How do I stop my Border Collie from reacting to other dogs?
Shemar Crona
2025-07-11 08:51:47
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If your dog feels fearful or anxious around other dogs or people, they may try to hide or get away from them. They may also approach them using threatening body language to make them move away. While on-lead, they might not be able to move away or closer, which can result in frustration, and their attempts to move away or to get closer can intensify. Consistently use reward-based training methods and keep them on a lead when needed. If you encounter a trigger, calmly move your dog away, avoiding adding extra tension to the lead, try luring them away with a tasty treat or favourite toy to play with. Reward calm behaviour, practice focus training to help them pay attention to you, learn to recognise your dog's body language, this will help you understand when they're feeling worried or frustrated. Choose quiet places and times for walks, when possible, to avoid triggers while you’re working on changing their emotions.
Daniela Waters
2025-06-28 10:50:32
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Border collie reactivity – barking, lunging, snarling, and snapping – is a very common problem with collies. Border collies, on the whole, are not aggressive dogs, but they can very easily become overwhelmed and defensive. They are bred for working on farms, in the peace and quiet of the countryside, in close contact with their owner and a handful of other collies or farm dogs that are generally respectful of each other. Contrary to expectations, border collie puppies tend to be a bit nervous of other larger animals, especially horses, cows and, surprisingly, sheep. The first few times they encounter them they may be alarmed to see a much larger animal, that does not appear to communicate in dog language, which may cause them to hide, back. Max is a 2.5 year old, gorgeous, big border collie who came to us for help with border collie lead reactivity with other dogs. He enjoyed the company of other dogs until he was about a year old, when he started to get a series of unfriendly greetings from other dogs that he met. Aggressive behaviour generally includes growling, barking, lunging, snarling, nipping, snapping or biting.
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