Chasing little animals

W

Whooo

Forums Regular
I think, its been months since I post in this forum. Its between loads of work and no big problem with William, which cause it, I guess. He's adapt quite well. I must do some job out of town couple of times, leaving my wife and William at home for about two weeks. No trouble (well maybe a little).

Anyway he develop a new hobby recently, chasing little animals. Any small moving object would excite him, he'll start chasing it and bark when the object running away.

It began about a month ago, my wife found a rat limping inside our house and decide to see what he would do. We have problem with rats for months now and a dog who chase rats would be great (that's the idea :razz:). Anyway since the rat is limping, after few try to make William notice the rat, it actually work. He spot the rat, bark at it (as he did to every other new thing he saw), the rat ran and he chase it, catch it and began to shake it hard. I was out of town and my wife saw blood dripping in the kitchen and all. She told William to go out and he did, and the blood dripping, making a trail from kitchen to outside. Well I can't exactly tell you how it happened since I didn't see it myself.

But I think that would be something to watch as my wife seems exhausted and excited when she talk in the phone.

After that William began to show lots of interest to small animals, like insects, lizard, frog, rats and cats. It seems funny for a while. But now I have problem during night and during walk early in the morning.

He will excited by small animals and bark when he can't chase it. Well, people are sleeping, I think we were lucky no one complain anything yet. And when we walk he will so excited to chase cats or rats that he no longer listen to me, even on leashed. He'll jump, bark in high pitched, pulling me and such.

I try to block his view, shortened the leash, offer him treat and told him to sit. Which work for a while, but even after he's a little bit calm, he still pulling the leash when we walk, sniffing the air, and (I think) excited when we walk heading his prey.

Do you think he will get pass over this new hobby? Or its natural and nothing to worry about. Maybe there are ways to use it for good things/tricks?

PS : No rats for weeks now, :lol:.
 
I don't have any advice for you, but when you figure it out let me know. Now that we are letting our dogs out into the large fenced yard they are VERY interested in the chipmunks and voles. Sasha and Angus in particular are now into digging for the voles! ARGH...holes in my garden!
 
I did find mine lost interest in very small moving things as they grew (like lizards). I live next to bushland and have thousands of animals for the dogs to chase. Kangaroos are the worst and can also be very dangerous (altho it is hilarious watching a 13 inch sheltie chase a herd of 6-7ft kangaroos).

The only way I found to prevent them chasing the things I didnt want (like roos and bicycles) was to give them something to chase. So they can chase rabbits and hares, magpies and wattle birds (but not colourful native birds) and only me on a bicycle. You would be surprised how well they learn what not to chase - the sheepdog instinct I imagine.

My feeling (and this is just my opinion) is shelties that still have a sheepdog instinct will want to chase, and dogs love to run. So the best thing is to give them an outlet for running and chasing. How good are you on a bicycle?:wink2:

Or can you teach William fetch? There is a great toy called an Air Kong Donut that you throw (overarm) and it sort of rolls and bounces near the ground. All the small dogs I know with a chase instinct love the Donut (and a lot of the bigger dogs too) - I think it simulates a moving animal because it is moving at eye level.
 
If the issue is primarily when on leash, see the post above called "Chasing cars".

The techniques are applicable to anything you want the dog to ignore and move on.

If you are talking about off-leash, whether inside or outside the house, then I can't help much! I'm still working on the emergency recalls and stays. I chased Indy around the coffee table the other night about 5 times when he escaped into the house with his muddy paws before I managed to towel him down! :o Yeah, I'm sure it must have been funny to watch :mad:

I keep visualizing the bloody rat spatters in the house.....shudder! There aren't many times that I'm thankful that I live in the Great White North, but this is one problem that I doubt I will every have to deal with! Thank god! :eek2:
 
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