Help Training My Sheltie?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have a female sheltie who will be 2 in December. She’s a great pet, very smart, playful, and sweet. The only problem is the way she treats our other animals. I have a papillon who is 11 yo and her days of playing are over. I also have a 3 yo cat.
Whenever Cleo (the sheltie) comes in contact with the other dog or cat she jumps all over them, licking them, biting them, and sometimes making them yelp or cry unintentionally. I’ve tried scolding her, telling her no everytime she tries to jump but as soon as I turn around, she goes right back at it.
I know sheltie’s are sheep hearding dogs so it’s probably a control issue, but what’s a good way to get her to stop this behavior for the sake of my other pets?
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No, it’s a respect issue. I would be more adamant about the correction. The correction will be the correct level when the dog changes it’s behavior. By using too low a level of correction, it becomes merely nagging which the dog will ignore.
People mistakenly think that because shelties are small and generally happy dogs that they cannot be driven and determined to have their own way. Not so.
This has nothing to do with herding at all. It may, at root, be driven by not enough activity (hard to tell without watching the dog) so i’d probably up the dog’s mental and physical stimulation by doing obedience and/or agility.
Find a good trainer and get the dog on livestock, what it was bred to do.