The Easter Bunny is about to arrive.  This is one Rabbit your dog will never catch!

Many owners find themselves standing in a cloud of dust after their dog has taken off in hot pursuit after a rabbit, or other small animals.  The frustrated owner starts shouting their recall commands after a dog who is disappearing along the horizon.

Chasing is an instinctive behaviour.  In the wild, bringing down game provided dogs with food.  Our domesticated dogs still thrill to the excitement of the hunt.  The things we find acceptable for our domestic dog to “hunt” are balls, Frisbees, or sticks.

When understanding instinct, it’s important to understand that it’s more than your dog just loving it.  The instinct triggers chemicals in the body that will affect his entire physical and psychological well being, and it feels great!  This internal chemical reaction pumps adrenalin through his system, giving him an overpowering emotion or exhilaration, sending him into a state of sudden ecstasy.  When your dog is in this state, there is nothing you can say or do to ’snap’ him out of it.  Calling him is wasting your breath, the most tasty piece of food is no longer desired, and chasing after him is just you joining in the fun.

The trigger of this excitement is often the movement of these prey animals.  Odd, sporadic, jerky, movements from animals like rabbits, squirrels, cats, gophers, and deer, create curiosity and excitement.  When the animal moves, the chase instinct is often triggered right then.  A rabbit standing still might be overlooked (as long as the dog can not smell it), but the slight movement of the rabbit will encourage the dog towards it.

The intensity of this instinct varies from breed to breed.  Long nosed dogs have good peripheral vision perfect for spotting prey on the move.  Short nosed dogs have less acute peripheral vision which prevents them from running like predators.  Terriers & Hounds were bred to hunt, and either hold or kill prey.  Retrievers to go after and bring back prey.  Working dogs to round up and herd prey.

While it is possible to control chasing behaviour, this instinct can never be totally eliminated.  If your dog has killed or maimed animals, you may never to able to break the habit of the chase.

So, what can you do?

• Know your dog.  Interrupt the chasing behaviour before it starts by anticipating when your dog is thinking about chasing the animal, and correct or distract him immediately.
• Pay attention to your environment.  Keep your dog on leash and do not allow him to run loose when you are in an area where these distractions exist.
• Refocus your dog’s attention on you!  Practice your obedience around your house and yard until your dog responds to your commands.  When ready, move into areas were there is more distraction to practice long down-stays or sit-stays.  As with all training, you need to build on ‘wins’.  You will have more success if you start with low value distractions and then build up to the larger ones.
• Pay attention to your dog’s body language and movements.  Often, when your dog sees something of interest, the first thing they will do is perk up their ears.  This is the exact moment where you need to interrupt your dog with corrections, obedience commands like a sit or a down, or direction changes.
• Do not allow your dog to stare at the animals.  By correcting your dog for just looking at the animals, you are letting him know you don’t want him to even think about chasing them.  Just watching can create fixations and build excitement.  Severe fixations are dangerous, as your dog could snap, bite or attack anything that stands in the way of the fixation… including you!  When your dog starts to look towards the animal, correct your dog’s focus back to you.
• Be consistent.  If you allow your dog to chase the rabbits while camping or at the farm, don’t expect your dog to ignore them when back in the city.  Rules need to be consistent; always or never.
• Practice, practice, practice.  Work on positive behaviour every day when you are out on your walks.  If you only practice once a week, chasing will win every time in your dog’s decision making process.
• Offer rapid obedience sessions with lots of quick sits or downs to keep his energy and attention focused on you.
• Distract your dog with a safe chase object or toy.  Experiment with different toys to see which your dog finds the most exciting.  Save that toy for the ’special’ occasions when you need to bring your dogs attention to you and away from everything else.
• Find opportunities to practice.  If there are areas on your walks where you regularly come across small, furry creatures, get your dog back before this area and put him back on leash to practice keeping his attention on you.  Set up situations and create distractions so you can practice your training.
• Never encourage your dog to chase other animals.
• Offer praise in the form of a nice long massage when your dog ignores the animals and looks at you.  This calming will help your dog relax.
• Find a professional trainer to help you work on your obedience commands around distractions.  At Clever Canines, all our training takes place outdoors where we are able to deal with all sorts of distractions, including other animals.

It is more powerful and successful when we teach dogs to ‘do’ something in place of whatever it is we want them to stop doing.  The brain responds quicker and stronger to a ‘doing’ message (positive) than a ’stop doing’ message (negative).  This is why obedience works.

Obedience training teaches your dog self-control, to respect you, and take you seriously.  Starting out in a controlled situation allows you to stay one step ahead of him.  By anticipating his reactions, you can correct him immediatley for even thinking about chasing (which is far more effective than correcting him after he’s begun running.)  Combine the correction with obedience training and massage.  The correction lets him know you disapprove of his actions, the obedience gives him something else to do, and the massage gives him a relaxed mood to return to.  You are telling him very clearly that it’s bad to chase, good to stop, good to sit, and good to calm down.

Watch out little Easter Bunny… the hounds are released.

Happy Easter from Clever Canines!

This entry is filed under Tips & Suggestions