Meant to say Jules....I know you have other BC's but the ''nippping'' is defo behaviour in them and I (IMO) would say thats a herding thing.

Bruce and Reah don't do it....but Skye will, especially if she has a job ...like herding the furries...... and I stop her maybe because I don;t want them in the cage yet....she has nipped the back of my bum....not pleasant, but her way of saying...this is my job not yours...and I herd.

Thanks guys.
Great advice given.

No i don't use a bottle. If anything i'm probably to soft with mine but they are generally well behaved.

I definately think rolling her on on to her back did make her try to nip me.
I'm taking her back to basics in a calm non threatening manner.

I'm making her sit before her dinner etc. I'm going to do more one to one training with her. I'm stroking her under the chin not on her head as i don't want to try to dominate her as it does make her worse.

Her nipping while excited. I'm sure this is the collie 'nip'. Shes not herding but shes showing her excitement through her nipping.

She had no training before i got her. She hadn't ever worn a collar. The kids from the riding school used to take her away and play with her. Maybe they teased her a little. Who knows.

I want her to be happy.

Thanks for the PM Karen. I will PM a reply later. I will definately call you sometime. Bess is the very laid black & white one you met on our walk.
Skye was the gobby mad red & white one


Shes happier this morning. I think the way i am being with her is hopefully working & not stressing her out too much.

Will update on her progress. I am still going to get her checked out by the vets. Shes got to have her annual booster anyway.


Thanks again guys

I'm sure she will soon calm down, the more tense you feel the more she will feel so the calmer you are around her, the calmer she'll be.
Keep us posted, I think you'll soon crack it. x

Hi, Bess sounds a little like a GSD that I walk. She was also getting over excited which manifested itself in mouthing, nipping and jumping around. The owner had a behaviourist round and her advice was to quietly and gently lead her to a quiet place for a 'time out' for 2 minutes when she got hyper. Then let her back into the room and take her back out if she displays the unwanted behaviour again. when the GSD was calmer (after a few weeks of this) we began clicker training to mark all the good things she was doing. It's now been 2 months since we started the process and she is a different dog already. There is still work to be done, but we are getting there.

Dominating her when she is in an excited state is a sure fire way of getting bit IMO. If she is over excited, calming her is the way to go. Good luck and stick with it

Sorry to hear you are having problems with Bess, Jules. I agree with the others though, that alpha rolling an already worked up dog will almost always end up in you being bitten.

Many dogs nip when they get excited. My Flame (GSD) is not really an excitable type of dog and isn't mouthy at all, but she used to nip me with excitement when she was doing agility!

It sounds from your latter post that you are dealing with Bess in a more relaxed manner, and I am sure she will pick up on that. I understand you may have been a bit soft on her when you first brought her home, due to her sad start in life, but now is the time to get her to find her place in your pack - with you and your son at the top. Are you putting into place a regime where Bess has to work for all her treats - food, fuss etc etc?

Also, I agree with the comment about taking her for "time out". When she starts getting grumbly or is bullying one of your others, I would gently take her by the collar and put her in another room for 5 mins and then bring her back out. If she starts the behaviour again, take her out again. This method worked for me when I first brought Moss home as a pup and Flame bullied him mercilessly for the first 3 days ... but the taking her out of the room method really worked.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Thanks again guys


I think i was stressing over it too much last night which fed into Bess hence the nipping.


I'm feeling very positive about the outcome as its already a much calmer house.
I'm calm & bess is calm. If were calm then the others will be calm.
I got them all to sit when i walked in the house this evening. Do them all good to brush up on their manners

I will defnately use the shutting away for time out. i think that will work a treat.

Will update you all on our progress.

Thanks again

Sounds like a good start Jules. Keep it up, and I am sure you won't have a problem

Thanks for explaining your story. Nice to hear about other peoples experiences.

Bess is a little gem and my experience of walking with her and Skye are that they are a credit to you and very tuned into you. This in itself like you say above could be part of the problem. So it sounds like if you chill so does the dog.
My only experience with mine nipping is just Megan. When I do agility with her and running round the course, she gets so excited that she nips my ankles (which bloomin hurt) so I just had to let her have a chill out for five minutes.
Forgot to say and sorry slightly off topic but I saw Gemma and her mom a couple of weeks ago at a show and they had the little red and white boy (can't remember the name) with them. He's a little star and totally into his agility
Thought I'd let you know as wasn't sure if you were still in touch with them as Gemma says she hasn't been up to agility for a while.

Thanks Karen. Bess nips a little during agility. I just have to run faster to keep with her then she stops doing it.

Jimmy. I haven't saw Joyce for a little while at agility. Hes such a lovely lad. Joyce has worked so hard with him.


I haven't called you yet as i've got Laryngitis

I've got next week off work. Fancy meeting up again?
Would be nice to see you