Hi from UK

D

denimmaterial

Forums Novice
Hello everybody,
I am a great fan of shelties. We had our first one nearly 50 years ago, but she unfortunately got skin cancer and vet services were not as good then as they are now, and we had to have her put to sleep. The current sheltie is a blue merle - very pretty. People often assume he is a girl because he's pretty and has a very gentle expression and manner. He is 6 years + and so far in very good health. I have some problems with his aggressive behavious towards other (larger) dogs, which I would like to have some ideas about. I think he's afraid/aggressive, but I might be wrong. Any suggestions about breaking his habit of barking continuously at other dogs as long as they are in sight would be appreciated.
Enjoyed reading the threads, and seeing photos. I'll post some of Blue later.
 
Hello from another UK-er.

I have a Blue Merle boy too, he is about 19 months. He could be funny with bigger dogs too, but I taught him to come to me and stand behind me when he was worried rather than barking or snapping, but he was still a pup then and the behaviour had not become ingrained.

Look forward to seeing some pics
 
Hello

I do this with Beau, I taught him to watch me, or rather my nose with a then a give him a treat, it helps to redirect and then he's focused on the treat rather than the dog
 
Hi and welcome!

I know that a lot of people really like the book Control Unleashed for the behavior you're describing.

However, I didn't have any luck with it. My dog acts similarly when he sees/hears another dog and we haven't been able to curb it. Of course, we haven't really been able to work under his threshold (what causes him to bark/lunge) and that doesn't help.
 
Hi from down here on Dartmoor. Our shelties behave the same way towards larger dogs. As they are off leash I try to see the other dog befor them and then voice control them, this works - as long as I see the other dog first. Good luck
 
Thank you for all your replies. It looks like this barking at other (especially bigger) dogs is a universal problem. Of course he barks at cats, pheasants, squirrels that cheat by running up trees to escape and big birds. All this is normal doggy behaviour and I don't worry about it.

The great thing is that he loves people, especially little children, which not all shelties do. He walks up to them and sits waiting to be petted. He never licks or nips or jumps up, so I suppose I should allow him his reaction to big dogs.

I will try to train him to look at my nose (!) to distract him. Shouldn't he difficult using a wand and a clicker - he'll do anything for food!

Here are a couple of photos of Blue, looking as if he would NEVER bark at another dog!

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/denimmaterial/
 
Welcome from Canada. Blue is gorgeous. He reminds me of my Noah, a blue merle, I lost in 2009. I currently have three, a sable Emma, a tri Liam, and a tri Natalie. My niece has also just gotten a little blue merle boy Max to train as a service dog for her son.

I can't help with the barking at other dogs. Hope you find a solution that really works for you.
 
He's absolutely gorgeous. Just to avoid confusion this one is of my Blue (left) with his mother and great (x8) Aunt! He's 1 year old and out of coat..... Maybe it's a 'Blue' things, but my one does the birddog and squirrel thing too:gaah
 
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