[afriendtoben]

My friend recently got a 5yo rescue blue ACD. He had a incident with my dog (slight single puncture/tear on the neck) right after he got him. And he seems to stalk (chest out up on front toes walking forward slowly tail level) other dogs if they are the same size or larger. My friend is afraid to allow him interaction due to the initial incident.

He has absurdly superb recall and is a off leash dog currently since he can be redirected as soon as another dog is in sight.

One more thing that is odd the rescue said he lived with 5 other dogs and was fine. He is perfect with cats, doesn't even look at them. He was fearful/nippy with humans but that has gotten completely cured he LOVES people now. couple questions...

1. Is this reactivity or aggression?

2. Can he be resocialized?

3. Could this possibly be a herding behavior since it is expressed only to same size or larger dogs?

 

[TiffanyM67]

I definitely think it's a herding behavior. A good one at that, since his recall is so good.

 

[workerant]

That physical stance you describe sounds a bit like the fabled "Border Collie Eye." If that's what it is, that's GREAT! It's a herding posture. Herding dogs like BCs and ACDs nip to get the animals moving; that could be what he did to your dog.

I would start using that excellent recall to break the dog's focus when he started eyeing other dogs. I'd call him, reward him when he came to me (reinforce the recall) and redirect him to approach other dogs in a more civilized way, maybe have him sit as the other dog approached him.

Does the posture look kinda like this?

 

[afriendtoben]

The crouch is similar. But he holds his head higher and his tail is out and level.
It was a little more than a nip to my dog. I had to pull him off. Could have been a territorial thing too.

He had had him for about a week before I came over. Pace (the ACD) was up on a ottoman and displayed interest in ben but didn't get down. Ben came up to him head down kind of sniffed his feet and Pace sniffed Ben once cocked his head to the side and just WENT drove ben back into the patio door knocking over a coffee table in the process.

Had him pinned up on the door biting the underside of his neck. I pulled pace off ben. No apparent injuries. No sound during the whole time just a yelp of suprise from ben the table getting knocked over and then a louder yelp of pain. I found the puncture/tear later that night under ben's collar.

I saw a video on acds though where the dog reacted virtually the same way to a cow that comes up and sniffs her though. So still might just be a herding behavior.

But yeah I'm going to try to get him to socialize the dog again. He is just scared that his recall might not work if he lets pace get to close to another dog.

 

[rotten]

The tail carriage is usually more erect and upright with aggression. This sounds like the thousand mile stare stance, as the dog pictures its prey, and goes into drive mode. Left unrestricted, as soon as the prey moves, SO should the dog. Whist the prey is still, the position is held. Remember, that prey drive, is the dogs natural instinct to chase moving objects. This is the drive that all herding dogs are trained in.
It is a positive, and of course you can socialise your dog. Baby steps, and get in there up close so that you can model correct greeting to your dog, lovely high excited voice 'look at the puppy' 'gently' etc. and feed your dog rewards whilst its being well mannered. the minute it arks up, about turn and walk off. Then come back and repeat, keep repeating till dog does not react negatively.
I used a frizbee with Bernie, got him real obsessed, and now he cant even see other dogs if i have a frizbee.

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

No not aggression, cattle dog play is always rougher then normal dog play, you should see my two go at it, & when our friends catahola puppy joins the mix for-get it LMBO. min also stalk each other before pouncing & tumbling about, I think that it's part of how they engage other dogs. It doesn't sound like an aggressive thing.

Trust me, when a cattle dog fights you know it, it gets nasty quick. These dogs have no back up in them at all. You'd know it if it was a fight.

 

[Tofu_pup]

Much of the ACDs reactions to other dogs could very well be herding. But the incident with your dog DOES sound like a fight. The vast majority of dogs know how to use their mouths well. They wrestle and scuffle without injury. A fight that results in breaking skin/blood being drawn is rarely an oops thing. Pace knew what he was doing.

Introducing the two dogs in Pace's new home was definitely a bad idea.