11/10/2026
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NIPPING NIPPING…IN THE BUD – Today our breed expert Carol Price looks at the problem of collies who nip other people
Recently a request for advice came in from a follower called Paige, whose one year old rescue collie cross from Romania, Violet, has a habit of nipping people. “She’s the sweetest and friendliest dog with me and she loves certain people”, says Paige, “but otherwise keeps her preferred human social circle small, which I have read is common in collies.
“She is very, very friendly with dogs and just wants to play. The only thing she does the more nervous nip to is people. She nips any visitors she hasn’t met before, and people on walks if they get too close. She also nips family members that she doesn’t see often. She never shows any greater aggression or growling. It’s just a very sly nip to the leg and a couple of times she has broken the skin. I know this is a collie trait, and just part of who she is, but I’m just wondering if you have any advice on how to deal with it.”
UNDERSTANDING THE LUNGE-NIP REFLEX
I have written a number of times on this page in the past about the lunge-nip reflex in Border collies; a rapidly fired defence instinct that is inherent in many collies as livestock working dogs. In some dogs the instinct is more readily activated, or stronger, and in others it may take far more external provocation to unleash.
Classic things that will set the instinct off are as follows: heightened feelings of arousal, particularly from something moving suddenly into or directly past their head space; feeling ‘cornered’ in any way by being in a smaller space (including in a car), or having escape routes more restricted (e.g. being tied up, or physically restrained, or on a lead). And also a sense of physical ‘crowding’ by others, or feeling inherently more threatened by the presence of others around their space – be these people or dogs.
Each dog may have separate triggers for this behaviour. And the behaviour can also act quite independently from the more overall nature of the dog, which could otherwise be pretty friendly. The phenomenon of the collie who always has to ‘grab’ something in their mouths, the moment they become more excited, is also pretty well known.
VIOLET
In Violet’s case it is clear that stranger or less familiar people are what flick her own switch, because they make her “nervous”. This in turn could also date back to her puppyhood in Romania before she was rehomed. She may likely have had far more socialisation with other dogs, rather than people, which is why she feels more at ease with them.
With other dogs, who spent far more of their earliest puppyhood around people, it can be the other way round as they get older, with stranger dogs making them feel more threatened instead.
Once you realise you have a dog with this kind of issue, you have to take control of it with better training and guidance. Rather than keep letting them make the same mistakes, which allows the behaviour to become ever more ingrained through constant repetition.
People routinely underestimate how much guidance collies need all the time, to get things right, and especially in moments of greater anxiety or uncertainty.
PRIORITIES – TEACHING ‘CLOSE' AND ‘WATCH ME’
My priorities with Violet would be to teach her the ‘close!’ and ‘watch me’ commands when out on walks and passing people. All my dogs are taught to come beside me and ‘watch me’ whenever we pass anyone on a walk – be they human or canine. It prevents them having to make any more worrying decisions about who or what is safer to approach. I will make those decisions for them. For out of greater uncertainty or anxiety about stranger dogs or people approaching so often comes the lunge-nip.
If familiar people or dogs I know they like are approaching, I will then give them the command to ‘go see!’ them. Which again is a trained in command that tells them what they about to approach is ‘safe’. If we do not know them we just continue past them, with my dogs continuing to watch me. Once again, this is constant guidance of a kind a collie can understand.
All this training is outlined in my books.
BUILDING INTENSITY
What owners may often do instead when out on walks is let their collies charge ahead of them when other people or dogs are approaching, then get spooked or into some kind of less pleasant confrontation, which then affects their future behaviour when placed in a similar situation.
Or let them build up excessive visual and mental ‘intensity’; i.e. keep their eyes continually focused on the ‘stranger’ dog or person approaching. As the stranger gets ever closer, the ‘intensity’ then builds up ever stronger in the dog’s head, exploding into more all-out aggression as soon as they are nearer to their headspace.
Often people will not see this process beginning in their dog until it is too late. But the art is still to keep your dog’s visual focus on you as others pass (‘watch me’). Then your dog can never build up the level of inner intensity that launches the aggression.
AT HOME
In the home environment, also understand what sets off your dog’s nipping instincts. In Violet’s case it is less familiar visitors. So why not start by not forcing her to mingle with them, and giving her her own ‘safer space’ to retreat to instead when they come? All collies must have a special ‘refuge zone’ – be this a crate or bed in a quiet place – they can go to whenever they need to, to feel safe. And not be disturbed.
People think so often that they can ‘make’ their dog more sociable with other people simply through more constant exposure to them, when a collie has to decide for themselves when they feel less threatened or pressurised by the presence of others, and how long this will take. And this also involves better training and management.
You have to start slowly. Allowing Violet to go up to someone only when she is ready to, and then rewarding her with a tasty treat for showing confidence, before allowing her to return to her ‘safe space’ again. This way she will always feel more in control of the visitor experience.
Anyway I hope this feature has given more insight into issues like Violet’s. She is such a lovely girl, and with slightly better understanding, training and management her problem really could be overcome.
Meanwhile, as ever, all aspects of the collie mind and its inherent compulsions and instincts, training these dogs or dealing with a range of different behaviour issues in them are covered in my BREED APART trilogy of books.
All text ©Carol Price 2026
Carol Price books on Border collies:
In the UK from: https://performancedog.co.uk/?s=carol+price In the USA from: https://www.dogwise.com/ # and 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
The books are also available through most Amazon outlets
