13/08/2025
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TODAY OUR BREED EXPERT looks at the different ways in which the more controlling natures of Border collies may present themselves
BORDER COLLIES: Touch, control and the paw restraint
Anyone who has spent much time with Border collies soon discovers that they are the arch control freaks of the dog world. It is an intrinsic part of their more driven personalities, and obsession with things like sameness and routine.
This overwhelming desire, in collies, to control the movement of other things, whilst also strongly defending their own personal space, lies not just at the heart of their whole character and behaviour, but also their supreme abilities as livestock working dogs. However, sometimes these control traits, and the way collies may display them in a more domestic environment, need to be better understood.
MENTAL ADAPTATION
When we take Border collies away from an environment – like a livestock working one - where their instincts have most use, or make most sense, and put them in a domestic one instead, this can call for considerable adaptation on the dog’s part, and some collies are better adapters than others, depending on their breeding and everyday training or management.
For essentially the dog has to find a way to mute down, or rechannel, most of the instincts and impulses that come most naturally to them as a breed.
I have written before on this page, and also in my books, about how ‘working instinct’ – i.e. a desire to visually fixate on, chase and herd moving things – may present itself in a collie, in a pet home or more domestic environment, and how to best manage this with training. Plus how control neuroses in collies can lead to issues like reactive aggression towards those who come too closely or suddenly into the dog’s head space, or patterns of more manipulative behaviour. But today I want to look at subtler ways in which a collie’s desire to maintain control may filter into your relationship with your dog. Especially when it comes to closer forms of physical contact.
CONTROL AND PHYSICAL CONTACT
If I were to distill the essence of how a Border collie thinks, most are primarily happiest when everything is their idea, and others comply with what they would like them to do. Which you could say about most control freaks really. Conversely they can get more stressed when others try to impose their own demands or desires upon them instead. And a typical way this may display itself is when you try to engage in some kind of more intimate physical contact with your dog; like stroking, touching, hugging or grooming.
As primates, we can so often forget that while all these forms of social/physical contact are completely natural to us, they are far more alien to many dogs, and thus potentially more threatening. A lot of dogs can still learn to adapt or submit to these kinds of physical approach by us, and we will call these types of dog more ‘nice natured’ or ‘affectionate’. But others will find it much harder, and may show their greater stress or discomfort through actions like avoidance (i.e., reluctance to come to you when asked) or yawning, or averting their eyes or, in more extreme cases, defensive teeth baring, growling or nipping.
We may call these dogs ‘nastier’ instead, when they just have a far bigger problem with surrendering control of their personal space to others, in a way that makes them feel more uncomfortable or threatened.
TRUST
Trust can also play a massive part in how readily, or not, a dog will let you into their personal space. Many rescue dogs, for instance, can take time to build this kind of trust back in people, or build it from scratch if they never had it in the first place.
Dogs can also find themselves constantly conflicted between the need to comply with human desires of them, as a factor of their complete dependence on them, and the need to still maintain some sense of personal control, when we attempt to engage with them more intimately or physically.
And at such times you may see – as per our illustration – more classic paw restraint behaviour; i.e. the dog placing their paw on your hand or arm. Which I tend to read as the dog trying to establish some more personal boundaries, should our approaches suddenly become too intrusive for them. Though many dogs may use this same gesture to secure attention from owners, too, in which case it can become more controlling or even manipulative behaviour.
In general, if you are trying to stroke, cuddle or otherwise more impose yourself into a collie’s space, and they adopt the paw restraint tactic, I would see it as a more polite signal that they would like you to back off a bit. And give them some space back. Which I always tend to do. Given that most of the problems we have with dogs tend to start with us not better understanding – or listening to - what they are trying to tell us.
Meanwhile, far more on the whole subject of control behaviours and issues in Border collies appears in the first book in my BREED APART trilogy, SECRETS OF THE WORKING MIND:
All text ©Carol Price/Collieology 2025
Carol Price collie books: In the UK from: https://performancedog.co.uk/?s=carol+price In the USA from: https://www.dogwise.com/ # and https://www.cleanrun.com/product/border_collies_a_breed_apart_book_1_secrets_of_the_working_mind/index.cfm In Canada from https://4mymerles.com/collections/books In Australia from: https://gameondogs.com.au/ And in the Netherlands and Belgium from: https://mediaboek.nl/border-collies-a-breed-apart-book-1.html
