PoppyDog Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Friends of ours have a BC who has this thing he does. He will look up at lights and then pace....back and forth, around the table and back again, all while looking at the light and looking very anxious. He does it with shadows too but not as much.... Any ideas on what the deal is??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 OCD in the making possibly. How much exercise and mental stimulation does he get? Tell your friends to gently discourage it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Sounds like obsessive compulisve behaviour to me. Shadow and light chasing can become a big problem. Mental stimulation, training and distraction methods are needed. The more they do it the harder the habit will be to break, I have known of people getting behaviourists in to assist them with managing the behaviour. A google of border collie shadow/light chasing will get quite a few hits to forums and pages discussing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saradale Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 BC's do have a tendancy to get fixated on moving objects. It may be the case that he sees an insect, etc. and is pacing/following its every move. A friend also had this issue. The insects were usually that microscopic to us that noone could see what she was looking at, but she would litterally do backflips when she got in "the zone". Short training sessions at this point were the methods used to get her attention and focus it elsewhere. But definately don't allow the behaviour to continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snout Girl Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 sally had that issue with light glinting on the roof from the kitchen knives. it took a few weeks of discourgaing her for her to ignore them, she was starting to get really stressed whenever a knife was pulled out. dont let the behaviour continue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I wonder if your friends have ever used a laser pen light to play with this dog. These often cause light/shadow obsessions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Yep - definitely something to nip in the bus asap. As has been said, many BCs among other dogs are prone to become fixated - it becomes a real obsessive compulsive thing. One of mine was really fixing on the light reflected from my watch in the kitchen one day - as soon as I noticed, I took the watch off till the sun had moved - seriously - taking no chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochmad Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I wonder if your friends have ever used a laser pen light to play with this dog. These often cause light/shadow obsessions. This is what I wondered too. Friends of ours did this to their dog thinking it was cute...until it became an obsession. Poor dog, was very stressed with chasing lights. I would definitely nip it in the bud, but if it's too late get a behavourist in, quick smart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isabel964 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I saw an episode on The Dog Whisperer, exact same thing - an OCD issue. Treatable, your friends might want to engage a behaviorist for it. Unfortunately I can't remember how Caesar dealt with it, but it was successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now