QuestionWe live in Jackson, WY, and have a 10 yr old female border collie/Australian shepherd mix (Betty), and have just recently adopted a 4-5 yr old male pure-bred border collie (Laddie)from our local shelter.
Laddie is a very sweet, mild mannered, submissive dog who gets along with seemingly every dog and person he meets. We believe that he was a working dog in nearby Idaho who ended up at the pound after having been kicked in the head. (He has a big dent in his skull above his right eye.) He knows his name and is very good with the "Come" command. We can't see that he knows other commands, and he has little experience with being on a leash. He seems intelligent, but not nearly as good with learning words and desired behavior as is Betty.
So, the problem: When we take Laddie out for a mountain bike ride with us -- off leash, up a trail or dirt road -- he jumps up, head high in the air, bites the air and lets out these shrill yips; periodically he'll try to bit the bike tires. Putting him on a short leash next to the bike seems to stop the behavior, but it's hard to ride this bike like this of course. He seems to stop this behavior after about a mile or so, settling into a nice run ahead of the bike. It seems like this behavior is related to his herding background, but how do we control it?
Is there a common voice command that he might know that would break his herding behavior? Sometimes it seems like he does this behavior when he's entering a play-mode.
(Of note, he also does the jumping, biting the air, and shrill yipping with a vacuum cleaner. He also loves to chase the sprinkler, jumping up and biting the water...)
We give Laddie lots of exercise, and the bike behavior seems to occur even when he is pseudo-tired. Last night he did it after leaving a run with me and joining my husband for a bike ride. Laddie is an excellent runner who loves to run fast, so we would really like to be able to make bike rides more easy to do with him!
Any ideas you have would be great -- we don't know much about dealing with a dog with previous herding experience.
AnswerHello Jennifer,
I've got to say that jumping into the air and biting at it does not sound like herding behavior to me, but rather something he either has always done when he's excited to play or be free or he was taught to jump in the air. However, biting at the bike tires sounds more like a herding instinct.
In either case, I think Laddie is just having fun and is burning off the energy typically found in healthy Border Collies. It doesn't sound like anything you should be all that concerned about, but if you like to keep him quiet while biking, you may have to start correcting him and giving him an alternative solution to starting out his walk with the bikes. In order to correct him, you will still need a leash and training collar. Perhaps a long nylon leash would work better than a short one so you can correct him at the right time.
Any command you want to use would be good, as long as you use the correct tone of voice consistantly, give him praise immediately after he stops doing the undesired bahavior and giving him and alternative behavior to replace it. And then praise again when he does it right.
For example, you put him on a long nylon cord or leash and let him start out with you while you're on the bike. The minute he starts jumping in the air, correct him and say, "NO!" and then give him the command to "HEEL" or else you can say "STEADY" (which is a slow walk-up command in herding). Once he consistantly stops jumping in the air when starting out, give him more leash and, eventually, off leash. Always go back to the leash if he starts to go back to his old habits.
Hope this helps. Let me know.
Thank you for your questions.
Ann Jordan
Border Collie Coach
BorderCollieCoach.com
