Border Collie and Chasing

I have been working on Jacks chasing problems since he was a pup - I managed to get him to stop when he was about 18 months old then there was an incident in the woods where some-one chased him on a bike and he got a real fright - since then he has gone right back to his old self - he will be 3 next week.

Because of the chase problem I cannot have him off lead where I am because there are too many bikes, joggers, horses - so we take them to other places to let them have some off lead running.

Yesterday we were at the beach and having a great day out the dogs were running free in and out of the sea - then some-one was on a bike on the beach and off Jack went chasing after the bike - he wouldn't listen to us until he caught up with the bike and had "stopped" it from moving.

At the moment I feel like I'm never going to get over the problem and I'll never be able to trust him off lead - luckily Barney does not have the same problem.

Does any-one have experiance with Border Collies that have/had suffered from this and were you ever able to control it or is it something I am going to have to deal with forever?

Or any-one want to share some training tips with me?

Hi Emm, im by no means a collie expert, but as you know they are bred to chase/herd! you need to get jack to focus on you no matter what is going on around him, does he play with toys, has he got a tugger??

The idea in a perfect world, is get jack to play with you with the tugger, and do this in as many different places as possible with bikes around you, other dogs etc.

Get him really into one toy and one toy only and only allow him to have it when he is playing with you, start of at home, then try in many different situations and environment, i really hope you get it sorted cant be much fun

Hope ive helped a little, im not very good with words, but i know what im trying to say lol

thanks Gems- unfortunately Jack is not toy orientated - Barney is thats why its been easier to train Barney.

What I have been doing is when on lead if he sees something to chase I get him to sit and look at me I then give him a treat and he seems happy to ignore - the problem is when hes off lead he knows and all previous training goes out the window.
When he does start a chase I run off in the opposite direction waving my arms and squealing ( I know not a pretty sight ) and he will come back to me then but if I don't manage to catch him he will be off again.

Would teaching the immediate down be of help? BCs seem very good at this, whether working sheep or just as an obedience exercise. Have a look at this thread and see what you think: http://www.dogweb.co.uk/talkdogs/showthread.php?t=3356

thanks SB for the link - it was really interesting - Jack understands down but I have never managed to teach him the command from a distance - I will work on this and see if it makes a difference - hopefully it will.

It has been a real learning curve raising a puppy - unfortunately at the moment I don't think I have done a good job but I am trying to improve things - luckily I found this site its really helped loads being able to talk to people who have experiance in dog training - thanks very much for the advice - I'm also hoping by doing some agility that will help in some way with the training as well as being good fun for the dogs

Apart from aversive techniques, the only other thing I can think of which might help is to train an alternative behaviour. You would need to enlist the help of a cycling friend who is willing to cycle past you several times a day for weeks! Have Jack on a lead and as the cyclist comes into view tell the dog to 'leave' (I am assuming he understands a word that means "leave it alone") and to 'drop', or 'sit', or 'watch me' or distract him with a ball, frisbee, or with whatever toy best motivates him in your hand. Reward him with praise and a treat, or give him the special toy and have a game with him.

At first he may well lunge on the lead to get to the bicycle. Try not to growl at him for this as he may think that you are growling at the bike and thus condoning his actions. Be firm but not cross with him. It is possible to eventually get to the point that, when he spots a cyclist, Jack will perform the required behaviour, or will look to you for his 'special' toy and a game. It will take a long time though, and heaps of patience If you decide to try this method do let us know how you get on.

Best wishes
SB

I had a similar problem with Blackie, also a BC, but his trouble was that he would go and greet kids, animals everybody but I was mostly worried about kids and animals, so I trained him to sit or come to me when he saw either a kid or another dog. I usually called him back and told him to sit. Mind I had to have eyes in the back of my head at times, but now I know straight away if someone is coming, he sits down and looks around for me.

Ian

Hi ya I have the same problem with my two BC they are 10 months old and will chase bicicals skatebords, rollaskates, Motorbikes cars and lorrys which can be a bit of a worry, I have tried rideing a bike with them and they didnt take any notice of me so that went out of the window, I do alot of road work with them to try and get them use to cars ect but so far with no success, Im hoping they will grow out of it but its a BC thing so they might not I havnt got the lay down bit at a distance so I will try and work on that but the problem I have is that one will lead the other one on bit like kids realy if you do come up with somthing let us know.
michelle
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my first thought would be to get him totally switched onto a toy like gems (a star BC owner in the making)has said,but if you really think he wont do that (& dogs can be taught to play,but it does take effort & patience on your part) then an instant down is your only option. look at working sheepdogs,they are told to go down all the time by their shepherds. is the dog food motivated?

I was hoping if I could channel the chase behaviour into more of a working environment then maybe this will help gain control - I like the advice of teaching the down I think this is my best option - maybe I could learn more herding commands as well.


Unfortunately Jack is not toy motivated - he does play and likes to but toys don't capture his attention - Barney is the opposite he can completley focus into the toy that is why he has been so much more easier to train. Jack is very motivated by food however and I have used this to help with training.

Like I said before I did manage to get him to overcome his chasing but one bad experiance because of some idiot on a bike who terrorised him ruined all the hard work and it has been difficult getting him back to his previous level of training.

But I'm determined and stubborn enough to try and resolve the problem - because he is the sweetest dog you will ever meet