Seagull chasing

Discussion in 'Labrador Behavior' started by Dave Collins, Apr 6, 2019.

  1. Dave Collins

    Dave Collins Registered Users

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    morning, Henry’s training is actually going quite well, he is getting to grips with sit stay at distance and his recall is superb in all circumstances except for seagulls, he did start chasing bikes in a big way a couple of months ago but worked on it a lot and is a lot better now.
    If I catch him at the start of the seagull chasing process I can get him to recall but miss that point and he is way to excited to recall and you have to wait until he tires or no more seagulls and then he comes back.
    It’s only seagulls he chases, there can be lots of crows on ground and he will just walk through them like they don’t exist.
    The worst part about the chase is once he puts them up he looks up at them and keeps chasing, this is quite dangerous for him or possibly anybody in his way. Any suggestions welcome.
     
  2. Michael A Brooks

    Michael A Brooks Registered Users

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    Hi @Dave Collins

    Does your dog have high drive if you throw a ball along the ground away from him? If so, try teaching sit stay and recall by employing a ball as a distraction. Elsa Blomster and Lena Gunnarsson have an interesting set of recall exercises employing balls in Retrieving for All Occasions.

    Now once that is trained start with some other highly distracting trigger. Skateboard or bicycle. Get some kids to help with the training.

    The idea is to keep putting more and more of these distractions (you know your dog better than I do, and therefore will know what triggers high arousal--train for it) until when the seagulls take off, he listens to your cue to drop or come.

    It might be worth noting avoid the seagulls until you've finished the training, or keep him on a long line.
     
  3. Dave Collins

    Dave Collins Registered Users

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    Good suggestion I will give that a go, he does chase a ball when in mood but not one of his favourite occupations, it would be good if I could increase his ball drive but not sure how to. I am using a horse lunge whip with a toy tied to the end and get him to sit stay while I move it past him at various speeds and distances, I then let him chase it for a while, I stop the game by lifting whip and getting him to sit. He is very good at this and shows a lot of self control, helped a lot with bike chasing but did nothing for seagull problem
     
  4. Michael A Brooks

    Michael A Brooks Registered Users

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    @Dave Collins

    Those pesky seagulls will not act as assistants that will listen to your instructions (my dog wants to chase masked lapwings). So you need to apply a wide range of distractions, in a bid to generalise your training. Doing it with a horse whip only is insufficient to generalise the training.

    PS Do you know a friend with a friendly, bad-mad Lab? If so, you can attempt to exploit the power of mimicry.
     

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