Nipping at children
Corrie is an 18 week old black lab/border collie/mutt (possibly some heeler, GSD, chow, and who knows what all else...sometimes I even see a hint of pit bull). I got him from the shelter when he was 8 weeks old. He was dumped along with his mother and the rest of his litter, so I don't know anything about the first several weeks, except that he was
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It also makes sense that he's not really trying to herd them, but that some instinct is being triggered that he doesn't know what to do with, and that translates to snapping.
I'm worried that it's turning into something more than that though. Today at the shop (he comes to work with me at a snowboard shop) a small kid came in and before they even got close to each other, Corrie started growling at him and got his hackles up. Some of his siblings looked very GSD, and I wonder if there's some protective instinct kicking in as well. These are funny-looking humans, and they act weird, and that is cause for concern in his mind.
I took Corrie into the back office, which is where he often hangs out with his food and water and stuff, so it wasn't a punishment, just a seperation. But I feel like I'm just avoiding these situations, not working on making them better. Obviously, avoiding them is better than not avoiding them, but I'd like to make them better.
I've done some research about positive trainers in the area, and I'll get in touch with one. This is my last week at work (economy, recession, blah, blah) so money's a bit tight right now. Hopefully there's a behaviorist who can do a short-ish consultation for a reasonable price. Not sure how to recreate the behavior for them to see it though. Maybe I need to find a behaviorist who has a "stunt kid" ;) (Just Kidding!!)
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