Great dog, but somtime....

My neighbor has border collie which nipped at kids when it was young - we always suspected it was part of the herding instinct in the breed - never hurt anyone just scared the******out of a few kids.

You can NOT take a dog to a campground if he has displayed biting behavior. Do not expose the public to a dangerous animal. You better get a professional's help with this dog.

if you know the dog tries to bite anyone, don't take it camping. Who wants to camp next to a potentially "vicious" dog?

ugh wrote:
We rescued a deaf dog from someone who planned to put it down because he was deaf. This is a mix breed more likely Border Collie and Aussie. The dog is awesome with my family including the kids. Most kids friends are fine. However, The dog gets in some kind of defense mode and tries to bite some of my kids friend. Only some of the boys. What's up with that?

We always put the dog in my bedroom when there are kids here. Now, what do we do when take the dog to camping?

Keep control of the dog.....on leash whenever outside.
Tell folks/kids that walk up on you (Can I Pet Your DOG?) NO

Dog is not vicious.....just a nipper (Border Collie-herder---they like to control)
Plus being deaf it has no 'sound clues'

Deaf dogs are a bit more involved.....but if you spend the extra time they can be taught 'hand gestures'.
YOU HAVE to be involved and consistent.

If I had to guess, I'd bet your dog doesn't like the "bouncy" kids - the ones that are likely to startle him because he can't hear them coming. Our old Cattle Dog resorted to that tactic as he lost his hearing (sight, too) - and it's exactly why we finally put him down. Didn't trust him around the grandkids.

BUT - I'm not advocating putting your dog down. You're going to need a good trainer who can teach you and your dog hand signals; and someone who can assess if the dog is truly a biter, or can be convinced to be polite with some good training? Also - if the dog is nipping at heels/lower legs - that might be a herder "herding". That's easy enough to stop with a little bit of training - you're dealing with breeds that are super-smart!

On edit - I want to add that both Aussies and Border Collies (and probably many other herding/working breeds) are very people-oriented, and willingly look to their humans for commands. I guess I'm saying if you're going to work with a deaf dog - these breeds might be easier to retrain than a sled dog, for example. As my beloved Aussie Ike grew old, he lost his hearing, too - but he had good sight, so we invented some hand signals that worked for us, and he simply wandered around the yard, glancing at the door every 20 seconds or so, to see if I was there to wave him back inside.

You might also invest in a really good training collar - one that allows you to control the signal the dog receives? And then teach the dog to come to a vibration setting. I mean, unless you're going to always have the dog on a leash - you'll need to let it know you want it to come back to you. Or at least look at you so you can give it a signal by hand.

Lastly - if your dog has a lot of white on it - it's probably an Aussie.... people who don't know what they're doing will breed a merle female to a merle male; and quite often the pups of that cross are born with too much white, and are deaf :-(

ugh wrote:
However, The dog gets in some kind of defense mode and tries to bite some of my kids friend. Only some of the boys. What's up with that?

My guess it is associated with the way those kids move. Are these kids more hyperactive or have more erratic movements than the ones that do not elicit a reaction for your dog? You need to learn to recognized the behaviors in some kids that trigger the reaction, learn to recognize the cues in the dog prior to this unacceptable reaction, and then correct for that reaction as the dog is thinking about it (before it actually reacts).

You need to work on your dog and teach the kids what behaviors are not allowed (for their own safety) around dogs and specifically this dog.


Higher rates of congenital deafness (deaf at birth) are observed in Border Collies with excessive white on the head, 2 blue eyes, or merle coloring than in the general population.

A lot of great information here.

This dog is not vicious. If it was, I would had get rid of him.

Some of you are right, its more of nipping than bite. However, it is still scary.

Until the dog is more mature and is trained not to nip/bite other people, it will stay in kennel while we are camping. We may take him to state park camp where there are less people.

I agree, ugh--a lot of great info and your dog is just being a "herder". I would say with consistency and possibly a trainer experienced with deaf dogs, your pup will be fine to go camping. Of course, always have an eagle eye on him until you are sure.

Deaf Dog Education Action Fund


This is from an Aussie rescue org. in PDF file:
BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER:
Living with and Training the Deaf Dog

I would say you know where the behavior is coming from but it is an inappropriate expression of instinct even in a dog trained to work livestock.

maybe try a muzzle?