Herding Dogs Gone Wild: This Weeks Evaluations

What happens when a herding dog is in control? Chaos. That’s what happens. And before I begin, not all herding dogs are created equal. I like to classify dogs into two categories when evaluating a dog: pet dogs and working dogs. And some herding breeds are great pet dogs (like my friend JD, a border collie who has a great disposition and temperament. He loves lounging around just as much as he loves being active! Although he’s slowing down a bit as the years pass, but who isn’t) and then you have herding dogs that fall into the category of “working dogs”. Dogs that are genetically wired to do what the breed was meant to do. And this week, I got to meet two different herding dogs, each a different breed, and both with the same exact issue! Exciting, right!?

The two dogs I evaluated this week were a sheltie and an Australian shepherd. Both have extremely dedicated owners, so don’t worry about the dogs— they’re going to do great! But what’s interesting is both of these owners reached out for the same issue— separation anxiety. Or so they thought it was.

Leaving the house has become a nightmare for these owners. The one owner had to set up a gate at the end of the hallway so that when her dog tries to attack her as she leaves, her neighbors won’t have to see it at the door. She often uses her pocket book as a shield to try and sneak out the gate and fears that she may get bit while trying to latch it one of these days. The other client has a system of giving the dog a Kong stuffed with food before leaving to try and pacify the dog’s urges to bite him as he leaves the house. He also shared that at times, they’d leave through a window just to avoid the conflict of trying to get out the door. As you could imagine, this behavior makes leaving the house really difficult for these owners. But why are these dogs so upset that their owners are leaving? Surely this has to be some crazy separation anxiety, right!? Wrong.

This is all about control. Both of these dogs are completely content with being separated from their owners. They each choose to sleep in a room away from the owner, they both settle down immediately after the owner leaves and will relax and sleep for the duration of the owners absence, and both dogs are really rather neutral when their owner returns. So then why do they have such an issue with them leaving the house you may be asking?

See, herding breeds like this were bred to control livestock. They herd and move and direct livestock from one pasture to the next, often with human direction. But what happens when that human direction is missing? And when the dog doesn’t view the human as the leader? Well, some of these herding dogs turn you into their livestock. And that’s exactly what these dogs have done. Because the dogs know that when their owner leaves the house they will “lose control” of them, the desire to intensely control them kicks in when the dog believes their “sheep” are trying to “escape”. And so the dogs, tapping into their primal wiring, step up to the plate and try and take control of that situation by nipping, biting, and trying to “herd” the humans away from the door and back into the house. This has nothing to do with the anxiety of separating and has everything to do with the dogs desire to control things.

To fix this, it’s imperative to begin showing the owners ways to assert leadership in situations aside from leaving the house first. Teaching things like body pressure (a language often very well understood by these breeds), an “out” command to help create space in tense situations, setting psychological boundaries like “you can’t come in the kitchen right now”, a solid place command to control the dogs movement throughout the day, maybe some crate training, just to name a few.

By setting firmer rules and boundaries outside of these high stakes moments like trying to get out of the house, we can start to shift the dogs state of mind from one that is in control to one that is looking to follow and take direction. This shift in state of mind allows the owners to become relevant to the dogs which we can then use all the skills and that relevancy to then communicate what we do want the dog to do when we leave the house. Which would be watch from afar — either on a place bed, in a crate, or just stand over there and don’t come near me.

And sure, this behavior could eventually be corrected and it may— but I’m a big fan of showing the dog what I want before I get to the consequences. Sometimes, the alternative behavior that is taught becomes preferred by the dog over the old habit. And sometimes, the original behavior needs to be corrected. But I am fairly confident with these cases that through clear communication from an empowered leader will get the message across clearly!

So if you’ve had your eye on a herding breed, be warned! They’re not all created equally and you’ll really want to do your research in where you’re getting the dog and that dog’s genetic background, as well as investing in a good dog trainer who can help you navigate training in a way that allows you to avoid these issues altogether!