Can you help
please? We are the proud owners of a beautiful rescued GSD-collie cross bitch,
Kira, who is about 18 months old and we have had her six months.
When she
came to us she hadn’t been very well socialised, and after a lot of ground work
she is now a dream to own. She loves everybody; the more dogs she meets to play
with the better, and she comes back as soon as we call her. The problem is
cats.
Our daily
walk to the park becomes a nightmare if she sees one. At the moment she is on a
Halti but if she sees a cat she tries to get out of it to chase the cat. I’ve
owned three other GSDs before her and have competed in obedience and working
trials with them, and I am now at my wits’ end. Please help!
Babs
Sanderson, Stockport, Cheshire
Karen Wild, behaviourist, advises...
Hi Babs,
Well done so far on your efforts, I congratulate you as it
sounds like you have already worked hard.
Chasing cats can be such a difficult issue mainly because
the cats themselves are hard to control, and the dogs can smell them out and
spot the movement (as they then run away fast!) long before we even notice what
is happening. It is a powerful predatory
instinct and this is probably why you’ve found it harder to control as you are
clearly an experienced trainer.
As you have already taught some basic control exercises, it
is time to extend these to be part of a new skill. You have your toolkit – so
let’s make it work for this problem. You have several options, and I would work
on one at a time. Firstly, I would look for something that you can make into a
cat ‘stooge’. This can be a cardboard silhouette or cuddly cat toy. Basically
we are breaking down the task into easy to handle stages, so you would start
somewhere quiet and enclosed so you are not fearing her escaping from the
Halti. Have the ‘cat’ placed a good distance away. This might need to be 100
yards away! Then, practise your sit stays and recalls just as you would
normally do, and expect your GSD to concentrate on you as she would normally in
this exercise. You might have to play around with distance from the ‘cat’ to
find out what the basic ‘dog does not react’ distance is. Remember that the
stooge cat does not smell like a cat, nor does it move like a cat. Nevertheless
you have to start somewhere!
You will find that as you get a little closer, your dog will
start to look like she is about to chase. Don’t wait for a full blown chase.
You know your dog’s reactions, so immediately call her away and put her in a
sit stay. Then, reward her well as she is likely to become very frustrated
otherwise! If you are using a toy to reward her, make certain you throw it in
the other direction AWAY from the stooge. Chasing her toy needs to become far
more exciting than trying to chase the cat!
It is hard to describe this whole process in detail here but
what you will end up with is a dog that will be able to sit closer and closer
to the ‘stooge’ cat, and to turn away from it back to you for a game. You can
gradually extend this by placing the stooge cat somewhere on your normal walk
(again where you know it is going to be, but your dog does not!) and working
along the difficulty gradient once again.
I realise that using a real cat is going to be tricky – and
unethical – but the control work will give you a really useful foundation. You
can also work on calling her away from a toy you have thrown. It will teach
your dog that no matter what she sees, if you call her back, it is not a chase
object and is not something to get frustrated about either (because you have
kept the training sessions fun and rewarding all the way along!)
An excellent book that describes similar training in detail
is ‘STOP!’ by David Ryan www.dog-secrets.co.uk
- I recommend this, not only
because it is a great book, but you sound like the sort of person that really
cares and will put in the effort to help your lovely dog.
