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barking and chasing

19 14:43:46

Question
Hi Anne,
I actually do not have an Australian Shepherd but have a Shetland Sheepdog, and there are unfortunately no experts on them. So I though that Australian shepherds were a similar breed (both herding dogs). My dog Ollie, is 1 of 3, I also have 2 labs. Ollie is 5 he does not have any extensive training, he knows sit, stay, come, down and thats about it. He has always barked, which I know is part of his nature, but he has started to bark more and more and has now started breaking through our electric fence and chasing and barking at other people that are walking past our house. I have a very large yard with lots of running space and he is outside a lot, but I feel that he does not have enough to do and is getting bored (he use to play with my other dogs but they are now getting old and are not as active). I was wondering if you have any advice at how to stop him from chasing people and maybe minimize his barking a little? I feel that he might need some sort of "job" that I can teach him to do or something like that. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Allison

Answer
I don't advise anyone with herding breeds to use electric fencing.  It causes the problem that you are encountering.  What happens is that the dog barks at an "intruder", the intruder (who was leaving anyway) goes on down the road and the dog thinks "Great, I did a good job sending that guy packing."  Next time, maybe the intruder doesn't move so fast, so the dog gets more frantic about chasing and barks more and louder.  He's then reinforced for that again when the intruder leaves.  But, if the next intruder takes his time, the dog might decide to up the ante and break out of the fence to insist on moving the person along.  With some dogs, this eventually ends in a bite because the intruder didn't listen fast enough.  As you can see, this "barrier aggression" behavior is annoying to passersby, and can be dangerous to them and to your dog.  I would use solid fencing, even if the area has to be smaller.
You can try a citronella bark collar to see if that quiets your dog.  Or, you can try clicker training the dog to be quiet.  However, if you leave the yard situation as is, I can pretty much guarantee that you will continue to have trouble.  That doesn't mean that you shouldn't train him to "leave it" and "come" to you on command.  Find a good clicker trainer - Shelties are awesome at clicker training because they are so smart!  Yhere are some free lessons on www.clickerlessons.com to get you started.  As to a "job", most herders do need one.  Once you have taught the basics, you might want to try rally obedience or agiliry.  It's fun and the dog won't be so frustrated now that his playmates are older and not so active.  Good luck!