QuestionOur sheltie is now 6 mos. We've been through 1 obedience course which she did well with...for the most part, except for biting our feet. We don't "play bite" with her and have tried substituting chew toys. I tried to find answers from you on your list of Q & A's, but didn't find it. We realize she is a herding dog, but how can we FIRMLY discourage this?
AnswerHi JoAnn!
You are obviously being mistaken for sheep by your well intentioned Sheltie. She is playing in a way that is natural to her and you want that to change.
I'm also guessing you are not going to buy a farm and sheep for her to play with. We must address this in a practical way very quickly.
When she nips at you stop, drop what you are doing, grab her neck and growl NO at her very firmly. Shelties are usually pretty smart and will catch on quickly. Try to remember you are fighting an instinct on that and it can be very hard for her to understand.
In my house we had the same problem. We ended up redirecting the drive into fetch. It has worked with the minor side effect that they want to fetch all the time.
Here is how to train for fetch: go to the open end of a hallway and close off all the doors. Bring a ball and some treats. Roll the ball down the hall and encourage her to go for it. When she picks it up and turns for you, that's the first step and a treat. When she brings it closer to you that's another step. You should work up to returning the ball all the way to your feet from those baby steps.
I know I use this answer a lot for the herding drive, it just worked so well in my house that I don't know what else to do!
'sneezes
Dave
