7mth Border Collie Uncharacteristic Barking/aggression?

[Jupiter]

Hoping someone can enlighten me!

I have a 7mth old female border collie (sterilised one month ago). Has lead a very "charmed" life so far, lots of attention, 2 walks a day always in different places, heeeeapps of socialising (with dogs/people/men/kids) and training and is just a delightful little thing who adores everyone and who everyone adores back!

I've raised her with lots of love, lots of positive reinforcement and ignoring any unwanted behaviour and I have to say she's just amazing- we've managed to curb the jumping and the nipping thats quite characteristic of border collies and though she's very confident, she will listen to me always and has never shown any signs of aggression at all (not even barking)...until this last week.

nothings changed at home or to our routine...but this morning at the beach I was sitting putting my shoes back on when she rushed over towards a man doing sprints back and forth and started barking (aggressively? im not sure..) at him. I managed to call her back but she was quite intent on this man (who was just minding his own business!! i was so embarrassed!).

It doesn't seem to fit any of the reported "types" of aggression that i've been reading about...maybe its fear? or maybe just a phase in her development?

Is this something I should "ignore"? I was quite aggressive to her this morning - Cesar Milan style...which i'm not really sure about..just don't want this to become a habit!

Thanks!

[poodlefan]

Could be her second fear period.

Toss everything Cesar Milan does right out the window. You don't "cure" aggression with agression - you run a real risk of heightening it.

If it keeps happening, seek professional help but I'd be working on building confidence.

[Staffygirl88]

Could be her second fear period.

Toss everything Cesar Milan does right out the window. You don't "cure" aggression with agression - you run a real risk of heightening it.

If it keeps happening, seek professional help but I'd be working on building confidence.

Considering the amount of dogs Cesar Millan has rehabilitated, I wouldn't toss everything he does anywhere. He's not aggressive towards the dogs, he's dominant it's very different.

I do agree that if it gets worse, go to a local pro

[nurseclaire]

was it definately aggression? maybe it was play? i wouldnt worry too much unless it starts to happen a lot, maybe she just didnt like the man. I had a dog who loved everyone and everything except one particulat man, he never did anything to him and was a nice guy. sometimes dogs get a strange vibe from some people i think, like police dogs knowing to only attack the burglar

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My acdx used to try to herd anything that ran or moved at any speed faster than walking. This usually involved ankle nipping - most embarrasing. Was she herding? Then you need to work on "leave it", "stop", remote drop, and recall. Ideally you spot the moving critter (prey/herding trigger) before your dog does.

Or it could be the "second fear period" that goes with doggy adolescence. And then you might need to keep her on lead when you're not paying 100% attention. Or in the case of my dog, she needed to be on lead - even if I was paying attention. Cos adolescence means not doing what you're told when you're told - right?

Edited September 24, 2010 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[dancinbcs]

It is pretty normal for a lot of Borders to go through a second fear period around this time. I remember one of mine developing a thing about letterboxes and another one with garbage bins. They seem to suddenly see the world differently as if there are monsters lurking and they grow out of it pretty fast if you treat them as if they are just being silly. If they react to an object, I walk up to it and call them, encouraging them to sniff it until they realise there is nothing to worry about.

With a stranger it is a bit harder but if you again take the view that it is just a silly adolescent reaction and keep calm they usually take their cue from you and calm down.

The other problem of course is that this is a Border Collie and many will herd anyone or anything that moves, so if she was trying to herd the man she would have been frustrated because he was not going where she wanted him to. I never let my Borders anywhere near strangers that are running or bike riding. It is just not worth the risk of them possibly chasing someone one day.

The other possiblility with the situation you described is that she simply didn't like that man. I find bitches in particular very intuitive about people sometimes and tend to trust their judgement. If they suddenly take a dislike to someone, they usually have a good reason, even if you don't know what it is yet. I always let my bitches decide about buyers for their puppies. If the bitch doesn't like them, they don't get a puppy.

Without actually seeing how your puppy reacted it is hard to make a call on what caused it.

[aussielover]

it sounds like excitement or fear to me.

I would just call her over, pop her on lead and move away from the man. You could work up to moving a bit closer if it is actually fear, and reward her for calm behaviour.

[CaseyKay]

My well socialised young BC girl went through this about 8 months and it lasted a month or so (can't quite remember but she came on heat right after), we called it the "woo-woos". She had been a very easy puppy up to then, she is now 12 months and well back into happy confident puppy: "everyone is JUST SO NICE and I loves them". We got woo-woo with people and woo-woo with strange dogs and a pile of wood covered by a tarp caused woo-woo meltdown time on one memorable walk. I have another 2 older BC girls and neither of them did this!

[luvsdogs]

When I used to take my 1st bc to dog training the instructor at the time always insisted we work off lead. If anyone was doing jump/dumbell work with their dogs she'd take off towards them. I used to worry about it until I realised that she would get about a foot away from them & come back. She also had a strong dislike of some people & I had to always be aware of who was around us.

My present bc watches any dog that's running around/jumping at dog training & would like to take off after them if I let her. I've always thought of them being excited by the fast movement. Follow the above advice & watch her & learn her body language so you can tell when she will go off.

[lappiemum]

Yep, sounds like a second fear period. Have just been through it myself with my younger girl, she's coming out the other side of it now but boy, was it fun (NOT) - esp when you have judges who wear big scary hats and flapping raincoats, or so much aftershave it makes me sneeze!! LOL

Happened very quickly, started with a guy minding his own business in a park walking past us. Not a great deal you can do except be positive, try to make sure that you don't have any 'negative' experiences (ie scary stranger stuff) and use positive reinforcement to try to alleviate any fears. Try to keep all socialisation fun and positive - thats something you should do anyway, but in this time its quite important.

Good news is that 90% of the time you come out the other side of this period without any problems :D ;)

[SpecTraining]

Could be her second fear period.

Toss everything Cesar Milan does right out the window. You don't "cure" aggression with agression - you run a real risk of heightening it.

If it keeps happening, seek professional help but I'd be working on building confidence.

You can cure aggression dominating an aggressive dog as Cesar Milan does, but it's a process met with caution that takes a high level of experience to conduct. Perhaps I think Poodlefan means don't try it yourself???

[sas]

Could it have been her prey drive?

[Nekhbet]

dogs dont simply start being aggressive with no history.

Sounds like your dog had a big fun day, saw the guy running and her herding drive kicked in so she thought she'd go round him up. As long as you have good verbal control, as soon as she heads towards someone call her back. If she wont listen keep her on a long line