Can I do anything to stop my dog's obsession with squirrels?

Well, it may take some work, but it's absolutely possible for her to overcome that obsession, all she needs is your direction. The basis of every walk is set at the very beginning, before the leash is even attached to the collar. Always have her come to you to put the leash on, and be sure that before you attach it she is sitting patiently waiting for you. If she is excited and jumping around, using your index and middle fingers, give a quick but firm touch to the side of her neck, followed by a "shht" sound, then immediately direct her to sit. Once she has calmed down to a submissive state, you may then attach the leash to her collar. The collar should, at all times, be at the high part of the neck, as this is where you have control. At the lower part, she has the control, and she will use this to her advantage in any way that she sees fit. When leaving the house, you exit first, followed by her. Again, this sets the basis for the walk as you as the leader and imprints in her mind that you are welcoming her to come along with you. At all times, she must be either at your side or behind you. Never in front of you. The easiest way to do this is for the first five or ten minutes of the walk (or until she has respected the pace and boundaries you set for the walk) keep the leash as short as possible, but with your arms relaxed and no tension on the leash. If she begins to creep ahead, give a quick but firm tug upward on the leash, followed by that same "sshhtt" sound. When making those corrections, always keep moving in a forward motion, Unless, she doesn't obey your correction. If she continues to pull, give another quick tug, stop in your tracks and immediately direct her to sit. If her ears so much as perk up, that's a sign that she's becomming interested in something other than you, this time you should use the touch to the side of the neck with your index and middle finger, followed by that same "sshtt" sound. Once she has calmed down and is waiting for your next move, carry on with your walk. Never let her decide when to start walking and when to stop. Once she has reached the point where she's respecting your pace and rules, you may loosen the slack on the leash as a reward and allow her to sniff around and relieve herself. But until then, don't allow her to sniff the ground or go to the bathroom. She's more than capeable of holding it for a few moments while she earns your trust, which will ultimately earn respect from her. While squirrels are unpredictable, it may take some time to correct this behavior, but patients is key, especially in rehabilitation, because she's already grown accustom to the fact that squirrel = excitement. However, the moment her attention is snapped away from the walk, that's her ears going up, tail stiffening, or the next level, excessive panting or salivating, or in the red zone, jumping around, pulling, barking or growling. The earlier stage you catch her in, the easier it will be to correct. There are always warning signs that she'll give before she "bolts after it and goes nuts" - you have to learn them and make your correction in a timely fashion. Use the same corrective technique, a quick but firm upward on the leash, followed by the sound command. If she continues to pull, or has reached a high level of excitement before you're able to correct her, grab ahold of the scruff on the back of her neck and pull her to the ground so that she's laying on her side. Hold her there with your fingertips pressed firmly on the side of her neck, and the fingertips of your other hand pressed firmly on her hips. I assure you, this does Not hurt the dog. It is simply to mimic what a higher ranking pack member would do to a lower ranking pack member to put it in its place, or correct a behavior that is unacceptable. She may struggle, yelp or try to get away, these are all tools she'll use to try and get you to loosen your grip, Don't! If you do, any progress you've made will be automatically reversed. Hold her there firmly until she submits. As she begins to settle down, the amount of pressure from your fingertips should lessen as well. This lets her know that You are aware that she's submitting to you and that when she does you'll respect that and reward that. When she is fully submitted, with her head on the ground, still on her side, you should no longer be touching her. Let her lay there for a moment then give her a nice firm massage of the neck and back, this lets her know that overexcited behavior is not tollerated and repremanded, but that calm submissive behaviors are rewarded with affection. It's important to know that dogs Respond firstly to touch, secondly to sight and lastly to sound. (However they precieve the world, firstly by scent, secondly by sight and lastly by sound. - the only time sound is effective is when her attention is already focused on you - otherwise, you're just blowing into the wind.) Another important thing to know is that by pulling on his leash when she becomes in that excited state will only make it worse and make her drive to pull harder. The corrections should be firm, but quick and seperated. A quick tug with your voice command, another if needed, and if she doesn't direct her attention back to you, either make her sit, or as before, make her lay on her side until she has calmed herself down. Unless she's showing unacceptable behaviors, there should be no tension on the leash whatsoever. Exposure is really the best way to fix your problem, so the more she makes a fuss and you're able to correct the issue the better in the rehabilitation process. If you find an area where the squirrels tend to frequent, it might be helpful to take her there. Have her sit by your side, and the moment her attention shifts to one of the squirrels, quickly give her a tug. She should eventually lay down on her own after a tug or two, and each day you do this you'll notice that she'll lay quicker and quicker until she pays no mind to them at all. Be sure that you're keeping a relaxed and assertive state of mind at all times. The moment you begin to get worked up about something is the very moment that her excitement level will start to rise. Before you begin working with her on this process, try taking her for a nice long walk so that she's not at the peak of her energy level, this will also make the corrections easier as she will be less likely to resist your commands.

The only other advise I will give is that in a dogs world, there are three things they need to stay balanced and controlable, healthy, happy and stable. Proper exercise using the proper walking technique, discipline for unwanted or unacceptable behaviors, (this is not getting angry at, yelling at, or hitting the dog, the corrections you make to let her know which behaviors are not tollerable is the discipline, it sets forth the rules, boundaries and limitations that she must live by and they should be reinforced on a daily basis in a consistant manner.) and affection for good, calm, submissive behaviors. The Only time affection should be given is when your dog is in a submissive state. Affection only nurtures the state of mind the dog was in just prior to the time when the affection was given, so if she obeys a command, a nice massage is in order. Same with discipline, the dog associates it only with the mind set she had just prior to when the correction was made. Basically what this means is if you apply discipline or give affection at the wrong times, you can confuse your dog which can ultimately lead to erratic negative behaviors - this is the dog making up for the short-comings that they believe you have as a leader, doing what they feel is best for the safety and survival of the pack. Always keep in mind, a calm, relaxed, confident and assterive mind set from you is what she needs at all times - and given that, she has no choice but to be calm and submissive in return. Dogs need leadership above all else, and if they don't have it, they will take it.

Hopefully I was able to help out in some way. If this technique proves ineffective for you, it may be helpful to contact your vet and ask the name of a recommended behavioralist to show you the proper techniques that will work for you dog.

Best of luck to you with this issue!

we have a little cocker spaniel that goes on guard duty under a cherry tree in the back yard. If he trees a squirrel in it, we literally have to drag him inside even if it's 30 below zero.

He is obsessed as well. Nothing can redirect him, short of offing the squirrel. Mind you my wife and I are no friend to squirrel, they've dug up nearly every bulb we plant each year. I've started silent harvest of those that happen into my yard.

Thankfully we have a fenced yard. Other wise the cocker would disappear on hunting excursions daily and may not return until we bail him from Doggie jail. (which we've had to do more then once before the fence.).

Perhaps get a training collar from Cabelas, not unlike the kind I use to keep my lab from chasing rabbits when we hunting quail.. I bust him a couple of times. get the variable shock, it'll get her attention.

The level of correction needs to reach the dog before the behavior will change. If you don't correct the dog in a timely manner with enough correction, the dog simply won't get the hint. Try a pronged collar. As you walk the dog be as observant as possible and immediately correct the dog before it fixates on the squirrel. Continue with quick corrections until the dog responds. It will take some time and patience on your part but should you use these simple actions, your dog will learn to leave the squirrels alone. I'd also suggest, taking any other dog walkers with you. If you don't, the dog is likely to revert to the same behavior when the new handler comes along.

Pavlov

Associate a squirrel with something undesirable and eventually the desire will turn to avoidance - depending on the stimuli.

You may also pair a reaction to something good - like a bit of tuna or dog biscuit. Then every time it sees a squirrel it will run to you -and sit before you waiting for the treat. Use a variable reward schedule (think the way slot machines pay sometimes - but not too far in between)

This is physiological psychology and it is scientifically proven to be effective.

Good Boo Boo!

Good luck.

Multiple problems.

Break the dog from pulling hard.

Break the dog from chasing squirrels.

You need to get the dog to accompany you on walks, not take you where it will. It needs leash, and off leash, discipline.

No one walks your dog until you can control it. Then they do it with you, first. Anyone the dog perceives as untrained, or not his leader, she will try to run on.

I trained a seeing eye dog like yours that liked to go fast. I eventually tricked it to slow down, after a lot of grief like yours. He weighed more like 85 lbs.

1. Keep the leash short, with some slack doubled up you can release it rather than get a dislocated shoulder.

2. Hold the leash back by your side, so you can move your hand forward easily. If you pull, draw your elbow back, arm bent. You'll use your stronger back muscles, not the weaker shoulder and arm muscles.

Now the trick.

3. When the dog starts to move a little faster, first give her some slack, then pull hard. After a few times, she will think she is outsmarting you by slowing when you give slack, to avoid the hard pull.

------

For on leash discipline. Make her sit and stay often when walking. If she does not obey, be loud and forceful telling her 'NO, NO, NO'. When he behaves properly, give plenty of "Good Dogs !".

Next watch for squirrels yourself. Make her sit and stay before she sees them. Praise her. Wait until she sees a squirrel. She should continue to behave. Continue to praise her. Almost encourage her to misbehave. But don't allow her to.

She'll improve. She gets discipline from you having the discipline to train her.

A great book for training big dogs is "How To Be Your Dogs Best Friend".

I have found the best dog training course there is! You can get the 6 Part Mini Course for free, if you like that then go on and purchase the full course it's well worth the money. I have 4 dogs and I had to do something! They were running me! LOL Here's the place to find the course: http://pinurl.com/sit_stay Let me know what you think of it! I love it!

I just found out about a neat collar! They showed it on It's the Me or the Dog. Show. It looks like a bridle for a horse. Goes around the ears, around the top and bottom of the muzzle... The woman say that in one day, you will be walking your dog with one finger and she was right! I can't wait to buy it and try it on my 40lb dog, but what worried me more was the way she chokes herself and sound like she has kennel cough. Try to find this collar and hopefully. It should work. The dog lady said, If it works to control a huge horse, it should work on a dog. When the dog pulls, he'll only be turning his own head around.

When you start going on a walk with him, you HAVE to show him you're the "pack leader". Tug on his leash whenever he gets even a little distracted. When you do that, make a small noise, like a *shhh* or a whistle, something small but harsh to show him he's done something wrong. Square your shoulders and don't even pay attention to him, just walk like you have a huge ego problem. He'll get the idea that he isn't the alpha male that can take you wherever he wants.

I have a 3yr. old pound puppy (Sheepdog, colly mix) and she is not only a squirrel chaser but a dedicated hunter also. She doesn't actually kill them, she doesn't know what to do with them when she catches them. But she will sit in one place for hours without relieving herself waiting for them. It is terrifying when she takes off after one though, I'm scared she is going to get loose one day and get hit by a car or something. I hope somebody has a good answer.

I would stop walking as soon as he sees the squirrels and do not start again until he calms down. Do not ever let him walk you! Also when using commands lower your voice, like you are serious. Do not speak in a high or joking tone. Good luck:) And go to Cesar's web site.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?...

Try this coupled with a firm "NO!" When your dog lunges. I have 2 labs. Not quite as big as the shepherd, yet same thing basically. One chases everything under the sun and jerks my arm out of the socket. I still have a ways to go with her. The other will let rabbits and squirrels run right past her with no problem. Just takes training and consistency. Let the pup know that a squirrel is not a toy.