dog doesn't like the jingle of other dogs' tags

[triangleman42]

My dog is a 3 year old border collie & lab mix. She is friendly with people and good with other dogs. She is sometimes a bit afraid when she is on leash and another dog comes up to her.

At work she often hears the jingle of another dog as it goes down the hallway with its owner. She will pace back and forth or growl from her bed. Sometimes she'll be startled by the sudden jingling and let out a single bark. This is just about the only time she ever barks. She really really does not like this jingling. Today a new employee wore some crazy jeans with straps and metal bits all over them. Their constant jingling was definitely agitating my dog.

Does her reaction have anything to do with her own tags jingling? Had she never had a collar with jingling tags does anyone think she wouldn't have this reaction? What steps can I do to help her not be so agitated by this noise? It does not just happen at work, she will do the same thing in the house when she can hear another dog jingling outside.

Our first day of beginning obedience class is this evening. I thought I'd get opinions from folks here in addition to the recommendations of the trainers.

 

[Kayota]

I don't see why a collar with jingling tags would do that. My dogs all have tags.

 

[Zoom]

Some dogs get really agitated about metallic sounding noises, hence the reason "penny cans" have been used in some sectors of training...they don't like the noise so they stop whatever made the noise start.

Borders are notorious for having bizarre obessions anyway. It's also possibly less to do with her own tags jingling as the sound of other tags/metal bits means that there is movement on the other side of the door and being a Border, she wants to do something about it.

I have an Aussie and he's not fond of metallic sounds either. I ended up having to desensitize him to a penny can because of a former employee...which basically meant that he got a steady stream of treats and praise the whole time I was shaking a penny can. He's still not terrible fond of them, but won't get upset by the noise anymore. You might be able to adapt this to your border, get some keys as it's a softer noise and a handful of her favorite treats.

Her "fear" on leash can also be taken care of, provided that you and your trainer can set up some positive and rewarding experiences for her. Assuming you're not going to Petsmart for training, your trainer will probably have some good ideas for you.

Good luck and let us know!

 

[malmo]

If she has fear of other dogs, she may have already associated the sound of tags with oncoming dogs. I would assume this is what's happening, and be less inclined to think it was directly about the metallic sound itself.

This sounds sort of silly, but *I* got conditioned to fear that sound after my dog was attacked. Every time we'd be out on a walk and I'd hear a jingle, I'd have a total panic reaction. It was often a neighbor walking to his car with his keys or whatever, but I didn't know that. I assumed it was another attack dog ready to eat my baby.

 

[Zoom]

Right on, Malmo, that's what I was getting at, but I was trying to multi-task and missed actually saying that.

 

[triangleman42]

If she has fear of other dogs, she may have already associated the sound of tags with oncoming dogs. I would assume this is what's happening, and be less inclined to think it was directly about the metallic sound itself.

Malmo, I think you're exactly right. She is shy on leash and has always been very submissive. She is just fine sniffing and saying hello to other dogs at the park and at work, provided she isn't on leash. For some reason her hearing other dogs barking doesn't bother her. If there is a dog without tags barking outside my house she'll just ignore it. If it had tags on and walked by she'd growl softly and/or let out a little bark or two. This seems to have increased slowly since I got her almost a year ago. Perhaps it is her defending her home and her people.

 

[Mayor_McCheese]

I have a similar problem with my collie doing the same thing when our terrier is walking around. If she hears her up walking around she will get up and block her from coming to us or walk along side of her and whine. Not really sure why she does this but am trying to research breaking her of this.

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

Maybe while she's eating you could try jingling keys (or somethign similiar sounding). That way, she hopefully start to associate the noise with good things (food).



~Tucker