Roger00713

Hi. I have 2 female Bearded Collies. One almost 7 years old (Mishka) and the other almost 2 years old (Mylie). We dont have much trouble with them and They are both fairly obedient especially Mylie as we have had her since a puppy (That doesnt mean she is perfect though, far from it!). Due to the amount of energy they both have we make sure that we take them for a walk every morning. Once home we dont hear another word from them all day. My issue is that they have now come to expect and demand their morning walk and as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning they start to go a bit crazy. Mylie especially. She barks and carries on and get Mishka worked up as well. Whilst were getting ready to go both dogs are never further than a few inches from us the whole time. Once we have the leads on them they start dragging us to the door and out onto the street. Mishka remains a bit excited for a few hundred meters but Mylie pulls the whole walk and doesnt tire even after a few kms. This is the only time of the day and only event that Mylie gets this worked up and excited about. We have tried walking them up and down the back yard before we leave to settle them down but this doesn't work. We have tried taking treats with us and we have also tried a halter. I think that the whole thing stems from the initial excitement. Can anyone please offer some advice how to stop the excitement and also how to stop her from pulling all the way around the streets. My wife is finding it very hard to control 2 strong excited dogs especially when they see another dog or even worse a cat! Thanks for any advice in advance.

Both dogs get walked once or twice a day and Mishka is generally a very happy playful dog. You would never know that she is anxious until something happens and she backs away but Mylie will be curious and check it out. If the trains stopped coming past i would think that she may not show any signs of anxiousness as she loves her new backyard and has a great time with her new frind Mylie. I will speak to a professional before trying anything. Thanks to everyone for your help. I have attached a couple of photos for you.

That sounds like a great idea. When we first moved in they used to sit at the door and try and see the train but couldnt see anything. I will start taking them down thereand see if that helps. Until the weather improves they will have to be either inside dogs or outside dogs. They get too wet and dirty to come inside the house. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for the advice. We have already had a professional visit our house. Anxiousness wasnt really discussed though so perhaps it is worth another try.

Hi. Recently my wife and I have moved into our new home. For the first 3 months we kept our 2 Bearded Collies inside whilst we were home and at my brother in laws outside whilst we were at work. During this time we worked very hard to create a safe and clean environment in our backyard. As you can imagine having 2 beardies inside all the time created much stress and i was very much so looking forward to the day when we put them in our backyard. When that day came i discovered 2 things. The first thing being that Mylie who is 9 months old enjoys digging the grass. I quickly put a stop to that as she is a fairly obedient dog otherwise. The other thing i found is that Mishka, 4 1/2 years old enjoys scratching at the glass door. We leave the rear garage roller door open for them as well so they have some shade and shelter. She also scratches at the internal garage door which she has now created a hole right through which i have had to patch up. When she can see us in the kitchen she sometimes scratches at glass door but the biggest problem is that we have a train line close by and when the train toots is horn she freaks out and scratches uncontrollably. She isn't fazed by the trains that don't toot. She has always been an anxious dog and scratched at the door at our old house. She has even been on anti anxiety medication to help with the move but we have since taken her off that. Even on the medication she still scratched when the train tooted. She loves the back yard and seems to really enjoy herself out there running around with the other dog but she completely different when the train goes past. Can anyone recommend something to acclimatize her to the sound of the trains and also a way to stop her scratching at the doors in general. I would love to replace the garage door but obviously there is no point whilst she is still scratching. I have already tried attaching balloons to the door as i knew that if she popped one it would give her a fright but the 2 days i did that i came home and she had sticky tape stuck to her so it obviously didn't work. Any help would be very much appreciated as i love my dogs and want to work out a way that we can all live happily together. Current stress levels are still very high. Thanks in advance. Paul

Thanks for the response. I have thought about crate training. I have organised a trainer to come out ASAP and in the meantime she is booked into the vet this afternoon for a consult and will probably start on anti anxiety medication whilst we help her work through it. Hoping this will help.

Hi. I am in need of some urgent help with my Bearded Collie. We have 2 female Beardies. Mishka (4 years old) and Mylie (6 months old). Mishka was purchase by my wife as a puppy and did puppy school but never really took the training any further. She is a very anxious dog who has been known to jump over 2.4 meter fences at the sound of thunder as well as scratched a hole in our cedar door during another storm. For the first 2 years Mishka lived with my wife before we were married. Even then she was very anxious but nothing was ever done about it. Due to moving into a rental when we were married we could no longer have Mishka living with us and she stayed at the same house with my brother in law. Beside feed her he never really did much else for her. My wife would always go around there and walk her most days but she was then sent to the back yard to live. Over the last 6 months we have spent more time than ever before with her in preparation for her coming to live with us in our new home which was under construction. We also got Mylie who is a perfect dog in almost every way and is very well trained. Still a puppy though. Inside the house they both respect and listen to me. We moved into our house just over a week ago and have made it a priority to get concrete, fences and grass in the back yard so the dogs can spend the days out there whilst we are at work. This is still about 3 weeks away. Whilst we are at work they are now having to live in the garage which between us is only 3.5 days. The first time we left them in there which was only for 2 hours Mishka scratched the architrave and chewed a bit of the door. The second time (a full day) Mishka has ripped the entire door apart. I had never seen anything like it when i came home from work last night. 1 more day in there and she will have worked her way through the entire door. When we are home she is a very well behaved and is great company. My concern is that even once we can put them in the backyard they will still scratch at the back door as this is what she did at her old house. When she scratches she does so until she hurts herself. I know there are training methods to help but they are all long term and i dont know how training is going to help when it when we arent home to train her that is the problem. Any advice would be very much appreciated as we are at the point were we are thinking that our home might not be the best place for her anymore.