Baby Ethel - early herding behaviours and water obsessed or just being a pup?

[Chris Mc]

Hello everyone. Nice to meet you. The breeder I got Ethel from is fabulous and I can ask her anything anytime. However, I don't want to keep bugging her and I like the idea of being part of an online community sharing ideas and experiences anyway. So. I'm 4 weeks into introducing my pedigree CC show champ pup Ethel to my multi-dog household. The two lads (9 and 11) are slowly coming round, though I hoped they would have been firmer with her than they have been - a bit scared).

Sometimes I feel like I have to apologise for going down the show route, but I live in the suburbs and my past farm collie didn't fair as well as he would've in the country, though he was 17 when I lost him. I got Ethel at 8 weeks and she's now 12 weeks. I don't know if she's starting to display herding behaviours or whether she's just playing at the moment? When Eddie (the adult b/w below runs after the ball) she takes the sheepdog posture then lies down, no movement, just watching him. On his return with the ball she's up and heading for him like a bullet. When she gets to him she grabs his mane.

Dog training is in a paddock at a farm. She is initially scared of other dogs, pulling back, but after tentatively meeting and greeting, she's their best friend, if not becoming too boisterous. The trainer has three sheep. Ethel ran over to the fence, ultra confident and so happy to be playing with them through the fence, nothing else mattered.

On her first road walk she was too keen to run after a jogger (tail wagging and happy noises) and one car, though to be fair, about 50 passed on the walk.

Finally, water. She loves the hosepipe. I had to give her a first shower this morning due to fox poo. Despite lots of hot dogs and making the shower fun, she yelped the way through it and couldn't wait to get off the shower tray.

p.s. I signed up with my real name. Does anyone know if I can change it to Chris Mc for a little more privacy?

 

[Josie]

Hello everyone. Nice to meet you. The breeder I got Ethel from is fabulous and I can ask her anything anytime. However, I don't want to keep bugging her and I like the idea of being part of an online community sharing ideas and experiences anyway. So. I'm 4 weeks into introducing my pedigree CC show champ pup Ethel to my multi-dog household. The two lads (9 and 11) are slowly coming round, though I hoped they would have been firmer with her than they have been - a bit scared).

Sometimes I feel like I have to apologise for going down the show route, but I live in the suburbs and my past farm collie didn't fair as well as he would've in the country, though he was 17 when I lost him. I got Ethel at 8 weeks and she's now 12 weeks. I don't know if she's starting to display herding behaviours or whether she's just playing at the moment? When Eddie (the adult b/w below runs after the ball) she takes the sheepdog posture then lies down, no movement, just watching him. On his return with the ball she's up and heading for him like a bullet. When she gets to him she grabs his mane.

Dog training is in a paddock at a farm. She is initially scared of other dogs, pulling back, but after tentatively meeting and greeting, she's their best friend, if not becoming too boisterous. The trainer has three sheep. Ethel ran over to the fence, ultra confident and so happy to be playing with them through the fence, nothing else mattered.

On her first road walk she was too keen to run after a jogger (tail wagging and happy noises) and one car, though to be fair, about 50 passed on the walk.

Finally, water. She loves the hosepipe. I had to give her a first shower this morning due to fox poo. Despite lots of hot dogs and making the shower fun, she yelped the way through it and couldn't wait to get off the shower tray.

p.s. I signed up with my real name. Does anyone know if I can change it to Chris Mc for a little more privacy?

Morning chris and welcome to the forum!
Sounds like you have a new challenge on your hands with Ethal

I will change your user name for you (currently away so will be done this afternoon)

 

[Kara 1]

I think she is just displaying collie behaviour wether she is show or work stock ....my old lurcher would show all the worktraits a friend of mine took a year to train his dogs she just had the natural instinct. ..she is only 12 weeks ...i would relax a little and let her be a pup for a few more months

 

[Chris Mc]

Morning chris and welcome to the forum!
Sounds like you have a new challenge on your hands with Ethal

I will change your user name for you (currently away so will be done this afternoon)

That's great. Thank you. Yes, we call em "little rum'ns" this neck of the woods :0)

 

[Nanny71]

The collie I visit daily used to do this with the smaller dogs on the field. Four fluffy white ones. He is three now and will still try to round them up. He also does the watching bit very alert but very still until he can gather them together. They all treat it as a game I was intrigued initially as it must be a trait that is inherent.
Your dogs are absolutely beautiful

 

[Chris Mc]

I think she is just displaying collie behaviour wether she is show or work stock ....my old lurcher would show all the worktraits a friend of mine took a year to train his dogs she just had the natural instinct. ..she is only 12 weeks ...i would relax a little and let her be a pup for a few more months

Thanks Kara. I am fretting more than I should be. I will try and chill and let her be a pup. I think it's because Robert (the red and white) is as bad as a reactive dog can be out doors and needs strict management in none-public areas. I'm over-worrying because I wouldn't like another doggy as challenging as him.

 

[Chris Mc]

The collie I visit daily used to do this with the smaller dogs on the field. Four fluffy white ones. He is three now and will still try to round them up. He also does the watching bit very alert but very still until he can gather them together. They all treat it as a game I was intrigued initially as it must be a trait that is inherent.
Your dogs are absolutely beautiful

Thanks Nanny. At the moment I'm trying to get her attention with 'watch me' and a treat, just before she goes down into the herding pose. I'm not perfect and making the odd mistake. I've just realised that I'm trying to fortune tell and predict the future. Maybe a bit of whiskey in my coffee will do the trick :0)

 

[JoanneF]

It does sound like exuberant puppy behaviour but if your older dog doesn't like it when she bullets up to him and grabs him, I would step in so that he doesn't have to. She still has a puppy license but it's not fair on your older dogs for her to terrorise them so I would keep an eye on that.

I don't really understand this though -

She loves the hosepipe. I had to give her a first shower this morning due to fox poo. Despite lots of hot dogs and making the shower fun, she yelped the way through it and couldn't wait to get off the shower tray.

Are you saying she loves it or hates it?

 

[Chris Mc]

It does sound like exuberant puppy behaviour but if your older dog doesn't like it when she bullets up to him and grabs him, I would step in so that he doesn't have to. She still has a puppy license but it's not fair on your older dogs for her to terrorise them so I would keep an eye on that.

I don't really understand this though -


Are you saying she loves it or hates it?

Sorry, yeah, I wasn't clear. A lot of us reference our personal past experiences. It's not always good to compare people or animals as everyone and everything is a diverse individual, but Mac (my farm collie) used to strategically put his two front paws together and hammer puddles, trickling water, and snapped constantly at water coming out of hosepipes. He chewed stones, dug big holes, stalked, herded and was generally a 24/7 live wire. Ethel loves water too. It sends her off into zooms round the garden. When it comes to having it on her, she wasn't happy at all. So, she loves water as long as she's not in it I suppose?