Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue

An 8 month old female Border Collie is afraid of cars, people, other dogs, etc. WHILE OUTSIDE… but inside is overly enthusiastic about greeting people, etc. The owner has been trying to set up positive experiences for the dog outside, but without luck. Here is her story from the weekend…

A person the dog knew came into the yard to treat and pet the dog as pre-arranged by the owner to help with this issue and the dog went yelping and peeing, running as fast as the wind into the house ( thank goodness the door was slightly open!). The same lady follows the dog inside (walking not running) and the dog enthusiastically greets the lady and starts trying to get the treat. The lady steps just outside the door and the dog won't take pets or the treat. The dog won't come outside. The lady resists being trained by the dog, but both the owner and friend are unsure what to do now. The only bad experience this dog had outside was at 5 months when a large hound jumped out at the pup and her owner. The dog climbed the owner's leg and unrinated all over her, yelping until the large dog was out of sight. The dog will accept treats from the owner outside with no problems. Any suggestions? This is the strangest problem I have ever been asked, I think...

This is not really such a strange problem. My experience has shown that many border collie puppies go through a fear stage at some point in time. With Duncan, it was somewhere betwwn 6 months and a year. I was letting him outside at our previous house, and did not realize that a hot air balloon was floating very low over the house. Just as Duncan got into the yard, they pulled the gas jets to raise the balloon. The balloon went WHOOSH, the dog went crazy, and flew back into the house. For almost two weeks, I could barely get him to go outside even to relieve himself. He spent all of his outdoor time huddled by the back door, watching the skies, worrying that another balloon would come by.

About two weeks later, a balloon landed in the fields behind our house, and Duncan and I walked back to meet the balloonist and watch the balloon up close and personal. That simple act cured the problem.

Fears are common place among young dogs. I have even seen it in some of the older rescues that have come through here. It is anyone's guess as to what triggered the fears. It could have been the dog that jumped the puppy at 5 months or it could be something very innocent that the owner does not even remember.

It is not clear from your message what the owner's response has been to these fears. If she is cuddling and reassuring the dog, the dog will likely think the owner is praising her for being fearful. This will, in fact, make the problem worse. I would suggest just the opposite behavior. She should clip a leash on the dog and take her out and about as often and as many places as possible, rewarding her for bravery and ignoring her pleas for escape. No harsh corrections or punishment, but just letting the dog know that she is in charge and that she will not let anything bad happen. She should keep a crate handy if the dog's fear becomes unreasonable. It can be used as a temporary safe haven. She and the dog must work through this problem, and it will probably be easier to do that off site rather than at home. Once it has been cured away from home, it will be easier to translate to the home environment.

I had a rescue here for almost 6 months. When she came, Mitzi was afraid of everything. She had been in the wild for a long time and learned to love the darkness and night and fear daylight. It took weeks to get her to come out from under my deck during daylight hours. I had to feed her at night in the dark with me inching closer each night until I could finally pet her while she ate. Despite her fears, I took her for walks at local pet store and at agility trials. When fear would overwhelm her as it usually did after 40-50 yards, I would carry her back to the crate and let her relax. Then we would do the whole same thing over and over again and I would stretch her limits as far as I could. I took her to obedience classes with a roll of paper towels to clean up the submission urination and a crate for her to hide in when things got to be more than she could bear. It took a long time, but my proudest moment was when I unclipped the leash in obedience class, walked to the end of aisle (with dogs lining the path) and called her to me. She came, slowly at first, but soon with her tail wagging feeling very pleased with herself. Everyone in class applauded her and I had tears in my eyes. There were times during this whole process when I talked with my husband about the possibility that we would never be able to help her. I am pleased to say that Mitzi was able to be placed in a forever home where she worked through these problems.

The point of the story is that this problem is not insurmountable. However, the owner must look very carefully at the signals she is sending to the dog. If she is reassuring the dog, she is probably making her problem worse. She needs to learn to communicate to the dog that there is nothing to fear and that the owner will protect the dog from all bad things. If the dog has faith in her handler, she will be able to handle the fear and it will fade.

Thanks to Lisa Coggins and Maryellen Miller for their contributions to this problem and solution.