Help for very nervous dog

Errata

Do you talk to him constantly to keep his attention on you and not his surroudings ? Praise him all the time ? Sounds daft, but a bit like you'd behave with a toddler learning to ride a trike ?
It might make a bit of a difference, but BC's can be gormless. We had one on the farm that was used for herding sheep but if anyone shouted an instruction to it, it would leg it off home !

picklepick

yes im constantly talking to him. i try to make my voice sound as soothing as possible but so far makes no difference!

I shalln't give up on him though

chez22

Just a quick point, please please don't throw sticks for dogs, they can be horrifically injured by them.

1sue23

The collie that I rescued recently sounds very much like this dog and I am afraid it will take a lot more than 45 mins a day ,if the dog is nervous it can make it worse by forcing it into situations he is not happy with ,what I had to do was start in a quite area away from traffic and people ,I just sat on a bench with the dog on a loose lead and allowed her to watch the world going by at a distance she was comfortable with and armed with cheese just dropped it on the floor in front of her ,as she became more comfortable and this took days of sitting in the cold and wet I then moved her closer to people and cars if she showed any discomfort licking her lips ,sighing a lot I moved back allowing her to stand behind me ,it took many hours and weeks and lots of cheese just to be able to walk to the park.

nesssie1702

Gormless are the one thing that Border Collies ain't! They're not dogs for the faint hearted nor for anyone who doesn't have time to devote to them.

Does the dog play with a ball in the house/garden? It might be worth trying to get it used to this before moving onto the park. Again, the titbits of cheese can come in useful when training.

picklepick

as far as im aware yes it does play in the house. like i said before i cant reasonably spend time with him in the house as i have a certain amount of time to walk him and sometimes i may have another dog with me.

supermezzo

Another thought - Does he have a favourtite soft toy in the house? Ours benefitted from carrying one of his teddies around for a while on his walks. Sort of comfort blanket if you like...not advisable on free runs though as other poochs might want to play with it and scare him even more!

melbury

We got some of this for our dog and it does seem to work. He also loves their food, which is really good stuff.

Worth having a look at the site as they specialize in border collie activities.

http://www.csjk9.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=3&idcategory=3

g-frosted-gem

Food won't work until his/her fear levels drop, as terror will prevent him/her from eating, or reacting to your instructions or reacting to toys etc.

My border collie was terrified of cars when I first got her at 6 months old. Basically it is just perseverence and continuing to go out, but taking that small extra step at a time. So if it was your own dog you would literally just take him/her out for a couple of minutes the first week each day, then build it up after that. At some point, the dog's fear will subside enough for the food and toys and praise to start to be accepted. Then at some point the fear will diminish entirely.

However, can see that you are not in a position to do this, so I think you are just going to do it the "quick and dirty" way, which is to ignore the dog's fear, until it subsides. Not the kindest way, and the gradual method is definitely better, but hopefully you will still get there in the end. It is a shame that the owners do not seem particularly sensitive to the dog's plight or willing to help.

I also have never met any gormless collies yet, only ones with owners who do not understand how to tap into their abilities - they are not rated as the most clever breed for nothing.

Good luck - I hope you manage to sort it out for him/her. It sounds as if they need a bit of love and attention.

Errata

I also have never met any gormless collies yet, only ones with owners who do not understand how to tap into their abilities - they are not rated as the most clever breed for nothing.

They are highly intelligent, and some can be totally gormless at times. Ask any farmer and their families with a flock of sheep.