Comments on: Border Collies are very sensitive dogs

By: admin

admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:17:40 +0000

Agree on the easier said than done part…we’ve gotten better at recognizing/understanding the behavior. I think we used to make too much of it which, of course, probably made it worse. It’s now to the point where the behavior is much less apparent but still there!

By: karen barry

karen barry — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:55:26 +0000

I was searching for websites and actually put in google can a border collie get weird … what you described above is exactly what my 3 yr old border does and it seems to be getting worse as he gets older … it is driving me nuts like in what in the heck is wrong with you. I have a boxer and a lab also who don’t have any problems, etc. This BC is on a flyball team so he gets lots of exercise and also does frisbee, but even in frisbee, something will set him off and he won’t go after the frisbee instead will run in the house. Occasionally I have to raise my voice at the other two dogs and then I go, shoot as i see the BC take off to crawl in a corner. I have talked to someone in flyball who has a BC and they laughed at me, like in yah they are really temperamental … their advice was just ignore the behavior … easier said then down

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30:13 +0000

Jo,

It is a weird thing to see this happen…they are so sensitive. We went through a minor phase of what you’re talking about. As for advice I’d have a chat with your vet for a few options. We had some decent results by doing this: Whenever the dog would get sensitive over something that was not directed at him we’d make a big point to call him over, reassure him, pet him…that sort of thing. I know this is really not an answer to the problem but it seemed to help. Now when he gets a little weird about something instead of thinking it’s directed against him he sort of waits for a second to see if we reassure him that it’s no big deal. Even a “It’s okay buddy!” seems to let him know he’s not in “trouble.”

By: Jo Skabara

Jo Skabara — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:55:05 +0000

Help! My Border Collie is so sensitive to my family’s emotions she has started running away (she even tried to jump out of the car window last week) whenever the children argue. It’s become so bad we can’t even use particular tones of voice with each other without her disappearing upstairs. She’s such a good dog, she never gets shouted at - she’s now 2 and a half years old and has never been shouted at. She was trained through a reward system and any unwanted behaviour (house-training accidents for example) were ignored. Most of the time she’s a happy, life-loving dog but I am worried about her sensitivity, particularly if the door is open or she’s out in the garden and she hears any disagreement she just disappears.
Any advice gratefully received.
Jo