Border Collie advice please

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dragonflys

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I could do with some ideas about my border collie please.
She is 2 1/2 yrs old and i have had her since she was 10 weeks old.
She is quite well trained and obediant but just lately has become quite aggressive towards other dogs, but only some.

We walk daily for miles on local heathland and she is off a lead but when we meet other dogs she tears up to them barking madly. This either makes the other dog(s) bark and get aggressive back or scare them witless.
And that in turn upsets the owners of said dogs, as it would me also.
Today was particularly bad, she tore up to a little old man and his little dog (on a lead) barking and looking very agressive and man was very cross.

She has not bitten anything (yet) and does not do it to people.

We often walk with another dog or 2 so its not as if she is not used to other dogs and she has a busy and varied life (I know about collies needing to use their brains!)

I donr want to have to put her on a lead and the way that the heathland is, you can find yourself almost on top of others before you see them and then its too late for me to call her back... : (

All ideas gratefully recieved.
 
And I suppose when your dog does get nailed by a dog she threatens it will be all the other dog`s fault? Keep the blighter ON A LEAD.:mad:
 
Why are you against putting her on a lead? You can't keep allowing her to behave like that, it's only a matter of time until either another dog sees her as a threat and attacks her, or she takes it a step too far herself.
You say it's only some dogs, is it a certain type she runs at or completely random?
For now I'd honestly put a lead on, yes it will mean she can't tear about burning off energy but this way you'll have the control to hold her back when she wants to go and will be able to prevent anything nasty happening. This combined with training her to come back to heel (on the lead) as soon as you ask her to will hopefully teach her to listen to you, and in time you can let her off again, when she understands that her current behaviour isn't acceptable and that she needs to behave herself in order to gain 'freedom'.
 
My old border collie could be like that (mainly with entire dogs ?!), he had good recall so could get him back before anything happened BUT I only let him off the lead when I could clearly see all around so if other dogs appeared he was popped back on the lead - I used a lunge line so he had a little bit of freedom.

I get really annoyed with people whose dogs are a "problem" and don't put back on a lead when they can see people approaching.

Perhaps try a lunge line for a while and see if she improves.

:)
 
Agree with others - put her on a lead.

Perhaps try getting her whistle trained (as in working dogs) so that she will drop on a certain command, that way as soon as she moves too far away or starts towards another dog you can whistle, she will drop and return to you and then you can start letting her off the lead again.
 
My BC would also be like this given half the chance. However, when we see another strange dog I recall him and put him on the lead.

Why don't you recall your dog when you see another dog and put her on the lead?

To be honest, nothing winds me up more than people allowing their off lead dog to run up to a dog that is on the lead. Generally the dog is on a lead for a reason - in my case, mine gets incredibly wound up by loose dogs approaching when he's on the lead and neither should I have to try and deal with him and fend off the other dog just because can't recall them and put them on a lead. I've put a lot of time and effort into ensuring my dog stands quietly on the lead when other dogs walk past him - every time somebodies dog flies up to him out of control, all the work we have done is undone in two seconds flat. It takes much longer to rebuild it and is incredibly disheartening!
 
Personally walk your BC when your in a open field, where you can see if anyone is coming or about. You said people often just appear, done let your BC off in an open field until you know your recall is at its best :)
 
my dog is never off the lunge line EVER its not because he doesnt have recall its because of all the other dogs that dont! ,its your responsibility to make sure your dog doesnt get put into situations it cant handle and you cant control
 
I would go back to basic training with her and improve her recall if I were you. Until she's sharper to your command I agree with the others that you need to keep her on the lead. How much time are you putting into her training at the moment? Do you know any good local dog trainers, perhaps you could organise just one or two sessions to get some tips.
 
you are lucky OP that you have a Border collie as this does give you some sympathetic answers but if i had the same problem with my dog being aggressive and off the lead i would have a police officer at my door right now! all dogs have the capacity to bite people and other dogs -keep it on a lead your dog is aggressive !
 
Thanks for all replies - I dont think my first post was very well worded, and this situation seems to have just come out of the blue.

I have taken all comments on board, and agree that no dog should be out of control (which was really why i asked for advice on how to deal with it).
So i have booked in for more training and she is now on a lead until i am sure she is safe.
Thanks again
 
Hi Dragonflys, I can understand why you dont want to put your dog on the lead and you are obviously trying to get advice to help the situation so not sure why some people are getting all funny with you as its obvious you would for other dogs safety but would rather not. I think you have done the right thing getting her booked in for training, my BC had a phase of being terribly aggressive, but only when ON the lead, otherwise he was just soppy! You have put her back on the lead for now which is sensible and you may already know but I didnt realise until I was told so I will mention, just be careful about tensing up and tightening the lead when a dog walks past as you may be apprehensive now that she might go for them and subconsciously do it but it actually makes the dog aggressive when you do that as I noticed with my BC pup. I would pop her back on the lead for now (doesnt have to be a short one) and keep it loose, when she goes past another dog let her have a sniff if she is gentle, praise her and move along when shes done. If she gets aggressive, just say "No,come along" (or whatever you use for her) I say "c'mon, this way" with mine, but then make her move on so she doesnt get to interact when shes being aggressive.

Another thing like others have said, work on her recall and only let her off once she is coming to call all the time, straight away. My BC is now trained to sharply return when called, and its been a life saver as if he wasnt so obedient he could have got into quite a few nasty situations with other aggressive dogs. Make sure your dog learns to be submissive to you, you are the leader and will protect her so she doesnt need to be attacking other dogs, she can just run about and play and return when told. I hope it all gets sorted out for you soon :) well done for asking for help and getting training, its nice to see that your BC has a good caring owner!
 
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