car chasing border collie?

Question

my two year old border collie chases cars while on the lead but at my dads farm which runs along a very busy road and she is in the field of the lead she doesnt bother one bit about the cars
Do you think she is just trying to big and brave on the lead?i live in the middle of know where so she really doesnt see cars that often.

Answer 1

A Border Collie is the most intelligent dog you can have. It ranks up there with the top five; two of the others that I remember is the French Poodle and the German Shepherd.
The breed,(Border Collie) is a herder! Before anything else you should learn to understand the herders viewpoint.
Everything is fair game for herding....from squirrels to sheep and every thing in between. That includes bicycles, ski-doos, cars, and trucks! Your dog isn't chasing the cars she's trying to herd the damn things!
As intelligent as she is the dog doesn't see an inanimate object in an automobile. She see's a freaking animal out of context to her universe and she's doing her best as well as her most ignorant (what's a dog know from the alphabet eh?) and damndest to put her wee world back in order.
I've been fortunate that my dog doesn't herd cars but her back yard is in perfect order as far as her territory goes.
I've trained her to stay within the boundries of our yard. Perhaps that has a lot to do with her lack of interest with cars. You can train your dog to leave the cars alone but there are many different ways. I can't advise you on one or the other but I can say she's SMART. So one way or the other you should have no problems finding the answer to her herding problem. But you have to come up with it because you know your dog better than anyone else.
I wish you well in your endeavers because it could hurt the wee canine if she doesn't learn that cars are a no no.

Answer 2

I think your chosen answer was the best one, though I would love to point out this: I'm pretty sure I know why your border collie isn't interested in the cars when it's at the farm - are there any animals on the farm?

Just the wide open spaces would be more interesting to it than the cars, but if there are also animals, such as cows, sheep etc. then there's no doubt cars are the last thing on her mind.

I also agree that she is probably just attempting to 'herd' the cars.

I hope to have a border collie of my own one day whom I will train in tricks and agility.

Answer 3

We had one called Vicky. at about the same age I saw the postman running one day looking over his shoulder and asked him why?. "So would you" he said "if you had to watch out for your dog", "she gets me if she gets the chance, and she's nipped my ankles more than once"
Car tyres were another and had to stop chasing the post van. She loved the binmen though and waited every Thursday, they always jumped out to feed her. That was when we lived out on a farm.
Think you are probably right about the bravado, ours was the best ratter and the biggest chicken, but the most loyal and loving dog, I couldn't have another, got too upset when her back legs went.

Answer 4

Even though your pet has a huge farm to run on, dogs still like to go out somewhere new. It will help if you take your pet on walks, good long walks! This type of breed has endless energy and needs to release it someway, the behavior that she is starting to exhibit is stress starting to build up. You dog is a working breed and needs to keep busy.

Answer 5

Yes it would make more sense if she was "herding" the cars near your farm but she is probably being protective of you as she is on the lead and the car is (in her eyes) threatening your well being.

Answer 6

border collies are renowned for the herding instinct that they are born with,she may well be training you to follow suit and showing you how to herd things whilst you have hold of the lead.

Answer 7

this is a trait of border collies .to stop them every time they pull through a small cup of water over them .they are very clever dogs and learn quickly not to do this.

Answer 8

dogs have some strange habits