Tips on dealing with a herding/working dog - a Kelpie X and herding-based aggression?

Question

When we first rescued her, we assumed she was a garden variety Rottie-Shep X with the ubiquitous black+tan markings... However, after first few weeks - became abundantly clear she's hard wired to herd and chase, and since been identified as likely being a Kelpie X (Austr. cattle dogs, black+tan, larger than the Blue Heeler).

She's a good dog, very intelligent, responsive and eager to please - HOWEVER.. her instincts often get the better of her .. this can be problematic with the abundance of squirrels and racoons outside the windows - but even more so during off leash play, where she wants to herd other dogs, which is often intimidating for some.. she also has a tendancy to escalate play rough housing by nipping and biting other dogs.. I can ususally see this behaviour coming, but want to control it.

-details: we're her third owners (at least), she was abused, very intelligent, I am clerly alpha athough she does try to compete .. w.my wife..thanks in advance for any tips or thoughts

thanks everybody,

as far as her not going off leash - wouldn't be really that fair to her, She's also extremely obedient when off leash and can even be called off in mid-chase.. 99% of the time she's fine - its only when there is a large cluster of rough-housing dogs (and I can ususally anticipate this).

The advice to deny her the opportunity to herd is an interesting one, I do let her "herd" barn swallows when they are season - which she REALLY enjoys (and apparently so do the birds, as they actively engage her..). I would hate to deny her one of her life's joys

oh yeah,

also as far as on leash - she tends to be MUCH MORE agressive, presuambly because she feels defensive while constrained (or attached to me)..

Answer 1

you guys seem to be pretty thoughtful pet owners and are fairly knowledgable about your pet.

i would recommend some training classes. that's great that you are the lead "dog", but your wife needs to get there too. i tried to help my husband become a pack leader with our dog, but it wasn't until we went to petsmart's training classes that he "got" it.
it's all about the energy that you exude to the dog.

anyway....as for the herding instinct. there are ways to correct this, however, i'm not sure what and i'd once again, recommend training classes.

it was funny, we were early for a class one day and we have an unusually large lab, well, our trainer asked us to stick around for a few minutes so we could meet a "herding" dog in her class before ours.
apparently, this other dog liked to "herd" the other dogs in the class. well, our dog met the other dog and we put them in the training ring together and my dog started herding the other dog!!

dogs are funny creatures and for your particular situation, i would check out training classes.
our petsmart classes were completely worth it and in fact, i would have paid more for them with all the attention we got and all that we learned!

take care.

Answer 2

Keep her on a long leash (10 feet or so) while she is playing with other dogs (unless it will tangle and cause injury to the dogs). You can then grab it and get physical control over her when things get out of hand. As soon as she gets too rough, remove her from the play area for 30 seconds. Then, let her go play again. If she immediately gets rough, take her out again for 30 seconds. Be sure to praise her and sometimes even grab her leash and give her a treat when she is playing nicely. This should teach her to modify her behavior so that she can keep having fun.

In the meantime, really work on teaching her to come when called, including coming away from distraction. Once she is a pro at that you will not need to use the leash at the dog park.

Finally, a hard-wired instinctive behavior will always exist in the dog. It may help if you give her an appropriate outlet for it. Depending on where you live you may be able to get her involved in herding, even on just a casual basis. Or, use her instinct by teaching her to herd her toys into one corner or putting your shoes in the closet (or whatever you can think of).

Answer 3

I've had a herding dog and you're not going to be able to do much about it, especially with a herder who nips. I strongly believe that obedience is not going to do anything to help this dog, unless you find one with a highly qualified trainer who understands herding dogs. Otherwise you'll do her more harm than good.

Does she really need to go to a dog park? Dog parks are not the ideal situation for a lot of breeds. Putting her on a long leash at a dog park around lots of other dogs is just asking for someone to get hurt. If you really want to take her to a dog park, keep her on a regular leash, have treats with you and reward her for good behaviour around any dog who comes near. Have you thought of clicker training? That might help.

I would stay away from dog parks if this was my dog, and try and find somewhere else for her to run. It sounds like you're really giving this dog a good home, so you now need to keep her safe.

By the way, letting her herd is not a good idea. My bearded collie did a little herding, but we had to stop because that just makes them want to herd even more.

Answer 4

I think that sounds like something that would be found in a pit bull answer.... I think it's wrong. Any dog is capable of killing and THAT is what needs to be taken into consideration. If we're not specifying whether or not the dog is killing a human vs. a smaller animal - then yes any breed is capable of it. I don't think aggression in particular needs to be taken more seriously in certain breeds - I think ANY dog with REAL aggression problems needs to be taken more seriously. When someone doesn't recognize that their little Maltese is aggressive because it's small and fluffy - that's a problem. I do think people need to take the size and power of their dog into consideration for other things. Example - my Doberman thinks he's 5 pounds (as most of them do) and he will go play with this 8 year old on our street but then it's almost like Quattro tries to jump into the kid's arms! So then I have to kind of tell both of them to calm down because Quattro's sheer size can do damage by accident. Do I need to take into consideration how much damage my dog can do on a human or other dog? Nope. If I did that then I would never own anything but a small breed. Humans should be staying away from my dog unless they ask permission to interact with him. So if a parent sees him playing with one kid and decides to tell their kid to go down the street and get babysat by the Doberman and Q knocks the kid over - not my problem. I'm not there to babysit every kid. Does a Rottie owner need to be more aware than a Cocker Spaniel owner? No. They both have to be equally aware if the dog is aggressive towards humans/animals. A crazy @ss Cocker Spaniel can do some pretty hefty damage too. Yes, everyone should take into consideration if they can physically handle their breed of choice. Good training definitely helps this but I mean a dog is a dog is a dog. If your 150 pound dog sees a bunny it wants to chase - bye bye training and bye bye flesh on your body! lol