It’s not surprising that a Border Collie who has spent the first year of his life on a remote farm in Ireland is terrified of traffic and wants to herd people up like they are sheep.
Cabra is one such dog, now aged about two and a half. A few days ago I went to Lottie, another Collie with similar issues. It’s probable, because Cabra has knee problems already, that he was worked from too young an age and then been dumped when no longer useful.
What a beautiful dog
The home situation is tricky because he lives with a lady and her very elderly parents who both have mobility problems. Each time the old gentleman gets up and slowly walks towards the door, Cabra circles and herds him. When he’s through the door and no longer in sight, the dog charges from room to room, barking quite ferociously.
Cabra has run of the house and circles the man on the stairs too. It’s dangerous – it’s only a matter of time before he causes the man fall.
He is wary of all people except his family and their carer. But when they leave, he frantically ’rounds them up’ and gets very distressed as they walk out of the door.
Management
The first priority is to manage the situation so that Cabra is out of the way when the gentleman is moving about. He should no longer have free run of the house to come and go as he likes.
Psychologically what needs to be worked on is Cabra’s acceptance that people moving about are not his responsibility. He needs to learn other behaviours instead that are incompatible with herding. Once he has started into the behaviour he is deaf to instruction, so forward planning is necessary.
He also needs other enriching activities that help to replace the genetic instincts he was born with.
Terrified on walks
Cabra is absolutely terrified on walks, terrified of nearly everything including traffic and other dogs. This is another tricky aspect of this case. The parents’ carer is having to walk him and hasn’t the time to work on this – and it’s not her job.
They have had Cabra for about a year and he has gained some confidence, but here is a lot of work to do. The degree to which he improves will depend upon how much the people are able to do, both physically and time-wise.
Slowly if they can put in the work, he should become less fearful and be able to calmly to accept people leaving.
