jumps off the couch, he's free game. I've started calling her to me to distract her from him and making her sit or down, which has been working more. I just don't know what else to do? She thinks it's totally acceptable behavior and just wants to play. But it causes him to think everything but the couch is made of molten hot lava and cannot be entered.

I just want him to start settling, but she's set him back so far. It's at least only the apartment, because he gets really excited when you go on walks. It's nice to know it hasn't set him back every where else - he stayed at the apartment with me last week, and when I went to my parent's house, it was immediately play mode. It's the same way with petsmart. I would just really like him to be that way here! I just don't see it happening until the terror dog is tamed though.

Any suggestions?

 

[Caro]

How old is the BC?

I can see where Monet is coming from. I have a female lab next door that is the same age as my Tully. We used to let them share the yard until Tully got a back injury at around 6mths and the vet advised against allowing a lab to play with such a small dog as he had seen too many injuries caused by the over enthusiasm of young big dogs around small ones. Nowadays they lick each other through the fence but outside Tully runs as soon as she sees the lab. Even though they are almost 4yrs old the lab is still too bouncy.

So the moral is - I wouldn't let her near Monet until she learns to be more gentle. She may do this as she gets used to him or when she grows up, but I think there are a few methods you can try.

You can try using time outs and only let her near him when she is calm - if she starts being silly she gets time out to calm down. You may need to leave a shortened lead on her inside and when they are togetheer so you can grab her quickly. I would also suggest teaching her to drop whenever she is around Monet - its much less threatening.

You can try adding a word to get her to calm (this is a fairly natural thing for a herding breed to learn). I use the word 'settle' to get my dogs to calm, you can teach settle as a game - play and jump around with the dogs and then stop and say 'settle' in a gentle, quiet voice. I also use a hand signal. With Deska, because he has a tendency to be very silly I taught him to drop when he settles. If you really want to go into detail on working on calming your dog Clean Run have a book on it called 'In Focus'.

A BC should get it pretty quickly - no calm and no play.

 

[danisgoat]

BC are hyper, but they are smart too. I would do as Caro says and put her in a time-out every single time she starts playing to rough. She will get it, and most likely will change her behaviour.

 

[corbinam]

Those are great ideas--you may also want to invest in a baby gate. Maybe that way Monet can feel comfortable in certain areas of the house while you work on the BC's behavior.