border collie rounding people up

soxsmummy

soxsmummy

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my 2 yr old border collie has started rounding up people
he is usually very well behaved and comes to call etc
but when he rounds up people, he seems t go into his own little zone
any ideas hw i can stop him
 
If you stick a red collar on one person, can he single them out and "shed" them from a group?
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Sorry...no ideas how to help. Our Border Collie would probably do the same if she didn't have cows to "play" with.

Yours is just exhibiting natural behaviour for the breed. Is yours working or show lines?
 
Totally normal for his breed, is he nipping at heels as well?

I would do a lot of training with him, this is his working instinct coming out and you should channel it, take him to a training class or get a DVD or book, agility, flyball, obedience, whatever, he clearly has a brain and wants to use it
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For now, try focus training, begin in the home, the idea is that all good things come from looking to and listening to you, the longer you hold his gaze, the more you treat him with either food, play or toy, whatever floats his boat, you can use a word like 'watch' or 'close'. Once he realises that looking at and paying attention to you means he gets reward and that other behaviour are ignored or punished (use a very firm NO, if he is on a lead, a very firm check) then all else will become much easier.
 
Missy, my mums BC is about 9 and has always done this. Sometimes she even tries to round up people, the chickens and my Jack Russel all at the same time. It's just natural behaviour.
Just make sure she has plenty to do as they get bored very easily, as I'm sure you know. Hope she's not nipping heels though, ouchie.
 
cc he is already well trained.
i have tried to take him to agility classes, but he is very nervous and cant cope if there are lots of people he doesnt know there. he is very clever lol
yep hes nipping heels!
 
Not suggesting he wasn't well trained
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just that he might need something more.

Couldn't you try doing agility at home?

Like I say, try the focus training and see if that helps, or send him to a sheep dog trainer?
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My little terrier does exactly this to. I know she is not a collie, but im sure she has it in her somewhere along the lines.

If you stand still she will just continusley circle you, she will also try to round up buds my lab and any my friends dogs. She also waits for buds when hes is on his way back to me, she lies down the closer her gets then when he is close enough runs to round him up
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xxxx
 
I have 3 collies and none of them herd people but i do know of quite a few that do,personally would try to get them out of it as soon as possible it can turn into a nasty habit especially the nipping part.
Would also try to go to some classes if he is nervous sounds like he could do with more socialising and help in his confidence as nerves can also make them nip,even try sitting at the side of class or sit in the park(when warmer otherwise you will freeze at the moment lol)
A lot chase wheels and i do know a few that have been killed this way.
IMO flyball can buzz them up so maybe something else may focus more on getting their attention
sounds like its a case of trial and error

good luck they are a lovely breed

here are my lot of triple trouble
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As horsenut said, I would work on getting him calm.

My female was very nervy and jumpy, not proper GSD behaviour at all
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when she was younger, I spent so much time on her brother that she was kind of sidelined, I am spending more time with her, taking her to classes, ignoring nervy behaviour and rewarding confident behaviour and she is coming on really well.
Her energy is now being channelled into learning and training and she is so much better than she used to be. She was nervy and exciteable because she didn't really have a role or a place in life or a job to do, and since we started focusing her energy a bit more and trying to increase her confidence, she has come on in leaps and bounds
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here are my lot of triple trouble
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I'm in love. Especially with the darkest one with the pricked ears.

My collie rounds up anything that moves and has been sent flying several times by horses that have had enough. I have to say, all her obsessive collie type behaviors are worse when we're not doing agility. Is there any way you could work on this? My girls fairly nervous and not very sociable but does improve when we go to agility regularly.

This pic is entitled 'Islay, bring that b****y pony back THIS INSTANT!'

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Being a sheep here, but would agree that if you took her to basic classes to improve her socialisation you might then be able to have a go at agility. When I was going to agility shows there were a lot of really quite nervous dogs but once they were in the ring they were so focussed on the job in hand nothing else bothered them.
 
I agree with the other replies, take him to any sort of dog class with the goal not necessarily to actually teach him to be more obedient/learn agility, without in first hand to make him feel more comfortable in such situations/learn to focus on you and ignore any possibly unknown people in the class. Tell the instructor that that is why you're attending the class and accept that your goal with taking the class isn't the same as the others.



If you and him also does learn e.g. some agility, that is a bonus but if you don't, take the class again. By the sound of it, he wants/needs more work and he will never get less nervous around unknown people in a dog class, by that you avoid such situations!



Though that I know that it isn't always easy, what ever happens, even if/when he gets nervous or doesn't seem to manage the situation, try to stay calm and pretend as if it rains.
Because if you anticipate or worry about his reaction before/when it happens, he will sense your feelings but <u>he will not understand that they are about his behaviour</u>/him feeling bad, for him it will only confirm to him that he is 100% correct, after all, from his point of view, you also get nervous about the unknown people being there...


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He's only doing what comes naturally. His energy needs channeled into something more constuctive before he bites someone - that could have disastrous consequences. Keep him on a lead when he's about people, especially kids.
 
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