Introducing Zeke, the Reactive Border Collie

Just like most people, we had no idea what was in store for us when we went to get our first puppy. My girlfriend and I were so excited, we jumped online and found an amazing breeder not 45 minutes from us and instantly got hooked. We got into the car and went to visit Valley View Border Collies near where we live.

This guy named Greg had dozens of acres, hundreds of sheep, and a massive barn just off his gravel driveway. Inside that barn ended up being a whole litter of four-week-old Border Collies and the little puppy who would end up changing our lives forever.

He was not shy at the time. Very quick to come to us, kiss us (that has not changed), and show he had much love to give. He was the one. My girlfriend tagged the little black dot he had on his forehead as his "bindi" so we wouldn't forget which one he was. To this day, his bindi is still there and defined.

We loved this dog from the get go. We made three separate trip up to visit him before we were allowed to even take him home. Everything seems great.

Then we got him in the car. From the moment he got in until the moment he got out, his mouth was a constant stream of drool. He ended up huddled up behind my girlfriends neck in the front seat. I could see the fear in his eyes, which I hadn't seen before. I brushed it off as nothing as it was his first time in the car, and he was probably nervous. It's to be expected. After that, the poor guy was scared of car rides for a good two months, but that quickly changed and now it's his favorite thing in the world. Besides toys, that is.

But it wasn't until we got him home that we realized we have got a true weirdo in our hands. This dog was scared of the tile floor, the grass, gravel, and even asphalt. He was scared of moving objects and other dogs and sometimes even children. The poor thing was a walking nerve factory.

He refused to walk on a leash as he was scared of that too. It was all a mystery to us and so new as well. So in the next few weeks we had him house broken, understanding basic commands, walking on a leash (not well, but functionally), playing fetch, and meeting other people and dogs.

He broke his fear of dogs really quickly and loved seeing neighborhood dogs come around. Because he is a border collie, he really understood direction and where he was and wasn't allowed to go. So when dogs or kids walked around the subdivision we were living in, he almost never left the yard to see them. Regardless of his commands.

It wasn't until my girlfriend's mom moved back into the house. I should mention we lived in her house as she was with her new boyfriend most days. She would periodically visit and bring her little pom with her which hated everyone and everything except for my girlfriend and her mother. And she would terrorize Zeke constantly. So once she moved back in permanently, it only got worse. Zeke's fear of dogs became uncontrollable and turned into aggression. His house training started to subside and he was having accidents in the house and started leaving the yard.

We did our best to deal with it, but with no experience we had very little to go on. We took him to obedience training, and this is where his fear was noticed the most. He became loud and aggressive to any dog he saw. Though once the focus from the other dogs was removed and the training began, he ended up being one of the best in his class. But that fear was still there.

Fast forward two years, that same pom was still in his life from time to time and she still picked on him and he kind of brushed in off and ran away. Until one day his first real attack happened, and she tried to take a bone from him and when he tried to take it back, she pinned him in a corner in which he retaliated and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and shook her. He didn't cause any damage, but did give the smaller dog a scare (she still hasn't learned her lesson and has been attacked twice more by other dogs), but anyway. Zeke does not like other dogs. He loves his little brother Zen more than anything. But Zeke has come a long way. He's had his progress, and he's had his set backs. But this is the ongoing story of a reactive dog and our journey through this winding path in which we have no control over! I hope you stop by and read along with me and offer us some advice or share your stories with me because I'd love to hear them, because I know I'm not alone!