Rabbits.

Question
Ofcourse I have an Aussie and during the day time we usually have her on a tie out. Well, I happen to have a pet rabbit that hangs out on my property. She refuses to leave, and this is the real problem. I'd much rather the rabbit run away out of fear of the dog getting her than having to trap the rabbit and take it somewhere else.
But this is what happens; Holly, the very smart and beautiful Aussie, loves to chase and of course herd. This is only allowed when we are playing, and she knows that. However, she has a great affinity for making friends with animals of all kinds including the little dutch rabbit that she has yet to come into close contact with. Now, Holly has been good so far up until the last few weeks--she has pulled everything off! She has pulled a head collar off, a harness off, a normal collar off--I tried to be inventive and ran two lines out instead of one to put her in both the harness and normal collar--and she is just so darn smart that she pulls through all of them.
Now, when she pulls these things off (slips through them, they aren't disconnected when I find them attached to the tether lying on the ground) she runs for the rabbit. And of course the rabbit heads for the woods. I clap a few times, and Holly bounds for me and sits obediently in front of me because in her mind (and in mine) she has done nothing wrong except go on instinct, trying to herd a rabbit.
The solution to this was getting a crate large enough and putting her in it during the day time.
However, as you probably guessed, when it's time to take her out she has all that bound-up energy that she ends up doing flips and having slight misbehaviours such as pulling on the leash and jumping up on me, etc;

What are my options? She really is a great dog--only the second dog in my life that I love this much. :)

Answer
I'm glad that your Aussie is bonded to you and comes when you call, because there are other things in the woods besides rabbits.  A couple of coyotes could do an Aussie in:-(
Aussies that are bored develop "jobs" for themselves, hence the Houdini routine that she is getting so good at - these dogs are real problem solvers.  Aussies were bred to be cattle dogs, or sheepdogs, and generally don't chase rabbits to herd them -they chase them to eat them.  But, whichever she is doing, she needs to remain on the property, lest something bad happen to her.  My advice is to contain this dog in solid fencing that she cannot climb out of, and to provide some interactive dog toys for her.  For example, instead of feeding her a regular dinner of kibble in a bowl, you could let her eat her kibble out of a Buster Cube or similar toy that she has to "work at".  And, there are even machines that produce chicken flavored bubbles for her to "herd". (www.activedogtoys.com).  
No dog should ever be tethered outdoors alone with no human supervision - dogs have choked themselves - and certainly NEVER on a head collar or choke chain.



Tegan, just keep in mind that dogs hate being isolated and alone.  She may try to get out of the fenced area, and you need a six foot high fence three feet deep to keep coyotes out.  Is there some reason why you can't leave her in the house?  Most dogs are safer indoors when their humans are absent.