Dog Likes to Chase Livestock

Question

I have three questions to ask you. I adopted a dog, Lady, about three weeks ago and she is 9 months old now. The animal shelter told me that the owner of Lady gave her up because of chasing livestock. Ok, I have to leash her all the time. How can I train her to stop chasing livestock? Our neighbors have horses and cows. Lady doesn't bark at the door (I am deaf) at all. Only when she sees something. Is it normal? keep her in the house, she loves to chew papers. I keep saying no no. She is a stubborn dog, but I love her to death. She is like my baby. Help me!!!

Answer

Dear Pet Owner,

Since Lady is a collie-you didn't say if she is a Border collie or a rough collie. Collies are herding dogs and their instinct is to herd livestock. Without training this can be chasing them

instead. Herding dogs need a lot of time spent with them to give them another job to do that is satisfying to them. That said, they will still want to go after livestock, so she needs a leash

until she can be taught to come off of the livestock when you call her. The not barking at the door is not unusual. A lot of dogs have other ways to tell you that they have to go outside. The chewing papers is a bad habit. Try some other toys and chew toys plus a lot of exercise. Lady will be a challenge to train since she has acquired a lot of bad habits. Check into the training clubs in your area and get her started in basic obedience training. Later you can get into agility, fly ball etc.

Dr. Baeyens