# Help. My Puppy Wont Stop Chasing Birds And Squirels



## dogsaredogs (Dec 11, 2009)

HELP. MY PUPPY WONT STOP CHASING BIRDS AND SQUIRELS.
Hi all. As i am new to this i should introduce myself and my dog. I am 28 and mum to poppy a 5 month old shar-pei cross staffie. I am at my wits end and upset that i may never be able to let her of lead. From 12 weeks she was fine of lead, not realy going far. But then when she was about 15 weeks i took her round my friends who had 2 dogs and 4 chickens. After not showing much interest in chickens i let her of lead to play with dogs. When she had got to know dogs her attention turned to chickens. She chased them round and round the garden coming within inches of 1. Quite amusing at the time and scary. Only just managing to stop her by pretty much sitting on her and possibly hurting her, she was very excited. Now when she sees birds,squirels or chickens or even just woods in the distance shes gone, and apart from the odd glimpse she doesnt come back until she is exhausted which could be 10-15 mins. Even taking her to the beech we thought we could let her of, but she would not give up chasing sea gulls, again for about 20 mins or more. Then she even started yelping chasing gulls like she was getting really frustrated. She is not bothered were we are at all, as i have tried hiding or calling her name whilst running away. Recall training was done with a whistle which worked well for only them first 2 or 3 weeks. Now for the last 2 or 3 weeks apart from yesterday she is on an extendable lead, which i hate to do. She is now just over 5 months. I also now think shes getting frightened and a bit aggressive towards other dogs who bully her cause she is on a lead. I wish i could let her of lead as it makes me very sad and she doesnt get a very good run. She is excellant in every other way, calm, good on lead, sit, wait, lay, come(except when chasing or watching), on ya bed, roll over, everything. Has anyone else had this problem. I know she is only a puppy but she is just so excited by the chase i dont know if she will grow out of it. thaks for any replies x


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

She's unlikely to grow out of it. And if you allow her to keep practising the behaviour, she will simply become better and better at it, and the obsession will feed itself. 

Briefly, you need to do several things:

Go back to basics with the recall. A really SOLID recall takes a lot longer to proof than a few weeks. Start in the house, then the garden, then out and about, gradually increasing distractions and always setting the dog up to succeed. You can't really skip steps - it has to be built up methodically.

Work on getting your dog's attention when there are distractions about. Whether it's another dog or a bird, stay far enough away so that she isn't reacting, and practise giving a tiny treat for any attention on you. Gradually build up so that you can get closer and closer (always staying far enough away so she isn't reacting). What you are aiming for is desensitising her to the thing that excites her, and teaching her that it is far more rewarding to focus on you.

Get her interested in balls/toys and playing with YOU. She has learned that chasing things is far more interesting than staying with you. If you can redirect her obsession onto a toy or ball, you have a far better chance of being able to control her. 

An extendable lead is fine in the meantime - just make sure you have it attached to a harness, not a normal collar or Halti-type headcollar; otherwise you risk injuring your dog if she DOES bound off after a bird or whatever.

Join a training class where she can socialise with other dogs in a controlled way and you can practise obedience with distractions.


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## dogsaredogs (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks colliepoodle. I will go back to basics and whistle training with lots of treats, and get a harness as she does yank her neck. thanks for that. I am also not sure what i should do everytime she sees something. Should i distract, tell her to leave and or just no and correct or ignore. Thanks


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

dogsaredogs said:


> Thanks colliepoodle. I will go back to basics and whistle training with lots of treats, and get a harness as she does yank her neck. thanks for that. I am also not sure what i should do everytime she sees something. Should i distract, tell her to leave and or just no and correct or ignore. Thanks


Distract - but as I said, you need to set up situations where she is far enough away so that you can focus her on you. Then you can reward her for choosing to focus on you rather than the squirrel or whatever. Eventually, the sight of another dog, or person, or squirrel, will become the predictor/cue for paying attention to you.

Example: my dog used to be obsessed by other dogs. What I did was get her really obsessed with her tug toy and a ball. When we were out, there was a distance where even if she saw another dog, it was too far away for her to want to leave me and actually go see it. The second she spied it, I would call her in a happy voice and give her a game of tug. Gradually, the appearance of another dog would have her turning to me expectantly, whereupon she got huge praise and a game. In time, we could get closer and closer to other dogs and she'd still turn to me.

You have to fight fire with fire, I find - which is an unpleasant term and I don't mean "fight" in the combatorial sense. What I mean is - depending on what the dog actually WANTS at any given moment is what you need to use for a reward. For instance, if your dog wants to go after a squirrel, it's the excitement and adrenalin rush of the CHASE she's after - so using food (unless your dog is a complete pig or possibly a Lab LOL) is unlikely to be much competition. Besides, generally a dog who is hyped up will tend to be fairly uninterested in food. So you need to offer an alternative - such as chasing a ball. Playing with another dog is FUN - so you need to maybe offer a really exciting game of tug as an alternative. What you are saying to your dog is: Whatever it is you think this other thing can offer - I can offer the same or better! If you're teaching a "leave", use a boring old piece of kibble for the thing you're asking her to leave - and offer a bit of liver or sausage (or whatever she loves to eat most in the world) as a reward for leaving.

Does she like playing with you?


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## dogsaredogs (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks again colliepoodle. She is not that bothered about playing with me, she will chase a ball and play fetch but gets bored after a few throws and distracted easily. I think i will try taking her to an open field quite often. No bushes or woods within her field of vision and play ball and tug, of lead:confused? (so i can throw it far enough to let her chase):maybe, to get her more interested. Food for distraction works sometimes except when she actually sees a bird or squirel. Thanks


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

dogsaredogs said:


> Thanks again colliepoodle. She is not that bothered about playing with me, she will chase a ball and play fetch but gets bored after a few throws and distracted easily. I think i will try taking her to an open field quite often. No bushes or woods within her field of vision and play ball and tug, of lead:confused? (so i can throw it far enough to let her chase):maybe, to get her more interested. Food for distraction works sometimes except when she actually sees a bird or squirel. Thanks


Will she tug a toy at all?


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

See, you want to concentrate not so much on throwing toys/balls a long way; but on keeping the fun _near you_ and _involving_ you. So you should be able to keep her on the extendy lead/long line if you need to, to start with.

Which is why tug is such a good game/motivator/distraction/reward.


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## SEVEN_PETS (Aug 11, 2009)

My dog lost his recall at a year and it took 4 months to get it back again. What I did was put him on a long line attached to a harness and practiced recall every day in the park. The long line was trailing, it isn't attached to me. If he didn't respond to my call or he got distracted, I would stand on the end of the line and either reel him in or call him again once I had his attention and reward hugely for coming. What treats do you use? Also if you have her on a long line, you can still catch her but she can still interact with other dogs as she has room to move and she's partly off lead and not directly attached to you.


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