Rooney is herding? Being dominant? Has a shoe fetish?

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Rooney has developed an interesting behavior with guests in our home and even occasionally our 8 year old daughter. He seems to be trying to control their movement (or prevent their movement?) by gently nipping at their shoes. He is not biting and does not hurt anyone, but as people try to walk down the hallway he will dart around their feet, mouthing at their shoe laces and generally making a nuisance of himself. But it seems to be coming from a place of excitement and perhaps wanting to "herd" them where he wants.

He is not at all aggressive or anxious when he's doing this. He enjoys people and likes having guests and if anything I think it's more a case of not knowing what to do with himself. We are very fortunate that Rooney is not a jumper which would of course be so much worse but this is still unacceptable behavior that I'm not entirely sure how to curb?

If I'm prepared for the guest, I can have him on leash so he doesn't have so much freedom to herd the guest, but it is harder when guests arrive unexpectedly.

What I would love to do is work on training Rooney to go into a down-stay when guests arrive until he is given permission to get up, but that has been hard to do when we still have our very old dog around who cannot be bothered to learn new tricks at this point. I just don't know how much success I will have making Rooney stay put when Reagan is greeting guests as he pleases.

Any thoughts on the shoe thing? Herding? Dominance? A little of both?

[Lynda Kamrath]

First of all, I would not worry about what the older dog is doing.  And try not to compare their behaviors.  You want to work on Rooney, so just focus on him.  Maybe a little spray bottle would help and when he goes for the feet, give him a squirt and a ahhh, ahhh verbalization.  When he sees that he will get squirted he will stop the behavior with you and then when he knows what the squirt bottle means, give one to guests who need to also control this behavior.

He is excited and wants to initiate play with the guests.  It could be a herding instinct, but probably more of a "let's play" invitation.  Shepherds are great at this but usually works on the heels instead of the shoe laces.  I think it is just his way of asking to play.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Sometimes I think Spud does a herding behavior. If he has a toy in his mouth, he will JAM it into my behind if I walk away.  He will follow me continually Jam Jam Jam. 

It was cute at first. It NO LONGER is cute.  So, work on the  behavior.  I now make Spud sit and drop the toy or give a firm no. They eventually get it

[Ginny Nightingale]

My Lyric is definitely a herder, so I think that could be the reason--she herds the other two dogs into corners by chasing and grabbing their necks (gently, but they hate it) and I do not bring her to a dog park anymore because every other dog ends up in a corner--she is THAT good....with people, she barks when they get up to leave a room (just guests, not us). It is obnoxious and I have to anticipate it so I can keep her from doing it---she has a loud bark and people jump a mile--she follows them barking at their butts....not nice. So, keep after your pup and follow the advice to train him. Lyric was 8 months old when I got her and started this about a year later--which I had jumped on it sooner.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh wow.  Well then I promise not to complain. I suppose being chased with a toy once a week is not so bad  :)

[Ginny Nightingale]

I mean "WISH I had jumped on it sooner!"