Question:
I have a question-- My dog is a 6 year old Autrailin Sherpherd named Maggie who is very loving and loyal to myself, my 4 year old daughter and my husband but if someone comes into my house that she is not sure of she will "herd them" everytime they move and nip them at the heel. How do I stop this ? She has "nipped" 2 of my friends while they were visiting. The nip caused semi broken skin and bruising both times. I love my dog very much but this is unacceptable. I don't want to have to crate her everytime I have guests. What can I do? Please help me. I need to get her to stop this! :(

Answer:
Has she been doing this all her life? What have you done to try and stop this?
Aussies certainly can be nippy and mouthy and try to herd everything and everyone.

All I can think of is to keep her on leash when guests come, and if she even looks as though she is thinking of nipping, you can correct her before she does it. Pop the leash to get her attention, say something like "NO BITE". The second she turns to look at you, praise and give a little treat.

This way she will learn that nipping gets her a correction, and NOT nipping gets treats and praise.

If she has been allowed to do this for 6 years, it may take awhile to retrain her.

There is a border collie person who visits this forum. I hope she sees your post, as she would have much better advice to give you!

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