Snowman81
Active Member
I have a 10 months old collie/terrier type mix who up to now has done really well with her training. She has a fantastic nature and is very sociable with other dogs and people, although is very high energy and can be very bouncy.
We give her around 2 hrs of walks a day, plus various games and challenges such as hide the sock. We've had one or two setbacks with training, such as dealing with her pulling on the lead, mouthing etc. and have dealt with them all. The one thing we are now finding really difficult is getting recall in busy situations, and especially when she spots squirrels and rabbits.
The other day a rabbit jumped out from nowhere and she was off in hot persuit before we even had time to draw breath! We have noticed that she always seems to try and flush out beasties from the undergrowth, and even does a mini 'pointing' stance when she sees something. Does this sound like a high prey drive or is this the average dog? I have had dogs before but they have never shown much interest in chasing things.
So far she has not shown any interest in actually catching anything, it all seems to be the thrill of the chase. I have now resorted to an extending lead for the time being, which is a shame as her recall is really good in most other situations, but I just don't want to risk her chasing and either causing an accident/getting lost/catching something and getting into even more bad habits.
All advice welcome!
We give her around 2 hrs of walks a day, plus various games and challenges such as hide the sock. We've had one or two setbacks with training, such as dealing with her pulling on the lead, mouthing etc. and have dealt with them all. The one thing we are now finding really difficult is getting recall in busy situations, and especially when she spots squirrels and rabbits.
The other day a rabbit jumped out from nowhere and she was off in hot persuit before we even had time to draw breath! We have noticed that she always seems to try and flush out beasties from the undergrowth, and even does a mini 'pointing' stance when she sees something. Does this sound like a high prey drive or is this the average dog? I have had dogs before but they have never shown much interest in chasing things.
So far she has not shown any interest in actually catching anything, it all seems to be the thrill of the chase. I have now resorted to an extending lead for the time being, which is a shame as her recall is really good in most other situations, but I just don't want to risk her chasing and either causing an accident/getting lost/catching something and getting into even more bad habits.
All advice welcome!
