Collie and cyclists

[dancerdog]

We have just got a rescue collie.

We have had 5 rescue collies before, all middle-aged, all very cool and well mannered.

New dog is lovely, extremely mild - indoors. Outside she is hyper-alert, she is has a stronger collie instinct than the others. We have to get used to that and work on it. However, she has a real aversion to cyclists, as in going off her head.

Thinking of training classes, and maybe a behaviourist, but can anyone point me to a sound, on-line site which can provide practical advice on how to start to deal with this? Or has anyone got some good advice to start me off? Suggestions welcome!

Is it herding behaviour she's displaying? If so, it's incredibly common. I walk a large number of collies (dog walker) and without exception, they all show herding instinct around traffic and bikes. Some are better than others but I've never met one who doesn't focus to some extent on passing movement.

I have a gsd and have managed to stop runner & cyclist chasing and am 90% of the way there on car chasing.
Id recommend looking up marina miradoli on fb. Shes a specialist collie trainer

Thanks!
We have been incredibly lucky with collies, never had one with the movement fixation. It's not herding, but she can spot movement at 1000 yards. And bikes! She's like a spinning top on speed.

You say it isn't herding but that's exactly what it sounds like to me. Collies have an inbuilt drive to herd and chase - it's what they've been bred to do for hundreds of years.

If they can't herd sheep (which most pet collies can't) they'll find something else to herd instead - children, family members, cats, other dogs, birds, bikes, cars, trains...

It sounds like you have a collie who needs to work - is there any option to work her somehow? If not as a sheepdog, in agility or something like hoopers?

https://collieconsultant.co.uk/2021/08/28/preventing-border-collie-car-chasing/

Look upDingbatt Collie Training. They are doing a free border collie summit this week with loads of webinars videos and information on the collies.

Collies work and act on movement so a cyclist going past with kick off this behaviour in collies. really really easy to prevent but do get a trainer (not a behaviourist) who is used to working with collies.

My dog is half border collie, I taught her to herd large balls into a goal, it’s a sport/game called treiball, it helped to direct her herding instincts into that rather than allow her to try to herd everything else.

she also loves pushing around the wobble wag giggle ball by jml, though she’s definitely obsessed with that ball, so she doesn’t have access to it often.

giving the instinct somewhere to go, and rewarding constructive use of it should mitigate the problem.

pps are correct that it’s almost definitely herding instinct, unfortunately, most people with collies don’t bother to direct the herding instinct at all, and expect general exercise/work like constant games of fetch or doing agility to work. IME there’s no better solution for unwanted herding behaviour than channelling the behaviour the dog is exhibiting into something constructive. Look up treiball on YouTube, it’s fairly simple to teach, you just need the right ball for the dog, there are a few exercise ball type ones for horses which a lot of collie owners use, my dog is a lurcher so she punctured these almost immediately (much more bitey than a pure collie) and has to use basketballs, but there is an American company collieball which makes sturdy large diameter balls with protective covers.

Jenzine She has shown no interest in playing with anything so far, but will persevere. She had some teeth extracted before we got her, maybe she might have a tender mouth?
IngGenius why would you say get a trainer not a behaviourist?
I will give that link a try, thanks.

As I have never had a lunging collie, I didn't consider it herding, so I have learnt something today. She's approx 8 years old, possibly older, and only wants to sleep indoors.

We are going to try a field run to see how she is off lead, not sure yet if she has recall, although she is now answering to her new name.

On the plus side, she has really started to relax since we took her home. She was terrified at first, as she had been a stray apparently (but possibly a farm dog? we don't know), then Dogs Trust, then foster care, then us. Her 'personality' is starting to show now. All in all, she is a lovely dog.

It does sound like herding instinct, but obviously it’s not been trained/refined so just looks like lunging.
If they are a bit more switched on, I’d really recommend agility or similar, something to really give them a job and something to think about.

OP It is not a behavioural issue it is a training issue. A very very common training issue. If this is your only issue it is a training issue. Be prepared for this not to stay with cyclists, joggers, and cars may also get the same response from your dog. You are lucky to have had 5 collies and not had this before tbh

You dont get in a behaviourist to teach a dog to walk to heel for example.

Totally disagree about doing agility with a very herdy collie! Collies find movement stimulating, so putting them in a field where the owner is running and the dog has to copy just ups the adrenaline levels.

You need calmer activities scentwork, trieball for example.

I have 6 collies at the moment and foster and rehabilitate for several collie rescues.

You need to bring calm into her day. No ball chasing, no high energy games. But you can hide the ball for her to find, you can encourage a wait before sending her off for the ball. You can scatter her food.

You will see her using her eyes to start with (typical collie) rather than sniff it out. As she learns to sniff it out she will get calmer and enjoy the game more.

I would use a clicker to help with the lunging usually sorted in a few sessions. If you have a trainer that knows what they are doing

I agree you need a trainer who understands collies and how they see the world. It’s not a difficult thing to deal with as long as it’s done in the right way. I’ve helped several new collie owners with it and yes, it’s more normal than not!

Thanks again, plenty to think about.

IngGenius Six collies!