All you lovely BC owners.... my BC getting over excited in classes?

[jenniferjane21]

Hi, I would really appreciate your thoughts on this.

I have had my 13 month old BC girl since she was 12 weeks old. I have taken her to obedience class weekly in a hall since she was tiny and also to an outdoor agility class most weeks. My concern is that as time goes on, she is getting less and less settled in both classes.

It began with barking as she wanted to get going and not wait her turn. I tried saying "No!" firmly with no success, then I tried a stone shaker, but she ignored it. I tried a water squirter eventually and she was terrified of it, cowering behind me and I'm really not keen to use that.

Then she started reacting to every excited call that other owners made and to every running dog, lunging and wanting to join them. If there was an owner using a squeaky ball or a whistle, she was a nightmare and I was exhausted by the end of the session.

Finally, starting in an exercise where handlers weave between people and their dogs in a line, she has started jumping up at people and nipping their clothes / ?them. I'm upset by this as she has never nipped anywhere else at all. The vet confirmed that he has done several procedures on her and has never seen her turn on someone.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised at this behaviour, she is a border collie after all! So of course she is going to react to movement. She probably finds both types of class too stimulating? I'm just not sure whether to stop going altogether, which seems a shame as believe it or not, she seems to love going and starts wagging her tail as soon as she gets out of the car and pulling to go in! Also the trainers seem to think she is naughty and one in particular has asked me to keep away from all the other dogs. I find this a bit odd - I understand that my dog has tried to nip people in the class recently, but out of the class, she is the most non-aggressive dog you can imagine. She rarely barks at home.

I haven't taken her to classes for the last couple of weeks and I have to be honest, I've enjoyed her more as she is a fab dog most places... just not in a class!

[EasyToEatTiger]

We have a BC puppy. We have 3 older collie dogs up to 17 or so. One of the younger dogs was hell on legs and it took a long, long time and masses of phone calls, trainers and behaviourists, whole cooked chickens, rope burns and more until I found a sheepdog trainer. I think that some BCs don't respond as other dogs to pet dog training as they are not bred to be pets. Not all shepherds are demons with their dogs, but they need to have dogs that will work for them, so unless your BC is paying attention to you and only you, you have a potential nightmare.
Our class leader is a behaviourist and has recommended we take pup to a shepherd for training. It is the same person who cured horror dog and I have made an appointment. I have also realised that we are dealing with collie behaviour so hopefully we can start making progress. If you like I will pm the details of our trainer and they may be able to find someone closer to home.
I think dog training is one of the Dark Arts despite what people say about new knowledge.

[jenniferjane21]

A PM would be great, thank you so much x