Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
How can I get my dog to stop chasing squirrels?
I have a two year old Dalmatian mix. He's very smart and has a high prey drive. He's generally well behaved and we've gone through obedience training. He walks very well on a leash except when he sees a squirrel. They drive him bananas. He used to try and chase them but I mostly broke him of that habit. Instead, I taught him to sit down and look at the squirrels. He'll do that now but it makes our morning walks take forever since he sits at the base of the tree and stares for like five minutes. Is there a way I can get him to no longer be interested in squirrels? I have the same problem with the feral cats that live in the neighborhood as well as the city rats but he's worse with the squirrels.
He always on leash. I'm talking about him yanking my arm off to go after them.
@Gabby-I've tried running with him. He will stop dead in his tracks to look. Lol. I agree though. Teaching him to look at them was probably a mistake.
No need to get snarky people. I'm just looking for some aversion techniques.
6 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
first of you should be teaching him the leave command anyway its such a useful addition to skills. start by getting him to leave his toys and making him wait on your orders before he eats when his food is put down then praising him and getting him used to being stroked whilst eating this shows him whose in charge and stops possessiveness over food then when he knows what it means use it concerning squirrels, my staff crosses passion is fox scent i usually let him investigate until i get a bit further along then i shout leave it ,come and he does. try it it might work good luck.
Source(s): 20 years sensable dog ownership. - Anonymous5 years ago
That's a tough one. Any behavior - whether it's taking garbage out of your trash can, sitting, or chasing critters - is going to get better and stronger over time the more it's practiced and reinforced. So to stop the behavior, you cannot let him ever chase the critters again. Try using a Gentle Leader for your dog and instead of feeding him in a bowl, bring your dog's food along with you. Try hard to avoid the huge distractions of the squirrels, etc, for at least 2 weeks while you get him re-trained to pay attention to you during walks. You're changing your expectations for your dog, and you're rewarding the new behavior "pay attention to me!" - but you're teaching it to him in more "boring" places so that he will be successful. It's hard to graduate from this to more distracting places, especially since rabbits and squirrels do their best to appear from nowhere. Keep rewarding him for paying attention to you (say "Yes!" and reward every time he looks at you, and then add the cue for that, "Watch me!" or something like that) and you should have success. Good luck!
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Distract him from looking at the squirrels. Run him. He'll be too busy running to care if there's a squirrel or any other critter. I think teaching him to look at the squirrels was a mistake.
Edit: He won't be able to stop if you keep running as though he hasn't stopped...my, does he have you well trained. Keep running, and he'll get up and run.
- Eric CLv 41 decade ago
i don't think they will stop chasing squirrels but something happen to my dog - he once went after a skunk thinking it was a squirrel, he got sprayed, it was a painful experience, after that, he stop chasing squirrels.
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
