Hi, I recently adopted a 9 month old Blue Heeler/Black Lab mix (9 days ago) and when I first picked him up, he had no issues with me, took a day or so but he warmed up to me great. Recently, I had a coworker over to my place and while he growls at first, after much reassuring by me, he allows visitors to pet him and is okay, until they try to walk away, then he goes after their heels, nipping and barking at them. He has also done this to my next door neighbor. Aside from continually scolding him for such behavior, what can I do to curb this ultimately embarrassing behavior?

stop scolding him. australian cattle dogs are herding dogs - they herd by nipping at what ever they are herding. this is instinctive & not bad behavior.

keep him leashed to you when you have people coming or going.

find a reputable trainer & take him to obedience classes. be sure & go there to observe how the trainer relates to the dogs & owners before you sign up. no pet store classes. your local shelter or kennel club should be able to guide you

shame on the shelter for not explaining the breeds needs to you. & shame on you for not asking.

Apparently I must have the wrong forums. I was looking for ways to control my dog's problematic behavior and the response I get is that it's my fault, and that I should essentially lock him away when I have guests.

Such cavalier attitudes are detrimental to successful pet ownership and do nothing but seek to punish the owner.

I am not looking to keep him out of sight, I want to incorperate him into my life and the choice that I made was based on thorough research before I adopted him. Apparently I should have done the same when seeking help on this issue.

Keep in mind that he's also a mixed breed, with a Black Lab. I understand that behavior may swing one way or the other and instincts can't be predicted, but again, I want to incorporate him into my life, not hide him away like a guilty secret whenever I have guests.

So, that being said, if there is somebody here who can provide some REAL, HONEST advice, then please help me, and I will welcome your assistance. Otherwise, keep your arrogance to yourself.

nowhere did I say one word about banishing him. I did not even suggest crating him. not a word about keeping him out of sight, or hiding him away like a "guilty secret".

keeping him leashed to you certainly isn't hiding him.

I also suggested obedience classes.

sounds like you have a personal problem

Originally Posted by suebgone

sounds like you have a personal problem

Again, that only reinforces my point regarding cavalier attitudes and attacking the owner, not the problem. I came here for help, not for a berating. If you feel I have a 'personal problem' this is not the proper forum to express your obvious mastery of the complete human psyche. Please message me privately if you feel you must personally attack me. I'm pretty sure this site has rules against personal attacks, as most online forums do.

Again, I welcome any real advice from people who don't feel the need to personally insult people genuinely looking for help.

Hey Submariner.

It sounds like the blue heeler in him is coming out through the nipping (this is typical herding behavior with the breed). Think about something that is the opposite of what your dog is doing and try that. For example, a dog that has a very good sit/stay on command shouldn't chase after someone walking away.

Scolding an animal will sometimes make us feel better, but it really doesn't help your dog - it can actually create a sense of fear instead. When training our dogs to not perform a certain behavior, it's also important to show them what you would like for them to do instead.

I think we would need to have more information about your dog's growling to make any suggestions, but I believe it would be a good idea to consult with an animal behavior specialist. You can check with your local shelter to see who they can recommend - sometimes they'll have one on staff that can speak to you over the phone for free. I think they would probably want to spend about an hour or so for an in-person consult so they can gain a better understanding of the whole picture and give you suggestions on how to get a good resolution for your dog's behavior.

Grace,

Thanks for the suggestions. He is reasonably good with the sit command, I'll see what I can do to reinforce that behavior. I'm going to make an assumption that simple positive reinforcement for not chasing after guests would work, right? I agree that scolding isn't the best answer, I hate to do it to him at all, though without other alternatives, it was the most effective at the time.

The husband of one of my coworkers is also licensed at the local county humane society, so I'll ask him if he has recommendations on behavior specialists.

Positive reinforcement can work great. The trick is to giving him something that is of very high value to him to fight the urge to want to chase after someone.

Until your dog is pretty good with the sit/stay (doing it at least 95% of the time, very consistently), you should probably work with him in your home with no one around. Then move to somewhere a little more distracting, but with no one around (such as a backyard). Then move onto having one person around, but while your dog is on the leash. Slowly work in this fashion.

The behavior specialist you speak with can help you out with this as well.

Good luck with your pup! He is very adorable.

I just joined so that I could tell Suebgone to keep her opinions to herself and just answer the question. I too have been attacked by loser forum monitors such as yourself. Get a life!! Get out of your computer loser land and go see the blue sky. You're the one who should be ashamed of yourself! I found this site by googling blue heeler mixes, because my son got one in January. I just wanted some info and then I had to read your loser unhelpful response.

Healers do have a habit of grabbing people by the heel. If you can work out why the pup is doing it you may find a clue to fixing the behaviour. My brother had a dog who would let anyone into their yard but... they werent allowed to leave till my brother got home. He was obviously protecting his territory. Perhaps your pup would not nip visitors heels if you walked them to the gate, or the door if inside, and then turned and walked away from them with your dog rather than having them walk away from you.

I got my black lab/blue heeler mix puppy when he was 9 weeks old... on the second day (!!!) he started going after my heels, bottoms of my shorts, shoes, anything... here's what has started working -- I did found this great post from someone else on their lab/heeler mix dog. They mentioned something about the Heeler being a cave dog, which I wasn't sure of, but noticed Jasper (my dog) relaxing when he was in smaller places (I have not crate trained him). So I would give him nap times in my room (where he sleeps anyway). Also, I give him plenty of rawhides to chew on... it wears out his need to chew/bite. Also, when he was really young, I would carry five gallon buckets around for work and swing them a little. They would tap him if he got too close to my feet and that deterred him a lot.

I would also get some friends willing to help greet your dog with treats and making sure the dog got in the SIT position before getting the treats. I'd have as big a variety of people as you could do this for a few days. Heeler/Lab mixes (at least mine) is really really smart. So count on their intelligence and they'll get the idea.

Good luck, and don't get too discouraged! Also, I'd find as big and as empty a dog park you can and get your dog a ton of exercise when he's driving you crazy. A long walk/run/play with mine always works.

scolding your dog doesn't help at all but I suggest you to teach him what to do..

The "leave it" command might be a helpful one for helping him to learn not to "herd" people. I use it sometimes on my dog (a hunting class breed) when she wants to get a closer sniff of people in the vicinty-- especially sweaty joggers, lol.

Also, my dog, because I often walk after dark, has been trained to deter strange males from approaching me uninvited. But she really is not able to determine who is a threat, and who isn't. A lot of times, when we walk past a strange man who is minding his own business, I watch her very closely as we go by. The very instant she indicates a likelihood for growling or barking unwarranted, I head her off by firmly saying "no," and speeding up just a little. It works great! I praise her when she is quiet as we go by.

In your case, having your dog on a leash when you have visitors might be handy-- at least in this training phase-- the second you anticipate an inclination to "herd" someone, you will be able to either give a correction ("leave it," and hold him close to you), or a positive re-direct (a smelly treat, like cheese). Whichever you think would be best for you and your dog. After he becomes more responsive to re-direction, you could probably fore-go the leash at home.

Submariner asked the questin that started this thread back in April and Hasn't been back here since. I guess Suebgone's nastiness turned him off.

Mydogiscute, that sounds like agood plan. I also have a blue heeler but so far I haven't had any trouble. She is only 1 year old and she only tries to herd my golden lab.

I'd wager a guess that this dog is uncomfortable with strangers. Just cause a dog 'lets' someone touch them doesn't mean that they like it. And you sure don't want to keep forcing a dog to deal with people. Stress builds up in situations like this and you end up with a scared dog taking a cheap shot and nailing someone when they start to walk away. You need to understand about triggers, thresholds, counter conditioning and desensitization. The more a dog practices a behavior they better they get at it, even bad behaviors. Do not punish the dog, you need to change how the dog feels about strangers, not just how it behaves around them. Change the feeling and you'll find the behavior much easier to change.

[ANonyMs]

I realize this is years later and may not be helpful for the OP, but I am posting in case someone else finds this post via Google as I did.

This is not fear nipping and you can not just train your dog not to do it.

Australian Cattle Dogs / Blue Heeler / Queensland Heelers are HERDING DOGS. The herd by nipping at the heels of their herd or flock. Maybe the word "heeler" in its name should have been an indication. It is not because they are good at heeling when you walk them.

This is an atavistic trait. It is primal. It is so deeply engrained in the breed that it can not be bred out.

The best you can do is:

1) warn your guests when they enter, give your dog a moment at the door and make sure that your dog knows that YOU are the boss and these people are welcome in your home.

2) give your dog a job. If your heeler understands that he/she has a mission and a job, such as herding animals, etc, then you can train it to know when to be "off" the job.

3) By nature, this breed is wary of strangers. He is just trying to control the situation.

4) Tell your guests that if your dog is sniffing their heels, not to move quickly.

5) Teach your dog simple commands that are used by farmers when the working dogs are in the feild. It will still WANT to herd and nip but you can teach him not to unless given permission.

6) Do some research and understand your breed. Just b/c it is mixed with a lab does not mean you aren't still dealing with a cattle dog. ACD's have a very strong personality and need a master who understands them and is willing to train them. They are not an easy dog for most people, but they can be wonderfully loyal and dedicated to their families.

[jlguay81]

speaking from experiance my baby is a australian cattle dog/ german shepard mix (sorry for the bad spelling never was my strong point ) anyway definatly get him some training. The growling is just your dog doing his job protecting his home. He can be trained to stop the nipping with your command. I reserched my dogs breading and was told they were not good dogs for small kids because of the instinct to nip. My children are 16, 7, 5, and 3weeks. We got my dog as a puppy 5yrs ago Rascal is now very well behaved and only trys to eat my neighbor ( he dosnt care for him although we can't figure out why) keep reassuring your dog when company comes over soon he will get used to other people and just make sure people coming to visit are aware of your dogs personality. Generally my dog is fine after about 10 mins or so when he realizes that he isnt the big scary dog he thinks he is. Hope things go well for you, you have a wonderfull dog on your hands

[dogdragoness]

Disregard ant comments like those above. I have been into cattle dogs for better of 10 yrs, what he is exhibiting is herding behavior. Does he have a favorite toy? If he does you can try distracting him with that when you see that he's going to go for someones legs. Another thing you can do is have the person stand like a tree, trees are boring lol so he will eventually lose interest, allowing you to gain his attention.

Please understand that this behavior isn't the fault of anyone, you or dog. Labs are famous for being biters also so you got a double dose lol. 9 Months is also the time when dogs like to become little teenage hellions lol so be prepared for a wild ride before its all over. Izze, my cattle dog was horrid during those days but I thank dog I stuck it out. she is my heart dog now.