herding dogs

[ACDlover]

my dog likes to herd people when they run. how can i get him to stop this, i dont ming if he runs next to me but he nips and jumps on me. id like to take him jogging with me or maybe roller blading but not before i correct this behavior. i know this is a trait of his breed. and i do exercise him ALOT. he walks nice on a leash, and is trained in all other ways. any suggestions?

[Evanescence]

My ACD mix did that a lot too when he was a pup. I use a majority of positive reinforcement training with my dogs, and so I tend to use a clicker when I train. If you don't have a clicker, you can use a bridge word such as a short "good" or a short whistle. When I trained him not to heeler "heel" me, I first made sure he could obedience "heel" at a walk, clicking and trating while he was walking nicely (often exitedly) by my side. After making sure he would do this at a walk, I started running short distances (like 5-10 feet) keeping his attention, and clicking and treating for giving attention while he was at my side (and not biting my heels!). I eventually extended the interval between clicks from 5 feet, to 10 feet, to 30 secs, etc. (baby steps, nothing too overwhelming...if the dogs gets it wrong, back up and try again for a shorter time) until I was jogging 1-2 miles a day with him, and eventually leaving the cookies and clicker at home. If he does happen to bite your heels, don't punish him, but stop, don't look at him, and say something in a "depressed" tone like "awwww...that's too bad" and stand still for 5-10 secs. If he's anything like mine, standing still is TORTURE...haha...and he'll quickly figure out that biting your ankles gets the exact opposite response he wants, you don't go faster, but stop completely, which stinks!

It may take a few days/weeks to get him to the point you want him too, but most ACDs are incredible intelligent and chances are, he'll figure it out in no time!

Hope this helps!

Lisa

[puppyprincess]

This is completely my dog. When we first got her she would run around the yard really fast around all my cousins, we thought that she was just getting rid of energy but somehow all the cousins would end up in a circle every time. At first it was cute but after a while if one of the cousins tried to get out of the circle she would nip at thier heels. This was really not acceptable!

Some backround: she is a corgi and natural these are herding dogs, since they are so low to the ground to get the bigger animals to move they would bite thier heels (the only place they could really reach).

We also solved this problem by teaching her not to bite. When we would play wrestle she would get excited and bite our hands (puppy teeth hurt!) so as soon as she got her jaws on us we would just grab it. We would hold her jaw and as she would try to wiggle out of it we would say "no biting" in a firm but sad voice. After a while she knew that if she tried to grab us we would do the same. Now every time she gets excited and nips to hard she lays down and licks our hand as if to say "I'm so sorry if i hurt you". She hates to disappoint!!!

When the cousins come over she might still try to circle them but she knows "no bite"!

Good Luck