I'm nursing a colorful bruise on my inner upper arm, where Finney, my 1 1/2 year old Smooth Collie nipped me hard, right after a wild karaoke induced romp in the living room. My two daughters and I had been singing (if you could call it that), dancing and rocking out to the Oxygen Channel Karaoke On Demand. Charlee loves to dance with us, and she was busting some serious moves. We got Sadie all hyped up and all the excitement must have put Finney into herding dog overload.

When Joan Jett's I love Rock and Roll ended, no sooner had I sat down on the couch than I felt a sharp nip on my arm. I screeched, pushed him away, and yelled at him to get out of the room. He got out all right---got out and stayed out.
How I wish I hadn't yelled at him!

Mr. Sensitive Collie Man relegated himself to a crate. It took several hours to get my Finney back and I am not yet sure of the lasting impression I made on the dog by overreacting to his over the top play. Even the power of cheese was no match for the trust I broke. He spent hours "hang dogging" just out my reach, looking all withdrawn and depressed.

Recently the discussion of hard and soft temperaments has been coming up in my group classes. I happen to have prime examples of both types living in my house. Charlee is the hard dog, and Finney is a classic example of a very soft dog. Make that mushy. For those of you that don't know, soft dogs are wonderful. They are super sensitive, and intuitive. They are usually a dream to teach to walk well on a loose leash and make super sweet pets. But the flip side may be a dog that is so sensitive, they may overreact to life's little challenges, and really be crushed by as much as a raised voice, or even a sharp look. Soft dogs may even get upset when you are upset for reasons that have nothing to do with the dog.
Generally soft dogs are very pressure sensitive and do not do well with any sort of corrections, but thrive with positive motivational training. Soft dogs have been know to shut down when asked to perform complex tasks. Collies fell out of favor as competition dogs many years ago because they didn't do well with harsh physical correction (aversive) training, but the breed is becoming more and more popular as they thrive with positive only training methods.

One of the challenges of living with the herding breeds, is that may nip when they get over stimulated. This is a big reason that many herding breeds do not do well in households with children. In Finn's case, there was nothing malicious about what he did. He had a momentary lapse into being the dog he was bred to be. If nipping continues I will view it more seriously, but for now I view it all as my fault. I should have managed him better, and most of all I should have tempered my anger. It is easy to get angry at dogs when they cross what we humans perceive as "the line." I can tell you now it doesn't do humans or dogs any good. No good at all.

If I had reacted exactly the same way with Charlee, she would have offered a dog apology with appeasement behaviors and then we would have made up within seconds. It is challenging for me to live with and train two dogs on complete opposite ends of the temperament spectrum, but Finn has taught me a lesson this weekend that I shall never forgot. Finney is back to being my buddy and I am back to treating him with kid gloves.
For now I am going to try to cut myself some slack.
To err is human, to forgive canine.

Doesn't he look sad with his Yoda ears on?

Read more on soft and hard dogs next month when A Dog's Life moves to the new pet section on MaineToday.com
Mainepets.com..coming soon!

E-mail this entry to a friend