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Body Slamming?

by Niki
(Edmonton)

When my Aussie plays sometimes she slams her whole body into me, which hurts a lot! I grab her and tell her no firmly, but then she growls and tries to bite me like it's a game. How should I react to her body slams? I want her to stop and this could cause an injury to either myself or her.

I have been training her to sit before she gets attention to prevent her from jumping but when she is in this playful mood she will not sit on command... help please!

Comments for Body Slamming?

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body slamming
by: Anonymous

Our Aussie body slams too, he loves it, but he mostly listens when we tell him no. However, the more energy he has, the less he listens. I don't know what your routine is, but as long as Maverick is very well exercised, he is very well behaved. When he dips responding to commands, it means (to us anyways) that he needs more exercise.

Herding
by: Maddy

I think she is herding you...its her natural instinct....my Aussie did this to children and me.
Try walking slowly and praising her when she behaves well,,,,,maybe a treat.

This action also is what a Aussie does when herding sheep.

Body slamming
by: Niki

Hi, thanks for the suggestions in how to prevent it, currently we do about 2-3 hours of exercise a day. It can be anywhere from a mix of fetch, frisbe, on and off leash walking and running with me on my bike.

She seems to display his behavior when we play, I usually tell her a firm no and stop the playing but I'm not sure she gets it. I would like to know what to do to diciplin her when she does it, if I ignor her she does it over and over, and then starts bitin me.

How old?
by: Ann

How old is the dog? I had this behavior EARLY on until about 8 months. What you are doing is right but it will take awhile. Stay consistent. They eventually get it or out grow it. I started to think my dog hated me. Whenever I corrected her she "mouthed off to me" meaning she looked like she was trying to bite but it was just talking back type of thing. That too has subsided. I followed a lot of the advice here and felt that with time and consistent training it would get better and it did.
You can check out zak George You Tube videos. He kept me sane.

1 year old
by: Niki

She is a year old, I've had her for about a month now. She was a rescue that spent most of her time in a kennel. She had visible signs of cuts on her face, teeth worn down, matted fur and was underweight considerably. (We are also having seperation anxiety issues) however this issue seemed most important to fix, if you say consistency will work then I will have faith :-) I will def be checking out his YouTube videos, thank you for the suggestion.

My female does this too.
by: Alex T

We have 2 Aussies a 2 1/2 y/o male who is very intuitive, extremely willing to please, or help with whatever I am doing, is sensitive, and stranger wary, and loves to play frisbee fetch making spectacular catches.

We recently got a new puppy, a female who is now 10mo old and when taking them both out for exercise: frisbee fetch or ball: our male will catch and retrieve while the female plays defense blocking him trying to prevent him from returning the frisbee or ball to me to throw again. She body slams him and will occasionally come running full speed at me and body slam me. By body slam I mean its more of a hockey style body check. I thought this may just be the way they play with friends and see who's top dog.

Like others have posted, I think it's normal behavior maybe part of the horseplay games they like to play, or a herding technique as others have said. I have just been shouting a stern no at her and giving her an angry look, and she seems to get the message but on occasion depending on the intensity and mood of play will try to body check me too. I am taking the advice and just being consistent with a stern now and she seems to be doing it less.

Surprised Body Slam!
by: Anonymous

Thank you for your comments. I’ve been sick with the flu most of the week so our almost 2-year-old Sheltie (different breed but still herding) has only been on short walks. I finally started feeling better today and told her I’d take her for a walk but my husband ended up taking her. She must have been super upset with me because when they came in she ran though 2 rooms, jumped and straight on body slammed me!(The hockey body check comment is so accurate!)

I heard her, I saw her coming, I saw her leap and said no, she’s not going to… then WHAM! She got a quick verbal NO and I ignored her. Several minutes later she came over to me and I said "Have you come to apologize? That wasn’t very nice, you hurt me." She actually walked across the room, laid down and grunted (disgusted look).

Oh my gosh, are these the teenage years?

Body slamming older dog
by: CheriAnonymous

We had two Border Collies. Lucky the male was killed. His sister Gracie is now 10 years old. We adopted an Australian Shepherd who is 5 years old. Toby was the only dog in the home where the owner died. Today he body slammed Gracie this morning as she was walking outside to do her thing. My husband was very upset as yesterday he nipped at her ear.We love him, but won't take abuse toward Gracie and he may have to go back to the husband of owner. Any suggestions?

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