Hi all. Just recently joined reddit and found this thread. I'm really sorry if this is long or not a good place for this.
A little background, I was gifted my ACD when she was around 2.5 to 3 months. I was unaware I'd be getting a dog and I'm usually not big on gifting animals. My in laws got her for me because my pittie is 11 and has been having issues in his old age. So she was meant to be almost a replacement for him I guess. She is 10 months now. Ive been working with her as much as possible and she knows all sorts of tricks, loose leash walking, has good recall, etc. She shows no interest in anything herding related so far but we work on sniff games. Even with all of that she is very fearful of being outside of our neighborhood and Im doing everything I can to ease those fears like sitting in public areas, watching people and other dogs go by but its not going well.
Anyways with all of this training going on Ive been waiting for a bond to happen you know? Ive heard cattle dogs are one person dogs but she just doesnt seem interested in me unless I have food. And I dont feel connected to her either. If anything she'd rather be around my husband (who does no training and little walking) or my in-laws. Basically anyone but me. Its really been getting me down because with my pittie the connection was immediate. Hes my best boy. And I'm finding myself almost resentful of my ACD taking so much of my time away from my pittie because he is older and we do have such a connection.
So I guess I'm wondering, is there something else I can do to get her to like me? It sounds like such a dumb question but I would hate to stay in this roommate stage with my dog. Any advice would be great. Thank you!