collie snapping when stroked but wants attention?

moneymabel

i have a 2 1/2 year old female Collie (and also a 10 month old collie) It's the older one we have the problem with. She has always been a bit 'funny' since we had her from a pup, she doesnt want a lot of fuss,shes not a cuddly dog at all but she has never been nasty (well only when she was hiding under a table and the other half was trying to get her out..she gave him plenty of growling warning before she snapped so I wasnt too concerned about that)
Recently though she has taken to snapping when she is stroked-she will come up to you for a fuss, she likes to have the side of her neck tickled,she stays there for a while but then starts to get agitated, you can feel her tense and start to pull away-if you carry on stroking her she will snap, she bit my uncle yesterday as he didnt read the signals.
As soon as i see the signs i leave her alone but she instantly comes back for more fuss-rubbing her face against my hand-then when you touch her again she pulls away? I can understand that she doesnt want to be touched-thats fair enough, but why does she come back for more attention instantly?
she is very protective of her food when its down she will growl if someone walks past it so now i pick it up if she doesnt eat it straight away.
It's getting to the point now that im worried she is going to seriously bite someone, i havent got children but i wont let my neices near her as i dont trust her. any advice/ideas most welcome,thankyou.

cinderellacomplex

Have you taken her to the vet? There may be a problem which people can agitate when they are stroking her - an abscess or something perhaps. A vet would be able to rule things like that out. It would be my first suggestion anyway.

exup

collies can be a bit nippy at times anyway, our border collie would growl if you came near his food, but he was never nasty. If he had been told off, or thought he was going to be then he would hide in his kennel, or one of the chairs which was high enough to let him do so. If you tried to get him out then he would growl at you.
However unless he felt really threatened he wouldn't bite and mean it (I think my parents would have had him put to sleep if he had).
but the snapping during a fuss is strange, how long have you had the 10 month old? has she changed since becoming "used" to the presence of the younger dog, now the novelty has worn off?
Could be worth a trip to the vet to see why her character is like it is, and could also be a bit of jealousy and just general unease with the other dog - do they fight at all?

as with kids, youngsters - collies can be quite bright to understand a family pecking order, and ours firmly planted himself above me when I was very young, even though he never bit me, he wouldn't really listen to me when anyone else was around, until I was older/bigger

although collies aren't the biggest of dogs, due to being quite bright, they can get bored, so good exercise and walks can help burn off their nervous energy

sarabe

Guarding her food and her space (hiding under the table) will cause her to be stressed. Resource guarders will often solicit attention and then be snappy.

Additionally Border Collies are very sensitive to sound, movement and touch.

First of all she should have a thorough vet check to rule out a medical reason.

Then you need to deal with the resource guarding. Is it just her food or does she guard toys, chew toys and treats?

ali-t

Get a vet check to make sure there is nothing physical behind it then get your dog into training. It should benefit you both to engage in focused obedience work that will help to build the rapport you have. If you are still having problems then it might be worth getting a behaviourist to look at the relationship between the dogs and between the dogs and humans in the family.

Good luck.

Beckyy

Take her to the vets and ask for a full health check, including blood tests. There can be many health problems which can cause problematic behaviour, thyroid problems particularly.

A few questions that spring to mind:

How much exercise does she get a day?
Does she only snap when you stroke in one particular place, or is it anywhere?
Has she ever had ANY bad experiences with people, that you know of?
What types of training techniques have you used throughout her life?

getthemax

It's probably best to get her checked out, but my 12 year old collie has always been funny about fuss. He only wants it on his terms and if you crowd him or go over the top he can give a grumble to say I don't want any more. Sometimes he'll come up to me when I'm sitting down and rub his face in my lap and have a load of fuss. You have to learn to read your dog's personality and warn other people if they are funny about being fussed.

On the other hand our youngest collie can't have too much fuss and I'm sure she'd be happy to be carried around being stuffed up my jumper.

moneymabel

Thankyou all so much for your replies! She has had a check up and doesnt have any health probs. She was lke this even before we got the puppy so dont think its to do with that? Getthemax-our little one is exactly the same she wants fuss non stop! Your 12 y/old sounds very similar!
She does guard her toys as well and her dinner, if she doesnt eat it staright away i take it away to avoid aggravation. She gets a lot of exercise but does get bored very easily whilst the little one will entertain herself throwing a toy around and catching it the older one will just lie about and go to sleep.

moneymabel

Beckky- it is anywhere you stroke her so dont think its a particular place causing her pain, we have had her since a pup,she did come from a farm (an actual farm not a puppy farm btw) which wasnt a very nice place so whether she learnt then to guard her food because they werent given much (we did report the farmer to the rspca and he has been dealt with, wont go into detals but it was a horrible place)

moneymabel

sarabe wrote: »

Guarding her food and her space (hiding under the table) will cause her to be stressed. Resource guarders will often solicit attention and then be snappy.

Additionally Border Collies are very sensitive to sound, movement and touch.

First of all she should have a thorough vet check to rule out a medical reason.

Then you need to deal with the resource guarding. Is it just her food or does she guard toys, chew toys and treats?

why do they solicit attention and then snap? she does guard her food and toys, how do i deal with resource guarding? thanks for your help.

ali-t

Jean donaldson is fantastic and very insightful and this book will guide you through everything you need to know about resource guarding. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mine-Practical-Guide-Resource-Guarding/dp/0970562942