Max the Border Collie was aggression towards guardians

Initially when we met Max, he was getting aggressive towards guardians when they tried to leave the room and move around.

This was a new change in behavior for Max that appeared after a death in the family.

Max was also biting one of his guardians whenever there was conflict or as a redirection from his reactivity, which was towards dogs on walks and lots of things out of the window.

Finally, Max was insanely excited and rude when anyone came to the house. This had meant elderly family had stopped coming over. He would jump up and bash into them and they feared he would do damage.

Here is what we did:

• Taught Max to stay as people come and go from the room

• Gave him an outlet for his herding instinct by allowing him to herd tennis balls

• Managed his access to the windows he barks out of then redirects on his guardian

• Taught him that when he sees a dog, his guardian will start doing fun stuff

• Boosted his enrichment and mental stimulation

• Taught him too relax when people come over and he only gets attention from them when his paws are on the floor.

Max and his guardians have done amazing and have gone from a dog that was biting daily to the, in their words, “dog they always wanted”.