I have spent many hours waiting for my Lakeland Terrier dog Toby to come back to me after a chase until enough was enough, time to train him to not chase.
Terriers are bred to chase but the majority of dogs these days are family members and not working dogs, besides, I didn`t like him chasing that cute rabbit across the field.
If you just want to know what I did without reading my story just scroll to the bottom of the post and look for the bullet points, otherwise read on, it is an interesting read (well I think so).
I had never really owned a terrier before, I knew about their background of being bred as chasers with a high prey instinct but I have always admired their perky attitude and zest for life. A few years ago we decided to get a companion for Molly, our German Shepherd/Collie cross. Molly is what I would class as the perfect dog, a loyal companion who just wants to be besides me no matter what I am doing or where I am (unless there are cows involved then it is every dog for themselves) but is also bags of fun when we play.
Along came Toby, a gorgeous little Lakeland Terrier who true to terrier form found everything exciting and feared nothing. At first on walks he stayed close to us, shadowing both Molly and myself. At about 6 months his instincts started to take over, the slightest scent of a rabbit/fox/anything that breathes and he was off. He’d never go far and would come back with a whistle but I didn`t like how he tormented wildlife whose lives are difficult enough without a terrier chasing them down.
Toby gained in confidence over the coming months and would run further away from me, many times we would wait outside of a wood for hours on end for him to come back. If you have ever owned a terrier you are nodding your head right now with a knowing smirk.
The first thought that came into my head was to improve his recall, but his recall was superb, a call of his name or a quick whistle and he would trot over with a smile on his face and a shake of his body. He could have been pottering along a path, playing with his ball or frolicking with another dog but a quick call would see him back by my side. The only time his recall wouldn`t work was when he was on a chase – what is it about the chase that is better than coming back to me? Was he even hearing my call if he was so focussed on the chase?
Chasing and hunting has been hard coded into his brain, when he is chasing he feels good, unfortunately this good feeling is above and beyond the praise and potential biscuit he gets when he comes to me. Priority wise, the chase is number one. The psychologists would call this ‘internal reinforcement’ (external reinforcement would be receiving praise or eating a treat). A dogs senses work in the following order: nose – eyes – ears, so chances are he didn`t even hear my whistle. So what can we do?
Toby can be happily sniffing/playing/pottering but once he gets a smell or sees an animal his whole posture changes. His body stiffens up and his eyes kind of glaze over, he acts like a completely different dog. If you notice this change occur call him over immediately before he begins his chase and put him on his lead until he forgets about the smell/sight. I didn`t want his lead to seem like a bad thing though, I didn`t want it to seem like a punishment or a sign of the end of a walk. On walks I started to call him to me at random points, give him lots of fuss and put his lead on for a few minutes. After only a few days he began to associate the lead with a big fuss and now I just need to take the lead from my pocket and he comes storming over, waggling his whole body in excitement.
There are certain fields that I know he will want to chase in and certain areas where the smells are too enticing. For a long while I stayed clear of them and only walked where I was confident he wouldn`t chase (or as confident as I could be). If you do need to walk past high chase areas put him on his lead as you approach. During these walks I reinforced my training and introduced a ball to the walk. The ball gave him something to focus on and gave him back his chase.
I felt good for the animals he wasn’t chasing but bad for Toby if he loved the chase so much. Also, if a chase is so ingrained into him is it healthy to cut it out completely? His chase became a tennis ball, he sprints after it time and time again pretty much until he is so tired he can`t move. I’ll also throw it into long grass so he has to hunt it down, his nose isn`t as good as Mollys so she sometimes has to go in and help him out. I had to start playing with the ball at home as outside there were too many distractions. He soon grew to love the ball and the chase that I could take it out with us on a walk.
Dogs live for the moment, his chase shows this as he will only come back to me after his chase is over. So I thought that if I gave him something else to focus on he will not notice the smells or see the sheep in that faraway field. I am taking his attention away from a chase and more on playing.
Toby will wander off in front to check out the area first, if I blindly follow he wanders further and further in front, he probably thinks that he is leading the walk and if he does pick up on a scent he is too far away to do anything about it. For this reason I make random direction changes so that I lead the walk. I am lucky to live somewhere where I can walk in pretty much 360 degrees so a change in direction is easy. He looks behind to check I am still coming, when he sees me walking in another direction he has to come back and join us on our walk. He still wanders off in front but the more I change direction the more frequently he looks behind so the easier it is to keep him close.
Not at all, I don`t think it is possible to train a dog beyond its natural inclinations but it is a million times better. He wandered into the woods the other day but was only gone 5 minutes, when he comes out I am ready with the ball. He associates a certain whistle pattern with ball play and will come out of a hedge to be with me. Hopefully gone are the days of waiting around hours on end (his record is just over 5 hours) for him to come back but I always make sure I keep up what I described above. He still goes on his lead near the badger setts and near rabbit central but now he is happy to go on his lead and looks forward to moving away from those areas to be let free again to play ball or play fight with Molly.
It is a long post so here are the bullet points from the above
Do you have a terrier, does he/she chase, did you manage to train them to reduce their chasing? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Hi all.. loving the pics of my mate Toby..yes you do know who I am..Saw hubby this morning congrats on the new arrival, hope your feeling much better than you did, early days so be patient. I’ll look forward to seeing you all in and around Shipley if you have doubts as to who I am ask hubby cos I did remember both websites from this morning’s walk with my boy Monty.
Dawn
Hi Dawn
Little Toby was on a high for the whole walk home after seeing you this morning, next time we bump into each other I may have my new addition
I know exactly what you mean, I have a patterdale and he is always running off. Lots of times I have just had to abandon him and go home and wait for as phone call when someone finds him.
Will give your suggestions a go and see if it works for me, most walks now he is confined to his lead which I hate doing so hopefully I can get him to the point where Toby is.
What an excellent post! It is all very familiar and I saw Toby do all those things today, and like you say he came back only a few minutes later. Perhaps we are starting to ‘fix’ them just a little bit.