Border Collies are sensitive dogs
I’ve always maintained that hitting or yelling at a dog in anger does very little good to correct behaviors. When it comes to training or correcting a bad behavior positive reinforcement and an even keel are the way to go. When dealing with a Border Collie I would say this is doubly true. Border Collies are sensitive dogs…far more so than any other breed I’ve had before. This breed is so darn smart, strong willed and alert they respond much better to redirection. You’ve got to take that energy in them and redirect it to something else. On top of that, and I really do not know if this is a breed trait or just our dog, Border Collies seem to be amazingly sensitive to their owners. They aim to please so much that when they feel they have done something wrong or disappointed you it can literally be seen in their face and body language. Of course I have had other dogs in the past that have been in tune with human emotions (happy, sad, sick, etc) but nothing anywhere close to our Border Collie.
I think the first time that this really showed itself was when Ned the Border Collie was around 8 months old. I was in the middle of a kitchen remodel at our home and I was using one of those battery operated finish nailers. These are amazing handy tools to have around! So it was a Saturday morning, the wife was out at the store and Ned was supervising my work. While putting up a piece of trim I managed to shoot a finish nail right through my thumb. I shot the nail through the trim and into the wall where it struck the head of another nail in the framing. The tip of the finish nail bent around and came out the side of the trim, entered the tip of my thumb and stuck out through the thumbnail. This was, to say the least, shockingly painful.
I roared, yanked my thumb off the nail, dropped the finish nailer onto the stove (which made a hell of a racket) and went to the sink to clean the wound. If you have even done something this dumb you may know how amazingly painful it can be. My thumb felt like it was the size of a soda can and was throbbing to beat the band. Of course the wife comes home right about this time, sees the blood all over the place and sort of freaks out a little bit. Long story short we cleaned it out and bandaged it up (and yes, I lost the thumbnail) and figured it was time for a break from the remodeling project.
We found our Border Collie upstairs, in a corner of a room as far away from the kitchen as he could get. We had never really seen him in such a state. I figure it was because of the noise from the tool hitting the stove that scared him however not so. As time went on we realized that he was so intone with our moods and emotions that we could correct his behavior simply using our tone of voice. For example on the rare occasion we caught him chewing on something, after he got out of the puppy phase, he was not supposed to we would say, not yell, “Awww…Ned.” in a sarcastically disappointed voice. His ears would drop, and he would slink off to a corner. He knew he was doing something incorrect and responded to our tone of voice. This trend has continued to the point where the dog knows and responds to happy, sad, approving, disappointed and excited tones of voice.
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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
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.”
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
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!
Actually, it was this sensitivity which led me to get my Border Collie, Bishop. He is able to detect my seizures up to an hour before they happen. He will come and sit on me, lay on me, anything to make sure I don’t move. He has even resorted to laying on my cane so I can’t get up or walk anywhere.
When he does something, I don’t yell, or raise my voice, or get angry, I simply say, “Bishop has something.” It doesn’t even have to be to anyone in particular, even him. He immediately drops it, and gets this droopy-ear head drop look like, “What? I don’t have anything…I’m innocent…oh, this? It’s just…happened to be under my foot…and…” at which point he will get up and slink off to lay by the patio door.
Bishop responds to me better than anyone in the house, and if he is doing something he’s not supposed to, all I have to do is look at him and he comes up to me and puts his head on my lap to apologize.
He also has this habit of hugging me. I mean literally putting his front legs, one on each shoulder, around me and laying his head on top of them on one side or the other. He does this when I’m sad, or not feeling well.
I have a neighbor who owns a Border Collie, and a lab mix. They’re both very sweet and friendly. A few weeks ago I offered to bring them each a large bone (we had purchased 1/2 a steer and asked for lg. bones to occasionally give my German Shepherd Dog/Bernese Mountain dog (that probably has a bit of Border Collie in there somewhere). She said she would love to have some. I took a couple down to them and they were great. Well, they apparently finished off one,and my neighbor did not get rid of the one that was left. Anyway, last week she called and said they had a huge fight. She hit them repeatedly on their heads with a sprinkler head bending the steel. I was apalled, and told her to never, ever, ever strike an animal on the head (much less anywhere else). Now she’s angry with me and has said she’d treat her animals anyway she felt necessary. So, was I out of line here?
Dina,
That is amazing he can detect seizures before they happen…I’ve heard about this but never first hand. Even more incredible is how he works to keep you still before they happen. Talk about a sensitive dog…you’re lucky to have him around!