Aversive Alternatives for my Border Collie mix

Barks, BEYOND

When I adopted my Border Collie mix, Macy, about 2 1/2 years ago I quickly realized things weren’t quite right with her. She is very triggered by movement and sounds and doesn’t have a great sense of smell, and potentially not a full range of vision. Some of this I have only recently learned by attending another round of Agility classes and sharing my difficulties in training her with the course instructor.

People employ a wide range of cruel and unusual techniques it would seem to solve somewhat simple problems. Border Collies are bred for their eyesight and herding instinct. Poorly bred dogs can suffer from undesirable neurological traits. Or, a dog like Macy who should be breeding sheep as she was somewhat bred too, has difficulty being a house dog. Not that complicated IMHO.

So Macy is prone to barking and lunging at object that pass by windows in the car or house and even though I have employed a variety of force-free techniques I have to finally admit I’m not winning the battle to any degree. I had a few small wins on this front I can build on over her lifetime but I need to let the rest of it go.

It wasn’t very long after we got Macy that we discovered her problem with shiny spots on the wall and the ceiling. She will climb up furniture and break things to get to them. It’s quite a problem. She really thinks they are birds or something that have gotten into the house and wants to chase them. And there is simply nothing to be done about that. It will never improve. I did a fair bit of reading on it and was really upset because the indication was that she needed a sensory free room to have time outs in, combined with medication, and if no improvement then euthanize her. As is my nature, I do not accept things that are unacceptable so I thunk and thunk until my thinker hurt, and came up with an incredibly simply solution…curtains. They were expensive to find a size and suitable style for my taste on my budget, but now as soon as the sun hits the problem threshold and makes the taps or glasses create those scary shiny things on the wall and ceiling, we just close the curtains for a few hours.

Whew.

curtains for Macy turned out to be a good thing!
we can keep the shiny monsters now!

Our next step was to cover the dreaded floor to ceiling window by the front door in some translucent window cling. Previously she laid at the top of the stairs barking at everything that walked by, and now no problem and the light still comes in.

translucent window cling

Finally I have just as of this week accepted that I’m not going to win the picture window battle. We put up some curtains halfway up the window last night, and it’s our first bark free day in 2 years. Lovely!

we can lower this about a foot, but a half curtain still lets the light in and she can’t see dogs and people walking by
even sitting on the couch she can’t see out – she is probably wondering what happened to her television…LOL
the princess is happy…both of us! I don’t think she enjoys acting crazy and will feel calmer over time for not practicing bad behavior and being triggered

Will probably find someone with a sewing machine to shorten them up and drop them down a foot or so (very hard to find curtains shorter than 54″) so my plants will be happier, but this is going to be amazing as a humane solution / aversive-alternative.

As for the barking in the car, I can somewhat live with it with Macy as a solo companion, but if we introduce a second dog down the road, they will simply have to be crated in the car. No way around it.

It’s a bit like the serenity prayer – accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I see no point in trying to force a square peg into a round hole here, and refuse to do anything cruel or unwarranted.

I love my Macy and hope this helps a dog you know and love to deal with some of these issues. We ask a lot having working breeds live in cities and subdivisions, we have to give a little understanding in return.

These may not have been my first decorating choices, but it’s a give and take to share your home with a living creature.