Wheels, Runners, Herding Dog!!

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Kathleen
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:06 am

Wheels, Runners, Herding Dog!!

Post by Kathleen »

I've been walking my previously-unsocialized 2-year old sheltie frequently at a local dog beach. She has a very strong herding drive and one of the toughest challenges I"m having is trying to keep her under any kind of control at all, anytime a bicycle, runner, or anything - even a pulled cooler - on wheels passes or comes anywhere remotely "near" us. This is by no means the only issue I'm having with walking her right now, but it is the tougbest. -- Even having her sit and receive a treat - even chicken - to redirect her focus hasn't worked either. Any suggestions? Please?? Also, should I make the 30-minute drive to walk her there - which is the only place we have to encounter many of those distractions - every day for her walk, or only 2-3 times per week and the days between at less active places?
Thanks in advance.
Fundog
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Re: Wheels, Runners, Herding Dog!!

Post by Fundog »

I think you should avoid the beach for awhile-- a couple of months, perhaps-- and just go to more quiet/less active places for now, where she will be less stressed, and where you will have more simple opportunities to desensitize her to the things that freak her out. For example, just in a quiet subdivision there will be at least one opportunity for her to encounter a baby stroller, a bicycle, or a car-- and just one opportunity to meet just one of those things is plenty to start with! Then... when you see a baby stoller or a bicycle coming down the street, cross the street to the opposite sidewalk-- distance is key here-- and try distracting her and gaining her focus on you from far away from the "scary thing." Keep your ears open for things approaching from behind as well, and always be on the lookout for an "out" where you can gain some distance while you wait for the "scary thing" to pass. As she gets better at handling things in a quiet area, you can gradually take her to places with slightly more traffic, leading up to the beach as the "Grand Prize."
If an opportunity comes to you in life, say yes first, even if you don't know how to do it.
Kathleen
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:06 am

Re: Wheels, Runners, Herding Dog!!

Post by Kathleen »

Thanks, but she's not scared. Shelties are a herding breed. She wants to herd them. Thank you, however, for your reply, and your suggestion about starting someplace quieter for now. I don't recommend though, that anyone with a dog that wants to chase things on wheels, walk them before they have it well under control, anywhere there are cars. I'll be sticking to the parks and beach, for now, thanks.
emmabeth
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Re: Wheels, Runners, Herding Dog!!

Post by emmabeth »

It doesnt particularly matter whether shes scared or highly stimulated to chase - the point is the stress level is so high she CANT listen and comply and focus on you.

Because she cant do that, she cannot learn what you are attempting to teach.

So, avoid. Stress levels take days and days to go down, especially in dogs like this.

Walk in quieter places, at quieter times of day - use a secure harness and a double ended training leash that fixes to the harness and to her collar and re-do walking on a loose leash - check out our method on this in the Articles section of the forum, it puts the onus on teh dog to maintain the slack leash and encourages them to be attentive to the owner at all times.

If you are walking in a secure harness and collar and double ended leash, unless wher eyou live there is no sidewalk/pavement I dont see the issue in walking where you may see the occasional car, though you do need initially to seek out somewhere where you can get a good distance from them to allow her stress levels to reduce.

In conjunction with the above, spending time exercising her brain with clicker training, puzzle solving etc to tire her out mentally and improve her bond with you and her responsiveness to you will help.

You will then need to reintroduce the sight of 1 'trigger' thing, or potentially even just the sound of it, at a low level or at a long distance and see if she can listen and take rewards from you and ignore that.

How are you fulfilling her need to chase things in an acceptable way, whats her outlet for her chase drive?
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
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