amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

MamaJosie · 09-14-2004, 03:57 PM

Ok, I am now eating humble pie because I was such a know it all about what I would do in KD's situation. Sorry I was so opinionated about it. I didnt mean to imply that all dog owners with large dogs were abusing their kids or anything I just realized that whatever small risk there is that they would bite, it is there and that scares me. That very day that her dog bit the neighbor girl, a huge police type German shepard dog a friend of mine got from a rescue knocked my 3 yr old son down in a mud puddle and scared us both to death. He was trembling for quite a while after and covered in mud from head to toe. But anyway, KD I do apologize but butting in advice where is was unsolicited and I hope you resolved things in the way that was best for everyone involved.

On to my own problem....luckily it doesnt involve a child or the dog biting a person but a dog I rescued this summer while visiting my folks is now chasing and biting the heels of my moms horse. The dog is a border collie basically (a mix but very dominant border collie) and I know it is her instinct. But she bites him and has gotten kicked pretty bad now twice and CANNOT be called off and is also encouraging their other dog to do it as well. My folks said they cannot keep her if she keeps this up. The neighbors have border collies and train them and said they would loan my folks a shock collar to try on her but that does seem cruel since it is her instinct. Do you dog lovers out there think that is a decent option or would you not do it?

The other option is to try to to find her a new home in TN or if not ship her all the way to me in AZ where I do have a fenced yard but less than 1/3 acre for her to run and we have a cat. She is healthy, sweet and pretty but has a bum front leg that healed broken (before she found us). It doesnt effect her much at all - she is fast as lightening, but my folks do give her bone strengthening supplements to help her and I think they do help because she had a slight limp when she came to us. The vet says she is only about 2 yrs old and she was fixed by someone else. We tried to find her owners but nobody would claim her and I think she had been stray for a while because she was so thin when she came to us.

SO what would you do? WOuld a border collie rescue take her if she has a little something else thrown in too? HELP?

Suefrog36 · 09-14-2004, 04:01 PM

My dog did this a few times till my horse kicked him! He never did it again. My dog had a little bit of a knot on his head but recovered.

Good Luck,

Sue

Mom2Seamus · 09-14-2004, 04:19 PM

Once a herding dog starts a bad habit like this it is hard to stop it. Would the neighbor be willing to work with your dog to help correct this bad behavior? Since they have experience with it it would probably be the best solution. I do think that shock collars used by someone who doesn't know what they are doing is cruel, as timing is everything. Also Border Collies are really soft when it comes to correction, anything to harsh and they are wrecked for life.

My best advice would be to see if the neighbors would help out with retraining her. She needs to be taught to leave the horse and not be out of control like that. You are right that herding is her nature, but just doing it for the fun of it could be dangerous to your mom's horse.

I hope I don't sound like a 'know it all' ROFL, I do have experience with herding dogs. We have a Australian Shepard and a Australian Shep/Blue Heeler cross that I trained and used to use for herding.

I don't know that moving her to your house with a small back yard would be good unless you could do lots of obedience work with her to keep her mind busy.

Best of luck to you!!!

KD · 09-15-2004, 04:08 AM

I don't really have any advice (sorry) but I did want to say don't worry about me mama

I am pretty thick skinned once I compose myself! LOL!

I hope you find a solution for the doggie