Hi I'm new here! Would really be grateful for any views... My soon to be 3 labrador dog is obsessed with chasing anything that moves and will break hedge and water boundaries to get to fowl and animals. Otherwise he is great at home and on walks generally. But he can be random he may stay close to me and ignore an escape for many days and then another day take the hedge down to get to sheep. It's spoiling our walks and his freedom off lead. He has always been easily excitable but I made fabulous progress in calming him down otherwise. Love him to bits but the small holding owners are not going to continue tolerance. He did catch and kill one of their hens which had crossed off their land a couple of months ago so he is always on the lead as we approach their boundary now. Thanks
Hi and welcome to the forum Sounds like you've made really good progress but that your dog isn't 100% reliable. Stopping him from chasing is probably going to take quite a lot of controlled and planned practice around many kinds of animals - all on lead for the foreseeable future, with lots of treats, and beginning at a distance. Your dog gets treats for sitting or walking calmly without pulling in sight of the animals. If he can't be calm then move further away - much further if you need to. Walk up and down at that distance until he's ok with it, then try moving a little closer. Be very generous with the treats while he's behaving the way you want. As he gets better you can move to a longer lead. Then off lead in environments with very low or no temptations. To be safe though I'd always just keep him on lead around any livestock - chasing anyone else's animals is a massive no-no (which I don't need to tell you ), and now that he knows how much fun it is to kill a chicken he'll be very motivated to do it again. I'd also be working hard on his recall in a safe environment - to guide you through that I'd recommend Pippa Mattinson's book 'Total Recall'.
Evening Oberon and thanks so much for the welcome and advice. I have total recall buried away somewhere and i thought I had cracked it once! Time to blow off the dust! I'm just amazed that such a clever doggie has regressed so?! I am grateful for all your advice and it's good to know that support is out there when our doggie kids are playing us up Thanks again am very much liking finding this forum.
Hello, Aly, and a warm welcome. I read a book about chasing behaviour, it's called Stop! by David Ryan. It was very good. It's here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-control-predatory-chasing-dogs/dp/1409258270
Thankyou Julie I have just ordered it! So pleased to have found this forum and some much needed help. Hopefully I will become a calm and respected doggie mum in due course
I hope you enjoy the book, and tell us what you think of it! Also, tell us more about your dog - what is his name? Do you do any activities or sports with him? That can help, you know. Having a big passion to take his mind off chickens and on to you.
