My Dog does weird things. do they matter?

Trigger Tending Sheep

Trigger, my Dutch Shepherd x Malinois, is the most pressure sensitive dog I’ve ever had. It was very apparent when I started her on sheep and she wanted to be about 30 feet away. I honestly had no idea what she was doing.

She also pulls through doorways, hates being in the house, and squirts through the people sitting in chairs waiting their turn at drop in rally on Monday nights.

Each of these in isolation doesn’t tell me much, but in conjunction, they tell me she’s worried.

When I took her to California to herd, she refused to move between a parked car and her sheep. They were probably 20 feet apart.

Its easy to dismiss such things as quirks. Unimportant.

Until she cannot go into a small space with the sheep, a judge leaning over her in the show ring causes her to back away or bite, or she panics in an elevator.

Quirks matter because sometimes they’re signs of something bigger. Trigger’s quirks add up to her concern about spatial pressure.

Pressure is something that dogs - especially herding dogs - are exceptionally sensitive to. Humans often struggle to see it. For Trigger, it’s tight spaces - usually tight spaces occupied by living animals (people/sheep - but not dogs). Her crate doesn’t bother her at all. Nor does body slamming her fellow dogs, or stepping on the backs of my shoes. She’s not worried about heeling close to me, but hates to heel close to a wall.

For most dogs looking at them is pressure, looming, petting over their head. For others it could be the confines of a crate, or their owner’s tone of voice - we all use tonal pressure - think of how your voice changes with annoyance - that’s pressure. Social pressure to a sensitive dog could be something as minor as a frown.

So, what do I do when I see these isolated incidents? The first thing I do is I pay attention. When does she worry? What kind of pressure matters, what kind doesn’t? Doorways matter, as do hallways - but not her crate. It doesn’t need to make sense. Her list appears random - but it tells me what matters to her - I don’t need to explain it.

I cannot change what I cannot see.

Then, I show her how to cope. I do not avoid pressure. Instead I dose it in ways she can handle. I build a solid foundation of behavior (don’t bolt through - slow down - take treats instead).

I use her drive to help her face scary things. I set up pictures where going into pressure gives her a reward (this is pretty much the entire game and set-up of the bite sports - she does Schutzhund).

Right now, I have a white wether (male neutered sheep) who has learned that he can back Trigger off simply by raising his head. She whines and bounces off the pressure - too worried to engage, and not understanding what engagement looks like, since she has been scolded for very over the top gripping.

In a better trained dog I could ask her to ‘walk up’, support her, and have her learn how to exert her size and power. Instead, I put her in a small pen on a long line with just the one sheep, and let her deal with him. Walk into him. Watch him turn. Celebrate. Rinse and repeat. She won’t learn her power as some monster epiphany, but rather as a series of small wins.

In the building, walking through the people, I have to first remind her that she actually likes every single person there. It’s not that they’re people, it’s that they are things too close. It’s important to recognize this distinction. Then I walk a step stop, sit, reward. Each step. Slow, methodical. Boring.

Trigger is young, less than two, so the work I do today, the time I take here will serve her for the rest of her life. This is not somewhere I want to hurry, but I do need to support her, and help her overcome these worries.