my oes wont move out of the way
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| Are you intending to keep it an outside dog? If so, has it always been an outside dog? Sheepdogs are very people oriented, most are anyway, maybe the dog just wants to be where the rest of it's "pack" is... |
| One of mine does this too. I thought it was just a weird habit. |
| Bella does it too but only in front of the fridge. I have to scoot her across the floor to open it. go figure
cher |
| When we go out, Jack lays at the front door and we scoot him across the tile when we come home. He is a big boy to scoot across too! LOL Annabelle also likes to lay at the bedroom door.
It must be a sheepie thing. Stormi |
| This is one of the reasons my father refers to them as "The Door Blockers". I think it's a herding thing - they are keeping track of their "pack".
I agree with Willowsprite - most OES don't like to be outside dogs - they are people dogs and want to be with the familly/pack. Is your dog left outside all the time??? |
| Lizzie does the same thing, inside or outside. I think it's her way of letting me know that I'm not going in or out without her.... |
| Hi Brenda,
Jack and Annabelle are the same way if you are leaving a room of the house to go into another room I have a few cabooses following me. Jack and Annabelle and Marie and of course both kids when they aren't in school. LOL The dogs HAVE to go everywhere with me, it is an unwritten rule! In another post I read you have 3 OES's I know Lizzie and Cooper, who is the third? That sounds like fun!  Stormi and co. |
| Have HAD 3. Clyde was my first,a great big male who used to like to help me drive my little 5 speed pickup! I got him 17 years ago. When my oldest was 2. I didn't know a lot about them then, but learned plenty! At first I thought, great big old dumb, but CUTE dog. Boy, did he set me straight! He was very protective of Luke, even though Luke wasn't always nice to him!! When we had to move, we had trouble finding a place where we could keep him, so he lived out the rest of his life at a friend's (he had 10 acres where Clyde could run). I'll post a Clyde pic on the pictures section for you. |
| Harry follows me from room to room, Simone positions herself so she can watch several rooms. If it appears I've settled in for awhile, she joins me.
Sheepdogs should be housedogs. Having had totally outside sheepies, totally inside sheepies and various in betweens, I can honestly say the best behaved, cleaner, smarter, most loved, etc etc are the inside dogs. Sheepies make terrible lawn ornaments, they bark, mat, dig, jump fences, bite, etc etc. This breed does best with it's "flock" or "pack." They are not good solitary animals. If you got the dog to decorate the back yard, get a bird bath instead. |
| Doorway blocking is not unique to sheepies, they just have great skills in this area. Doorway blocking is a form of establishing dominant pack order.
With 3 sheepies who regularly test each other's position in the pack, I have seen them create a 3 way gridlock -- one sheepie in each doorway, one in the narrow hall. None of the dogs can go forward or backward without challenging the other dog's position. It's actually fairly humorous. Ideally, dogs will move out of the way for the alpha leader. And, the alpha leader always goes through doors first. Usually, we humans need to reinforce that desired behavior. It requires a very strong/reliable "sit/stay" command before a door is opened, human exits, dog is allowed to exit and is rewarded. Hallway blocking is remedied by teaching a "move" command -- keep a short (6") leash on the dog in the house, say "move" and if the dog doesn't move, pick up the leash and move him out of the way, then reward and say "good move". I never walk over my dogs, I say "move" and wait for them to get out of the way (actually, I say "beep beep"). Ollie was "Mr.Underfoot in the kitchen guy" to the point of being in the way. He has now been taught to sit/stay in a spot in the adjacent open dining room when I am cooking or preparing food. It is really amusing Ollie knows that John doesn't mind him underfoot in the kitchen (Ollie is John's dog), so when John is preparing food, Ollie is camped out next to his feet, but when I'm in the kitchen, he goes to his spot. |
| Milo, my 2 1/2 year old, always lays in the way, whether it be doors or the refrigerator or on the couch. He even races us to the better seats on the couch, and if you change your mind where you want to sit , he gets up and tries to get there first. |
| Alice seems to really appreciate the spot in front of the refrigerator too! I have always said "pardon" (in my best French accent for fun) when I need her to move / move her, and now she just gets out of the way whenever I say it.
Now, getting her out from under my feet when I'm cooking would be a great accomplishment- I'll have to practice your method Fritzi. -nick |
| Try it with six big dogs. They are always in front of a door, refrig, cabinet, toilet and yes, they follow me from room to room........greatfully not all at once, just 3 at a time; Moma's babies. The only way I can clear the house is turn on the vacuum.
The dogs want to be by you and they want to be where the action is....or will be, hence the outside door. I currently have two with me, beside and behind my chair and the third is in the hallway. I won't mention what it's like trying to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night............  |
| LOL... really, it sounds wonderful to me to have six big dogs... or more! I really think I prefer dogs to people in most cases..... |
| Lordy, SIX big dogs... I can hardly imagine the congestion. As it is now, my friends all wonder why I can't get to the phone before the answering machine picks up. I guess they haven't experienced the 20yd dash complete with moving hurdles. Should be an Olympic event, sheepie racing. For some reason, to add to the excitement, when Colby hears my voice on the answering machine, he howls -- must be something about the frequency of the recording.
I am at that age where bladder control is an issue. When I have to go, I have to GO. It is impossible to get to the bathroom quickly due to all the sheepie supervision, and forget trying to close the door. Ah, the joy of it all. |
Max of course is the same way!! when he sees me start to get undressed or say "shower" he is off in a flash. He runs in to the bathroom and stands right along side the tub, so for me to turn it on, I have to push him out of the way. Its cute the way they follow us, but sometimes I just wish he would stay laying on the couch, when all I am doing is going to the bathroom  |
| This Labor Day weekend, my mom and her Daisy came to visit. It was so funny. I began to feel like the Pied Piper of Sheepdogs! Every where I would go or move, all three of them would follow my every step. The bathroom, a shower, doing laundry, trying to change the sheets, just everywhere. If they don't follow me, they are lounging in exactly the door way you want to pass through. I have learned to step high and get over them, it has become so natural, my mom was laughing at me while she watched me negotiate the sheepies on the dining room floor.
Last summer I had the flu, a big thing for me since I haven't been sick like that in more than 20 years. Well, here I am in the bathroom, going to the bathroom and using the waste basket in case I had to vomit. Both my sheepies are in my face. I could just hear them say to each other, "look, it's coming out both ends, yuck!". I was too weak to push them away, but must say that they were great care givers. After Lee put me back to bed they both got on the bed on each side of me and just laid with there furry little faces watching me to make sure I was okay. So sweet. Sheepies are really little people in fur suits. I don't mind having to step overthem. I now know that it is with the best intentions that they follow you, and herd you and even block the door way. It is just part of who they are. Perhaps I let them get away with more than I should, but the reality is that we are sharing our home with them and while I have made adjustments to living with them, they have made adjustments to living with us. Thanks for the great sheepie stories and all the love you have for your sheepie companions. |
| Six dogs, you must be some kind of angel. I have enough trouble tripping over one who follows me everywhere, bathroom included. Hey, Henry just wants to know what is going on. Hope springs eternal: there could be food involved. He knows there are treats in the bathroom for those times he needs to get in the bathtub immediately, with no sitting down first. (Some of you have talked about keeping hair trimmed around the anus, and I do that too. But even that doesn't always work for Henry who forgets what he is doing half way through the process and comes running to see what else might be happening with the job half finished if you get my meaning.) It is quite a comedy, me running through the house stripping off my clothes as fast as I can while trying to stop him from sitting anywhere.
Henry also likes to help in the kitchen, he has not yet learned to counter surf (thank goodness), but there is a little black nose right next to what ever I am doing. My favorite recent story was when I was chopping some onions and a few bits hit the floor. Rats, foiled again. |
| Big Ben is no different, quite the follower. Unfortunately for him he isn't always as speedy as he needs to be. If he follows my husband or I into our bedroom he sometimes gets left behind. The door has a tendency to close when the A/C kicks on and then he gets trapped. Of course it is his favorite place in the house, between the cold tile in the bathroom and the queen size bed he's in his glory. But, oh, the panic if he notices we aren't there! Crying and yelping...you would think he was caught in the door instead of just behind it. What a nut! |
| LOL... in regards to counter-surfing, Sky picked that one up early! She is only 11 weeks old, and being the smart little sausage she is, she will actually push the little stool over to the counter and climb up to grab a loaf of bread! |
| I love all the stories! Many of them made me laugh out loud! Willow I can't believe she did that!!! What a smart girl! LOL |
| Oh thank you Lord for these stupid dogs.......I can't imagine any pushing a stool over to get to the counter!
I've had just two counter surfers, the dynamic duo, OES sisters. One would be flanked on both sides, "What's for dinner, can we taste??" |
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