The collie of Health and Safety

[Sugarplum Furry]

Our collie, that is. He came to us when he was 6 months old, blue merle, now 7 years old and from day 1 he decided that we need to be closely monitored and stopped from doing any activities he considers to be Highly Dangerous. These include climbing ladders or standing on a chair, lighting the woodburner, pushing a full wheelbarrow (empty is fine), changing a light bulb, any form of dancing or hugging a friend. Fair enough, he's a collie and collies need a job.

But the latest thing on his list, since last year, has got us really baffled. It's numbers, spoken out loud. Normal conversation and even singing is fine. Saying numbers out loud is definitely on the Highly Dangerous list and sends him into a Health and Safety frenzy of barking and looking generally horrified.

I thought perhaps it's like another language to him...and I know he understands a lot of words we say...so I tried a few French and Welsh phrases in front of him, he didn't react at all. I then spoke out loud a couple of phone numbers and he went bonkers.

Anyone else's dog do this? Or can anyone shed light on why he does it?

 

[Bluewaves]

I don't know but if he is a blue merle collie, please ould you show us a picture. I love them.

We had a blue merle when i was a young child who was highly neurotic, not trained for anything but def lived on her nerves.

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

Hi Bluewaves. Sorry am absolutely rubbish at sending photos, I've never got the hang of it on this forum. But yep, blue merle, amazing blue eyes, gorgeous white, grey and speckled coat, fantastic nature when he hasn't got his bossy Health and Safety Officer's hat on! I think he treats us like naughty sheep that have to be shouted at when we don't behave properly.

I know what you mean about living on their nerves, ours never seems to be 'off duty'. Beautiful breed though.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Yes, my young female is extremely risk averse and everything must be health and safety risk assessed.

Bikes and mobility scooters with people on them are fine. Parked outside a shop? Not fine, may contain explosives.
Man. Fine. Ladder. Fine. Man up ladder = DANGER DANGER BORK BORK BORK.

A man I know with dementia actually explained it really well! As I was upset that she reacted badly to his walker.
He said that she was actually really smart. She doesn't know what it is or whether it will hurt her or not, therefore she has to investigate things very carefully and keep her wits about her just in case, once she realises it won't hurt her, it's fine. Of course I am the one who has to go up and touch the potential ticking time bomb to reassure her!!

It is not an overly desirable attribute for her breed, but again I know a police dog handler who didn't like ploddy/bombproof dogs, he said if a dog didn't look up whenever there was a loud noise or sudden occurrence, that there was something wrong with it. I will take a certain amount of nerve as it also makes the flair/style in heelwork, jumping etc. Ironically she is fine with a lot of other things dogs find stressful, such as gunshots/fireworks, slippery or unstable floor surfaces etc.

Her father was just on the edge but had a crazy amount of drive to carry him through/hid it, it shows on this female a little more, but he was very noisy/vocal when unsure/unhappy and she is not, which I think I prefer.
Steady dogs bore me a little

 

[BBP]

I also have a blue Merle collie and he seems to be programmed with a trigger word, like the dobermans from an episode of Columbo. Unfortunately that trigger word is ‘Alexa’. So the echo dot thingy is now shoved in a storage cupboard! I also started singing ‘the grand old duke of York’ one day and that also appears to be unacceptable. Renditions of any other song in my dreadful voice are fine. I’d love to know what he is thinking!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Mitch had a moment with bikes yesterday, reacted like the Aztecs seeing men on horses for the first time!

Both pups react to singing, but only torchy songs. Both stood up with heads tilted the first time they heard singing on a film.

 

[Boulty]

The health & safety spaniel disapproves of dragons, people putting their bins out, weird creaking noises & anything on TV with dark lighting & atmospheric music (aka any time a TV show or film goes over the top to say "here comes the bad guys!"). People wearing hoods that cover their face are also to be treated with suspicion & growled at... This presents issues when the person in question is a small child. He is also especially offended by Boris Johnson & either growls at him or turns the TV off!

 

[smiggy]

My chihuahua is the same with the tv, anyone doing anything dangerous is robustly barked at. Driving too fast, running, cctv of baddies, fights, running down stairs , he really is very selective. He would love to be a police dog in another life.

 

[ycbm]

Our collie, that is. He came to us when he was 6 months old, blue merle, now 7 years old and from day 1 he decided that we need to be closely monitored and stopped from doing any activities he considers to be Highly Dangerous. These include climbing ladders or standing on a chair, lighting the woodburner, pushing a full wheelbarrow (empty is fine), changing a light bulb, any form of dancing or hugging a friend. Fair enough, he's a collie and collies need a job.

But the latest thing on his list, since last year, has got us really baffled. It's numbers, spoken out loud. Normal conversation and even singing is fine. Saying numbers out loud is definitely on the Highly Dangerous list and sends him into a Health and Safety frenzy of barking and looking generally horrified.

I thought perhaps it's like another language to him...and I know he understands a lot of words we say...so I tried a few French and Welsh phrases in front of him, he didn't react at all. I then spoke out loud a couple of phone numbers and he went bonkers.

Anyone else's dog do this? Or can anyone shed light on why he does it?

Fascinating Is it the rhythm? Have you tried saying words with the same rhythm and emphasis as if they were numbers?

 

[Shady]

Agree with Ycbm, that is fascinating. Is it single numbers or the same in multiples?

Weims are a bit mad anyway and seem to either react explosively to something miner like the cat flap, or do nothing at all when there's a raging storm trying to bring the house down .

Captain Kirks communicator caused all sorts of mayhem !

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

The health & safety spaniel disapproves of dragons, people putting their bins out, weird creaking noises & anything on TV with dark lighting & atmospheric music (aka any time a TV show or film goes over the top to say "here comes the bad guys!"). People wearing hoods that cover their face are also to be treated with suspicion & growled at... This presents issues when the person in question is a small child. He is also especially offended by Boris Johnson & either growls at him or turns the TV off!

Hats and bike helmets were a major issue for Zak and Bear as puppies. It caused problems on walks, with wild barking on one occasion.

 

[Boulty]

Oh to update H&S spaniel has added air raid sirens on TV as another thing that is dangerous & must be barked about. Annoyingly he's kinda not wrong about a lot of these things is he?!

 

[fiwen30]

My rough collie cross is very laid back about mostly anything in life. Except martial arts. I used to train in karate, and couldn’t do any movements at all, even at tai chi pace, without getting told to Stop That At Once. He could somehow hear the movements from the other side of the house, it was wild.

 

[ArklePig]

My dog is a bit like that when OH works out in the garage @fiwen30 so now he takes her with him and she loves it. I used to think she was anxious but the more I get to know her I see a lot of it is FOMO.

 

[Smitty]

Nothing to add OP apart from the one time I thought I was going to drown on a beach and my terrier was shrieking wildly at me. It could have been a 'Lassie' moment but sadly he can't bear me being slow and does this in perfectly safe situations hoping to hurry me up.

Just to say this is probably the best title of any thread I can remember

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

Agree with Ycbm, that is fascinating. Is it single numbers or the same in multiples?

Weims are a bit mad anyway and seem to either react explosively to something miner like the cat flap, or do nothing at all when there's a raging storm trying to bring the house down .

Captain Kirks communicator caused all sorts of mayhem !

It's single numbers and multiples, and just the same level of hysterical woofing if he hears them in a conversational or a questioning tone.

 

[fiwen30]

It's single numbers and multiples, and just the same level of hysterical woofing if he hears them in a conversational or a questioning tone.

For science: what if you sing them?