Hi all Poppy is 6 months old Collie x Lab but more Lab and she comes to work with me everyday in another post ive explained her problems on the lead which is a work in progress 1 step forward 2 back it seems!! But this is another problem she walks with a little Jack Russell on the lead okish but as soon as shes let off she chases the poor little Daisy and tries to grab her on the back of the neck how on earth do you stop this happening, i want her to be a well adjusted reasonably well behaved dog, will puppy training help does anyone think?? I want her and Daisy to have fun together not for Daisy to be choked Help!!!!!
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi Lois , what is her recall like ? if its good, then just call her back to you every time she gets out of hand. Pups do play rough but it can be a problem if the size/weight is not a match, is Daisy bothered by this at all ? Puppy classes can help to socialise , teaching pups to play and how to behave around others . To be honest , actual training classes for young pups can be somewhat disorganised and chaotic as they tend to beome too excited to take in any information .Just realised that Poppy is six months old so may come into junior classes or older pup classes so yes , they might be a good idea for her .
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi Lois. One of mine did a similar thing to this at that age. She would be playing with other dogs when suddenly her attitude would change and she would shift rapidly from play behaviour (she could be quite rough when playing anyway) and extend the play to a prey behaviour - always small fluffy dogs, and she would chase them, bowl them over and hold them down with her front paws whilst making vile noises and trying to bite the back of their necks. Unacceptable to small fluffy dogs, their owners and me but Lochan clearly thought it was marvellous. Recalling her from this was difficult as The Red Mist had usually descended making her deaf to all commands, despite the fact that her recall from actually playing with other dogs was rock solid - it was just recall from the prey/hunt aspect that was problematic. My solution was to offer Lochan some "face-time" with me. To do this you have to be absolutely on the ball and get the timing precisely right so they understand what is happening. The second I saw Lochan change her body language from play to prey (and this was pretty obvious) I scruffed her and bawled "no" extremely loudly into her surprised face. She then had to sit by my side whilst all the other dogs continued their game. Had to do it twice and she has never prey-chased another dog since, but plays with all sizes off lead on a daily basis. However, having re-read your original post, I am not sure you are really having a prey problem here as much as rough play with another dog. If this is simply rough play, you may cause all sorts of behaviour problems with Poppy's interactions with other dogs by stopping it the way I did with Lochan. Although it does say in the title of your post that she chases cats too, which may be prey-driven. Lochan never chased cats as we have two of them and they take no nonsense from puppies and made it very plain from the day she came home that cats were to be respected.....
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats and clicker training?? Thanks again all, her recall is not brilliant to be honest i havnt let her off her lead too much, only when out with Daisy do i let her off because i know Daisy is well trained and will bring her back and i love seeing her run and run, i have a year old cat and was told just to let them get on with it as the cat will sort the dog out unfortunatley my cat olly just freezes while Poppy climbs all over him, i try to ignore but them feel i have to rescue the poor cat...i agree puppy classes were a disaster too much going on after a long day at work and in a tiny hall, we are staring new ones soon which are out door i hoping these will be better...also thinking of clicker training anyone have any thoughts on this??
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi Lois , you really need to be working on her recall a lot now as its not safe to rely on another dog to bring Poppy back to you , she isnt learning to obey you, just learning to copy her friend . It will be so much easier to teach recall now, whilst she is like a sponge , just soaking it all up , rather than allow her to carry on into adulthood with an iffy recall , much harder to train a dog who has set a pattern than a pup . Have you read Pippas book Total Recall ? If not , I would urge you to buy it ( Amazon) it will give you step by step easy to follow exercises to do with Poppy and hopefully you will have a good recall at the end of it I havent personally used clicker training, but believe that its very useful indeed , there are articles on here to help you , it can give really good results, good luck
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi Lois, I think clicker training a leave command might be very useful. I use leave to, among other things, stop Riley eating horse poo, picking up anything I don't want him to or mugging our baby for food so if you build up you could use it to get Poppy to leave the cat. Good luck!
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi Lois, I can thoroughly recommend Pippa's Total Recall book also, it's never out of my hands Helen
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Another vote for Total Recall if its for calling off during rough play play, rather than bad behaviour towards other dogs, in which case she needs to know that's not on...not that I'm at the calling off other dogs bit yet on my Recall Journey, but its a great book, as others have said step by step building the level of distraction for the dog. I happily strolled off into the real world with my younger more prone to selective deafness dog with what I though was a marvelous recall in place - only it was a marvelous indoor, Puppy Class test, nice quiet park Recall, all very different in the Real World of Dog Life and Dog Distractions....this book will make you go through the proofing stages properly, something i was too impatient to do!
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Hi all I have just got Pippa's total recall book and have just started reading it so thats my bank holiday reading sorted.. Sounds mad but have started clicker training without an actual clicker just making the sound and it is working not sure how and why but i think its def an avenue to explore. Thanks again all
Re: Chasing Small Fluffy dogs and Cats Sounds great!! Any short, consistent sound will do. We alternate between the word 'yes' and a clicker. It's good to use a word or human-produced sound too in case you don't have your clicker handy.
