This video contains several clips from one class period (and a few minutes before class begins) of Tazman, the Border Collie. Taz is a wonderful, friendly, happy dog who has done lots of classes and lots of training.

But Taz struggles with controlling his emotions sometimes.

Watch the video and try to determine how Taz is feeling. His outbursts are directed toward one specific dog – an Australian Shepherd in class. How does Taz feel about this other dog?

Watch the video first before you read any further. . .

Did you watch the video first? Have your guess about how Taz feels about the Aussie in class? Ok, now let's see if your guess matches up with what we know. . .

Taz and Fraser (the Aussie) have been in classes together for quite some time by the time this video was taken. From the video, it appears that Taz does not like Fraser much, would you agree?

We see lots of examples of lip curling, snarling and lunging. But notice how Taz also recovers quickly and can almost instantly go from appearing angry to appearing perfectly happy and calm. Taz does have some trouble controlling his emotions in this setting.

But you might be very surprised to learn that Taz and Fraser are actually very good friends and have been for a long time. They quite often get together outside of class for outings – walks, farmers markets, etc. They do great on those outings and rarely have a problem. They have often played off leash together and even done off leash classes together.

And guess what? When off leash or on outings, we rarely see issues. We primarily only see issues when they are in group class together and when the dogs are on leash. This is especially the case when indoors vs outside. Though we do see some issues when outside as well but everyone is on leash.

Taz did not behave this way early on. It started in perhaps the last year or so, but they have been doing classes together for a few years.

Why does Taz act this way? We're not entirely sure. We know Taz likes to set the rules. (Border Collies often like to tell everyone what to do!) He also does not seem to like it when someone else is NOT following the rules.

However, if we did allow Taz to follow through and approach Fraser, you would see that he will not actually attack or try to hurt Fraser. He will get right in his face and snarl sometimes, but Fraser fortunately knows how to handle it. He holds very still and looks away until Taz calms down. No one gets hurt, no one actually intends to do harm. But Taz is not very good at controlling or hiding his emotions. We're still working on helping him learn to better control himself. It's a work in progress!

How well do your dogs control their emotions?