Why does my cattle dog do this

I have two cattle dog mixes - one is mostly Catahoula; the other we think is mostly Australian Cattle Dog. Both are pretty alpha. The Catahoula is an almost 14 year old female; the ACD is a male, about 6. Both adopted from rescue groups, but 12 years apart (we've had the Catahoula the longest). They are both quirky and I am partly assuming this is because they are pretty smart and don't live on ranches, so although we are fairly religious about getting them exercise it probably still isn't enough. The funniest thing we've noticed is that the younger dog, the Australian Cattle dog mix, likes to walk back and forth behind our floor length curtains - very slowly, making sure that they graze his back and his head. Any ideas WHY he does this? He is a fairly high anxiety dog but we give him a pretty significant amount of petting and attention. The only thing I've come up with is that he is trying to sooth himself. The old Catahoula has always done things like stand between me and the counter when I'm cooking, or tap the back of my knees when she wants something. I have been told this is a herding thing. Is the "curtain walk" also a herding thing?

It could be straight normal activity for something that you have missed when it comes to curtains - our border collie will patrol the house like crazy if he thinks there is a barn cat on one of the decks or a window ledge

As for the "counter thing" that dog is just making sure you do your job right and manage to slip a little treat down to the floor.

Our BC does the patrol in a very intense manner with rapid movement from one part of the house to the other

Ours is out all day chasing sheep and cattle so he gets plenty of exercise but man oh man - if he thinks a barn cat is in his domain he paces faster than I can walk - from one window to another over the whole house.

So if yours is abnormal, then ours is as well. LOL

Personally I think it is something that they do just to bug their humans.

Cheers

BC

We have some smokers in this family (Not Me) our dog will sit real close to anyone smokeing and bite the air he really likes it when they blow smoke in his face. :roll: Of course he bites at the chainsaw chain in motion he's not to bright but fun to have around.

Denny said:

We have some smokers in this family (Not Me) our dog will sit real close to anyone smokeing and bite the air he really likes it when they blow smoke in his face. :roll: Of course he bites at the chainsaw chain in motion he's not to bright but fun to have around.

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Yeah our Border Collie gets locked up if I fire up the chainsaw

Best to all

Ha! Okay, so I think my gut instinct about these dogs is right - they are just kind of quirky and eccentric. Which I do love. I guess I'm stuck with them!