7 month old Border Terrier x springer spaniel bird chasing.

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lindsay1993

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As above. Mac is very obedient, knows most basic commands and walks to heel off lead most of the time. He is around our horses and comes for rides with my daughters pony. Boyfriend was insistent he was kept off lead as he is mainly on the farm. We have two other springer spaniels who are always off lead, unless in public places. He had developed a habit in the last week or so of buggering off after small birds in the bushes, insistent he will catch them. This has now progressed to complete obsessiveness. He is around the farm hens and is no bother, the hens actually boss him about. He recently spotted a heron flying over us whilst out in the fields for a ride with my daughter on her pony (who is still on lead-rein) and chased it as fast as he could almost running into a wall in pursuit of it. This has now began to happen with crows, ducks, basically anything with feathers that flies away from him. He's even looking in the bushes for things to chase. Never having had a terrier type before, is this normal behaviour? I can call him back with a loud, sharp shout of his name, so I'm not worried about him running away at the moment. I just don't want it to get to a point where I can't call him back. Putting him on a lead is possible, but with a small pony and child to hold onto it's a lot to manage all at once and I don't like keeping him close to the pony's feet as she has already proven she is quite happy to stand on any dog that may get in her way! I don't think putting him on a lead will solve the problem as he still looks for the birds, he just can't run after them. Any ideas??
 
I have heard of OCD behaviour like this in spaniels, but cannot help you with any first hand advice. I hope you can fix it. My Grandfather had a lab who used to chase hot air balloons, and ended up running into things, she then progressed to chasing the moon, but I was very small and don't know how they coped.
 
Oh my goodness! Chasing the moon!! My 8 year old springer has ocd issues with shadows, but only indoors and nothing had cured that. I hoped because Mac is younger it may be fixable, if not it will just have to be something we will have to deal with. He's such a funny little dog :-)
 
Im no expert but it sounds as if his behaviour is a mixture of what you would expect from a springer and a terrier. Dont know how to advise you to channel it though as I have both springers and a terrier and neither are particularly typical of their breeds!
 
Very odd breeding, I know. He has all the energy of a spaniel but the temperament of a terrier. We work him well out with the pony and regular play sessions with the older dogs to run some of his energy off. My two springers are very typical of their breed, total lunatics! So much energy, but we channel it well with exercise. Mac is also very loud! He screeches with excitement when he sees birds or the pony. I put that down to the terrier I him, as most I know are quite yappy.
 
Oh Yes OP! my little Jack russell (RIP mate) used to sound like he'd been run over by a car, whilst chasing - anything! but especially rabbits. It was just because he couldn't catch them and I think it was just his way of telling them how frustrated he was! Noisy little blighters :D
 
he is a puppy and you are giving him too much freedom he needs direction, put him on a lead till and redirect his behaviour when faced with exciting stuff. Leaving a puppy to discover the world is more exciting than 'their' people is very risky.
When a puppy is loose you need to be able to react to unwanted behaviours-leading a child on a pony whilst having a puppy loose is far from ideal. You are slow and boring to the puppy so they pay attention to everything else-birds in bushes are very exciting.
 
twiggy2 said:
he is a puppy and you are giving him too much freedom he needs direction, put him on a lead till and redirect his behaviour when faced with exciting stuff. Leaving a puppy to discover the world is more exciting than 'their' people is very risky.
When a puppy is loose you need to be able to react to unwanted behaviours-leading a child on a pony whilst having a puppy loose is far from ideal. You are slow and boring to the puppy so they pay attention to everything else-birds in bushes are very exciting.
Click to expand...

Very good point. :-)
 
Clodagh said:
Dry Rot or Dry Wit? :-)
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HA!! Very good! :) A BT x ESS and it's 7 months, and it's chasing birds? Now there's a surprise! :)

OP, live with it. You'll have more chance of stopping a greyhound from chasing a hare! :)

Sometimes we need to almost embrace a dog's natural displays of behaviour. The other point is that 'generally', when dogs find that they can't actually catch the focus of their attention, they give up as the puppy in question probably will. I once had a greyhound pup which chased an airplane, but he only did it the once!!

Alec.
 
Agree with Twigs. Every time he is 'allowed' to do this he is rewarded by something that's infinitely more exciting and fulfilling than what you have to offer. The behaviour is being reinforced each time.

I'd get a walking belt so you can be attached hands free and you need to engage him before he is off and in chase mode, with whatever it is that does it for him.

In fairness my very high prey drive dog used to chase swallows at around this age. He grew out of it when he realised he couldn't fly and was wasting his time and that playing with a ball with mum was slightly more fun and achievable. I can recall him off pretty much everything except hares these days. And he's definitely not fast enough to catch those!
 
Ignoring the prey drive issue that is well covered above. You need to look at how much hard exercise the dog is getting.

The rule is 5 mins per month of age per day. gentle pottering not included. So this dog should get 35 mins proper running/walking etc, no jumping. Dogs who get too much exercise as pups are prone to joint problems when older. Swap the running time for brain exercises, will tire the dog far more.
 
Oh, and another thing, there was a bird feeder outside his kennel, not too close and outside so well ventilated, that he could see but not get to. Birds became a non issue. The robin even ended up popping into his run to hoover up what dog food crumbs he'd left and he didn't even bother getting up.
 
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