"Tilly" (Border Collie" chasing buses

[morgan-donna4]

Hi, my name is Donna.
I rescued a Border Collie from the Dogs Trust last year. She had been re homed before we had her but they only kept her a week as she was showing signs of aggression. I felt they didn't give her enough time to settle in so I was determined to give her a second chance even though the Dogs Trust did high light the problems the previous owner reported. True to form she did show aggression to my partner but he passed it off and now they get on reasonably well with only the odd occasion of showing him aggression if what I feel she thinks I am being threatened. She does show aggression to others, mainly men if they come too close to me. My main worry is she tries to chase buses and once she did manage to get from my grip and ran towards the bus which by this time was right opposite us. I yelled her name and she did return to me thankfully unharmed. When we first had her she was like it with all vehicles but now it just seems to be with buses. If I had to choose between her chasing buses or being aggressive to people I would prefer her to be aggressive, as I can control that to a certain point. (I do walk Tilly wearing a Baskerville Muzzle and her "YellowDog" vest to advise people she is not sociable) I have tried all sorts of leads and collars with no luck[album][/album]. She is now passing this behaviour onto the other collie and in turn this is winding Tilly up cause Abbey starts jumping and fidgeting first now. They both go to normal Dog Training classes each week purely to socialize Tilly with people as she is very well trained other than the issue with buses. I have tried walking them separately but the situation is the same.

[Dibbythedog]

I understand the Dogs Trust have behaviourists to help owners who have adopted dogs from them and are having problems.
Its worth contacting them.

In this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18064 there is advice from jacksdad about desentisation that you can adapt for your dog.

[JillyD]

We're actually going through desensitising our border collie to traffic at the moment (particularly buses). He's quite scared of them - mostly the noise. We do have two dogs but (for the time being) I am taking them out separately as I definitely don't want the other dog to pick up on this behaviour (she has her own issues with different things!). It obviously will take you a lot more time to take them out separately, but I think it's worth it, at least for a while, so that you can concentrate on dealing with the buses problem and prevent your other dog from getting stressed out too.

Basically we are trying to associate an approaching bus (or car) with lots of yummy treats. I use something other than boring kibble - chicken, bacon, sausage, whatever your dog really, really likes. A bus starts approaching, treats rain down from heaven on our boy. If you find that your fingers are being nibbled at the same time as the food, put the treats one at a time on the floor (we have to do that with buses as he's so much more stressed by them than by cars). If the dog won't take the food and is far too interested in the bus, you're probably too close to the bus. I would try and find a place where you can stay at a distance from the trigger where the dog will accept the food. Eventually (and this could take a while) your dog will start to look at you instead of the bus. We're at a stage where my boy looks at me as a car approaches, I don't treat him then, but give him a treat when he looks back at the car - i.e. making sure that the treat is associated with the car - not looking at me. There are stages after this where you can ask for behaviours as the trigger is going past, but this is best being done once the dog's not as reactive.

There's a good video on this link which explains it better than I can write it!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y55fiFfMZ28

You can actually use the same process of desensitisation and counterconditioning for aggression. There are probably people on this forum who can give you some great advice about dealing with that. It's again about associating whatever the dog is scared of to nice things happening. There are also calming behaviours we can offer to our dogs. It sounds like these might be useful to your partner. Kikopup's got a nice video on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgnLgHFRJu4 and there's a book by Turid Rugaas called 'On Talking Terms with Dogs - Calming Signals'.

Good luck!

[GoChiBlackhawks]

If your dog is slipping out of harnesses, Ruffwear makes some great escape-resistant harnesses. I would not recommend a collar in this situation, but martingale collars work great to keep the dog from backing out.
Links:
http://www.thedogoutdoors.com/ruffwear- ... rness.html
http://www.ruffwear.com/DoubleBack-Harn ... egory=1131 <- This one would probably be good for you because you can grab your dog quickly if you need to.
https://www.trendyhounds.com <- I link to this company a lot. They have very high quality, handmade collars. They also have the option of a 2" martingale with a buckle, which is great.

Good luck!

[morgan-donna4]

I understand the Dogs Trust have behaviourists to help owners who have adopted dogs from them and are having problems.
Its worth contacting them.

In this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18064 there is advice from jacksdad about desentisation that you can adapt for your dog.

thank you

[morgan-donna4]

If your dog is slipping out of harnesses, Ruffwear makes some great escape-resistant harnesses. I would not recommend a collar in this situation, but martingale collars work great to keep the dog from backing out.
Links:
http://www.thedogoutdoors.com/ruffwear- ... rness.html
http://www.ruffwear.com/DoubleBack-Harn ... egory=1131 <- This one would probably be good for you because you can grab your dog quickly if you need to.
https://www.trendyhounds.com <- I link to this company a lot. They have very high quality, handmade collars. They also have the option of a 2" martingale with a buckle, which is great.

Good luck!

Thanks i will look into that, because i do worry in case she gets away

[morgan-donna4]

We're actually going through desensitising our border collie to traffic at the moment (particularly buses). He's quite scared of them - mostly the noise. We do have two dogs but (for the time being) I am taking them out separately as I definitely don't want the other dog to pick up on this behaviour (she has her own issues with different things!). It obviously will take you a lot more time to take them out separately, but I think it's worth it, at least for a while, so that you can concentrate on dealing with the buses problem and prevent your other dog from getting stressed out too.

Basically we are trying to associate an approaching bus (or car) with lots of yummy treats. I use something other than boring kibble - chicken, bacon, sausage, whatever your dog really, really likes. A bus starts approaching, treats rain down from heaven on our boy. If you find that your fingers are being nibbled at the same time as the food, put the treats one at a time on the floor (we have to do that with buses as he's so much more stressed by them than by cars). If the dog won't take the food and is far too interested in the bus, you're probably too close to the bus. I would try and find a place where you can stay at a distance from the trigger where the dog will accept the food. Eventually (and this could take a while) your dog will start to look at you instead of the bus. We're at a stage where my boy looks at me as a car approaches, I don't treat him then, but give him a treat when he looks back at the car - i.e. making sure that the treat is associated with the car - not looking at me. There are stages after this where you can ask for behaviours as the trigger is going past, but this is best being done once the dog's not as reactive.

There's a good video on this link which explains it better than I can write it!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y55fiFfMZ28

You can actually use the same process of desensitisation and counterconditioning for aggression. There are probably people on this forum who can give you some great advice about dealing with that. It's again about associating whatever the dog is scared of to nice things happening. There are also calming behaviours we can offer to our dogs. It sounds like these might be useful to your partner. Kikopup's got a nice video on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgnLgHFRJu4 and there's a book by Turid Rugaas called 'On Talking Terms with Dogs - Calming Signals'.

Good luck!

Thanks, at the moment when i hear a bus approaching i get her to stand by a wall,fence or if there is nothing sturdy enough i just stand with my legs either side of her and she seems to stay a lot calmer, if she goes to react i just put a slight bit of pressure on her body with my legs and it seems to work in making her feel safe, after the bus has passed i praise her and give her some treats as a reward. So hopefully this will help in the long run.

[GoChiBlackhawks]

Have you tried a Thundershirt? They did not work for my dog, but it may work for yours.
I also wanted to add that some dog sports that utilize that herding instinct might work very well. Since buses are the issue, I'm going to assume you live in an urban or highly populated area. Try out Treibball if you can find it in your area. It could even be worth a bit of a commute if it helps your dog. Link: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues ... 234-1.html.
In some cases, I personally believe training can only do so much. My knowledge leads me to believe that you need to take a step back and look at what your dog was bred to do. For a breed with one of the highest, if not the highest, energy levels, dog sports could really benefit both owner and dog.
Good luck!

[morgan-donna4]

Have you tried a Thundershirt? They did not work for my dog, but it may work for yours.
I also wanted to add that some dog sports that utilize that herding instinct might work very well. Since buses are the issue, I'm going to assume you live in an urban or highly populated area. Try out Treibball if you can find it in your area. It could even be worth a bit of a commute if it helps your dog. Link: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues ... 234-1.html.
In some cases, I personally believe training can only do so much. My knowledge leads me to believe that you need to take a step back and look at what your dog was bred to do. For a breed with one of the highest, if not the highest, energy levels, dog sports could really benefit both owner and dog.
Good luck!

Thank you