I don't understand my dog sometimes

[Jennifer Hughes]

Dogs are so weird sometimes - I don't understand them! I spend so much time trying to figure out Tanna's triggers for her behaviour, to no avail apparently. I have two questions:

1. A man came over this morning to assess our house for our mortgage. He came in, Tanna was friendly with him, I was friendly with him. Tanna and are home alone together today. As soon as he actually comes into the house to measure it with his measuring tape, Tanna starts barking at him and trying to nip his heels. I eventually put her in her crate, where she was fine. Friends and family come over all the time, and let themselves into the house when we are not home, and take her for walks, etc, and she is always great with them. New people come over and she LOVES them. I don't get it. Two other times, repair men have come over with their tools and she barks and nips at them. Is she trying to protect me? Guard her house? Is she simply afraid?

2. As I have previously posted, Tanna has some leash aggression and herding tendencies. I cannot seem to predict when they will be triggered. She may be fine for days, or on the same walk, react to some bikes or dogs, but not others. Yesterday somebody biked through the dog park (what was he thinking!) and Tanna chased him and tried to nip his ankles. I haven't seen her actually bite, but I have seen her grab clothing before. Does it show poor bite inhibition if she does nip an ankle or clothes while chasing bikers, etc?

[Luciann]

Jennifer,

As for the man coming over to measure the house, well if they all have tools it might be she sees them as problems, the tools. And if it is strange males she might be trying to protect you from them.

just a thought

[Vanessa Lee]

It seems like it could be the measuring tape/tools that triggers her. Maybe she feels threatened by unfamiliar house guest only when they are carrying strange items?

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Jennifer!

I don't know Tanna's full history so I'm responding only from the info in your post here.

If Tanna was never exposed to men wearing and carrying metal tools around when she was just young puppy (by 12 weeks), then these "things" that they're carrying or wearing are totally alien to her. She's just not been exposed to that particular stimuli in her life, and so she's afraid of it. You already saw this twice before, so now you know what her issue is. See? You DO understand her because you've made that connection!

If Tanna is a herding breed, then it isn't surprising that she'd try to chase moving objects. Whether she decides to herd something going past her quickly or not may depend on how close it is to her at the time it's wizzing by. If she's into herding, then EXPECT her to herd something when you see anything coming into her environment. If you expect her to chase it, make sure you already have her either under control when it goes by, or turn her and walk her away from this person or object she'll be chasing.

My last dog was a Border Collie. He also wanted to chase a person on a bike, joggers, etc. I took him to a park where there was a lot of this going on. I used a clicker and talked to him when someone was going to approach on a bike, or skate nearby in order to keep him calm. I clicked and treated him when he showed no reaction (because I was keeping his attention on ME), and so he learned not to be reactive when fast moving things or people were near him.

Hope this helps!

Dogs are so weird sometimes - I don't understand them! I spend so much time trying to figure out Tanna's triggers for her behaviour, to no avail apparently. I have two questions:

1. A man came over this morning to assess our house for our mortgage. He came in, Tanna was friendly with him, I was friendly with him. Tanna and are home alone together today. As soon as he actually comes into the house to measure it with his measuring tape, Tanna starts barking at him and trying to nip his heels. I eventually put her in her crate, where she was fine. Friends and family come over all the time, and let themselves into the house when we are not home, and take her for walks, etc, and she is always great with them. New people come over and she LOVES them. I don't get it. Two other times, repair men have come over with their tools and she barks and nips at them. Is she trying to protect me? Guard her house? Is she simply afraid?

2. As I have previously posted, Tanna has some leash aggression and herding tendencies. I cannot seem to predict when they will be triggered. She may be fine for days, or on the same walk, react to some bikes or dogs, but not others. Yesterday somebody biked through the dog park (what was he thinking!) and Tanna chased him and tried to nip his ankles. I haven't seen her actually bite, but I have seen her grab clothing before. Does it show poor bite inhibition if she does nip an ankle or clothes while chasing bikers, etc?

[Jennifer Hughes]

Renee-

Your advice is well taken - I have been hoping you might respond.

A little more background might help: Tanna is a rescued Border Collie/AusShep/GSD? mix who we adopted 8 months ago at the age of one. No information on her history, but she is generally a shy, 'submissive', but friendly dog with some leash aggression in the last 2 months.

I clicker-train her daily on walks and have recently taught her 'Look", where when she looks in my eyes, she gets a click and a treat. I do this nearly everytime a bike, rollerblader or dog goes by. If for some reason, I've forgotten my clicker and treats, she gets a yes! and praise. We are showing improvement most days.

In response to your comments about people in our house- it sounds like you think it is a fear response. That helps me understand. We had friends stay at our house this weekend, and she was very friendly to them, until they started taking their suitcases up the stairs. Then the barking started. Only with the suitcases. She settled down and was her usual loving self afterwards, but the next day they moved the couch around so we could watch slides and she went nuts again. If I move the couch or the suitcases, it's fine, she doesn't react at all. Only if the guests do it. ???? This is the part I don't really get.

The question that is really burning in my mind is - if herding dogs nip ankles while chasing bikes, etc, does that indicate poor bite inhibition? While Tanna has not bitten anyone, I certainly see her trying when she is in that mode.

Thank you for taking the time to answer me! I am utterly grateful.

Jennifer

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Jennifer!

Tanna is a herding dog 3 times over! (lol). All 3 of her breeds herd (OMG!). In other words, she's a herding fool.

Strangers who are going upstairs with weird looking things in their hands and arms need to be controlled (probably in HER mind). Strangers moving the furniture around is not an ordinary occurrence in the house so she most likely became alarmed about it. By barking at them, I would imagine she thinks she's telling them they shouldn't be doing these things in her house. She's obviously not comfortable with unknown people doing odd behaviors. She doesn't trust them, but she certainly trusts you in these situations. Now that you know she reacts like this, next time prevent her from being in the room when "strange things happen" that she's not sure about with guests.

You said that she's shy. Remember that shyness is actually fear. It generally doesn't present itself with extreme fear or reactivity, but a shy dog is a dog that lacks self-confidence. After I finish writing to you, I'l make sure there's an article here about building a dog's self-confidence so you can read about how to get her to feel better about herself.

When we talk about bite inhibition, we're talking about how much pressure a dog bites with. When we teach puppies to have good bite inhibition, we're trying to teach them to use NO pressure when they bite. When herding dogs herd sheep, they bite at their ankles and hocks. A good herding dog that has good bite inhibition will never injure a sheep. My BC took sheep herding lessons. He did puncture a woman's hand when I first got him at 14 months old, but when he went on sheep, he never broke a sheep's skin to make it bleed. Puppies who are taken from their littermates prior to 8 weeks old generally lack good bite inhibition because it's the littermates who teach each other this.

You stated that your dog has never bitten, but appears to be "trying to". Tell me what is preventing her from biting? I think if she wanted to bite, she would and could. Dogs rarely choose to bite someone unless they're really provoked. So, maybe if your guests had shooed her away with one of those suitcases, you might have seen a more aggressive response from her in defense of herself. I really wouldn't have blamed her, but we certainly don't want our dogs to bite anyone.

I would make sure Tanna has plenty of outlets to expend her herding energies.
I'll bet she'd be a good agility dog too. Give her a job to do (sheep herding lessons, agility, flyball, obedience training, etc.) and that will keep her satisfied so she'll be less likely to herd things that don't need to be herded.

Hope this helps!

Renee-

Your advice is well taken - I have been hoping you might respond.

A little more background might help: Tanna is a rescued Border Collie/AusShep/GSD? mix who we adopted 8 months ago at the age of one. No information on her history, but she is generally a shy, 'submissive', but friendly dog with some leash aggression in the last 2 months.

I clicker-train her daily on walks and have recently taught her 'Look", where when she looks in my eyes, she gets a click and a treat. I do this nearly everytime a bike, rollerblader or dog goes by. If for some reason, I've forgotten my clicker and treats, she gets a yes! and praise. We are showing improvement most days.

In response to your comments about people in our house- it sounds like you think it is a fear response. That helps me understand. We had friends stay at our house this weekend, and she was very friendly to them, until they started taking their suitcases up the stairs. Then the barking started. Only with the suitcases. She settled down and was her usual loving self afterwards, but the next day they moved the couch around so we could watch slides and she went nuts again. If I move the couch or the suitcases, it's fine, she doesn't react at all. Only if the guests do it. ???? This is the part I don't really get.

The question that is really burning in my mind is - if herding dogs nip ankles while chasing bikes, etc, does that indicate poor bite inhibition? While Tanna has not bitten anyone, I certainly see her trying when she is in that mode.

Thank you for taking the time to answer me! I am utterly grateful.

Jennifer