I need to rehome don't I.....

[letsallcountsheep]

I have a 7 month old Collie cross. She is lovely, well trained and full of energy.

She came into season about 3 weeks ago, the temperament has changed a little, she's become a little possessive over me and food

2 incidents worry me, when my daughter and I were stroking her my daughter leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek and she nipped her nose, she sometimes gets over excited giving kisses but it scared me enough to pull her away and smack on her nose to stop her. The second happened this morning, I was making my dogs lick mat, I was walking to the freezer to set it and my cat(12) walked across my path, my dog snapped and went for her, she didn't actually get my cat as she ran away. I locked my dog in the kitchen while I checked my cat.

I have a dog walker while I work part time in an office. So she's not home alone all day, she says both incidents are completely out of character and could be because she is in season but I don't think I can relax with her now.

I mentioned we might have to rehome her to my daughter and she was heartbroken as am I, I tried to explain it to her but she's SN and 7 loves our puppy to bits. 😢

WWYD rehome now or see how she is after her season has finished. I will be getting her spayed so no more seasons after this

Rehome the poor thing, this has disaster written all over it.
DD should not be kissing the dog or in its face.
Puppy does not need 3hrs walking- you’ll damage its development. If it really did need that much, how many more Hours are in your plan around home/work to exercise it as an adult as it’ll need a lot more.
Walker clearly has no clue due to the above and suggested training methods yet you are deferring to them for advice.
If you keep it you need to invest in training classes to educate yourself and the dog, however it’s a working breed in a domestic situation - it’s the wrong dog and from what you’ve posted it’s with the wrong person.
Be kind to all of you and rehome it

*Happhappyhappy *Thanks I will take a look.

So nice to read helpful, useful and constructive advice rather than so many people throwing unhelpful insults around. I will apply some of these techniques to my dog as well, thank you for sharing your expertise!

@HelenWheels it’s ‘just a training method’ for ignorant people who think cruelty is the same as training.

Nothing high horse about pointing out your darling husband abuses animals in the name of training & you support him in this.

Piss poor owners like you and OP who think cruelty is training are the reason dog incidents are rocketing. There are rarely bad dogs but very frequently bad owners.

You absolutely should not be tapping your puppy on the nose!

Have you got experience with collies or working dog breeds?

I grew up with collie crosses, and my brother has working collies, so I adore them but they’re not easy dogs in comparison to a lot of breeds. They need a lot of time, exercise, training and companionship - if they don’t get that, their behaviour can become very challenging very quickly.

Tapping/smacking on the nose is an outdated method of training that isn’t suitable, esp for a dog with collie in it. They’re bred to have a v strong bond with one person - when you tap them on the nose you hurt them and damage/undermine that bond, which is particularly bad as they can be reactive if anxious.

Please learn more about collies and seek support from a trainer with experience of the breed if you’re not going to rehome. They’re beautiful dogs with so much to give if you get it right.

Your unregulated, take a course off the internet dog walker recommended hitting your dog? It breaks all trust with the dog, please rehome it. You hit an animal it makes you an abuser, you should be nowhere near any animal with that kind of attitude.

*Avatartar *Doesn't get 3 hours a day walking, she gets 2X1 hour outdoors, exploring, free to venture when she pleases. I don't march her round like a soldier. Morning walk is 20 mins max to stretch her legs and do her business 🙄

I can really understand why you might think that - that's very much a comment about the dog walker, not you.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the puppy. They're always a bit hyper and anxious during a season, and the breed as a whole tends to be a bit nippy and high-alert. There's nothing wrong with your 7 year old either - of course she wants to kiss the fluffy dog. She just needs to learn not to, and that requires a lot of patience and repetition with any 7 year old, possibly more for yours depending on the nature of her SEN.

The only thing you've done wrong is not realise until now that dog training has moved on a bit. You're definitely not the only one to come onto this forum in that position. Mumsnetters love dogs and there's always a bit of a pile-on, but it's a pile-on that includes a lot of helpful stuff if you can get past the impatience.

See if you can set some time aside to do some research on dog training. I would definitely invest in some time for you and your daughter with a trainer who does clicker training or some other positive reinforcement technique. I think you'll need to try to make sure that your daughter isn't alone with the dog until she's a bit older. So there's some hard graft to put in but it's nothing you can't do.

You don't have to re-home, but you do need to change your management of your dog.

Hitting her will make her more aggressive, not less.

Work on teaching your dc better behaviour around dogs, hugs and kisses aren't a good idea.

Have you considered getting advice from a behaviorist?

*CarterBeatsTheDevil *Thanks, no she's not left alone with my daughter but that's the same with any dog.

We've done bell training so far, she rings when needs to be let out, treat and pet for recall, leave command etc

I don't understand why people get puppies then talk about rehoming them through no fault of the dog... this is a puppy, not a toy, and she is in season. You DO NOT allow your child to get in the dog's face, kiss it, etc... and then you punish the dog by hitting it?! And as pp have said, how long is the dog being left at home alone for (dog walker or not)? I'm so sick of irresponsible people getting dogs with no understanding of what is involved in being a good dog owner.

Stompythedinosaur no I haven't, this has all started over the past couple of weeks while in season.

but it scared me enough to pull her away and smack on her nose to stop

I don't believe for a second this was merely a "tap" as you're now claiming. Whether you usually 'tap' or not, you were scared and I think your first description that you smacked her is the accurate one.

I've dogs for 20 years, my last died recently. There was indeed widespread advice to tap noses...even to tap rumps with rolled up newspapers! Horrible.

20 years ago, even 15 years ago, there wasn't such easy access to modern training & behavioural knowledge. Thankfully the internet has grown since then. It will be sometime before I'm ready for another dog, but when I am I'll be making sure I'm versed in the most up-to-date training techniques.

Sounds like you're open to learning so please put aside time to read widely into force-free training and I would strongly advise enrolling in training classes. It isn't enough to just note that certain techniques have been disproved, you need to develop replacement behaviours for dealing with unwanted behaviour.

visualfeast please read my posts, I work 5 hours a day 30 mins away. She is alone for a couple of hours at a time.

OP, I have a border collie and had a similar incident when she was in season, she snapped at DH who was fussing her and must have been annoying her.

We had her spayed and have never had any other incidents.

No puppies nip. 7 months she is in teenage stage. Get a dog trainer. She needs to learn what’s acceptable but that works both ways with your child too.

Shallana that's reassuring, thank you

Yes thank you, I can read, can you? I have read most of the other comments, plus all of yours, that’s why I noticed the inequalities in your 2 posts re. smacking and tapping!

did you not read my post??

I just don't have the words for some people. A 7 month old collie cross has been snappy because she's in season and the owner is looking to get rid of her because of it. Awful

Yes I think you should rehome her because you clearly don't know a thing about dogs.

I agree with this too. If you are going to let your child kiss the dog and ‘roll around the floor’ with her, it’s on you if there is an accident. It’s not the dogs fault. Either learn about dogs and dog ownership, or seriously consider re -homing to someone who already has this knowledge..

Ah standard MN MO, flame OP.....great advice hidden in there .....OP acknowledges great advice and taken on board.....flame on again

There are a lot of people with very high standards when it comes to keeping a dog (far far higher then social services have with regard to children) and I think you're being treated very harshly here by some of them.

You obviously love your dog, she gets lots of exercise and stimulation, and you're open to learning how to do things a better way, so I don't agree that you should be blacklisted from ever owning a dog.

Neutering will hopefully calm her down, and I'm glad your daughter is OK.

Please join the Dog Training Advice and Support Facebook group and read their guides https://fbdtas.com/ – they are excellent and explain why force free training is the only way (a tap or a smack on the nose is NOT force free training and will likely result in a more reactive dog). They have a lot of information on dogs in season, dogs and children, dogs and cats – and would be a great place to start. I would also get rid of the dog walker. They are not using force free methods of training and if they are advising you to hit your dog, who knows how they are treating the dog on walks.