Prey drive and playing

[Annette4]

I've noticed Tia is starting to (VERY occasionally) trying to pounce on Jack on walks. She lies down, goes very still then bounces on him. She's never really shown any prey drive before but after all the issues with Quila I want to stop ANY prey drive behaviour with Jack. They have the odd all noise arguement which ends as quickly as it starts and is when she stomps on him being a clumsy oaf or similar. I always end it very quickly and it's all noise. He is getting older and I do wonder if she is pushing her luck but I do have final word on everything.

My point.....at the moment I am distracting her (be it by calling her back as I'm really working on her recall at the moment or by starting a game of fetch etc). I am worried I'm rewarding her for starting the 'stalking' process and wondering if I should be telling her to stop instead? She does respond to a stern no so should I be rewarding when she stops after the no?

Mine have always been herding rather than prey drive motivated so a distraction and new game/job has worked with them but I'm wondering if I should change this with her?

She has been a real learning curve for me as a dog owner but the increased rules and me starting running has improved her obedience no end so it's just little habits to break and keep on top of.

Or should I stop bloody worrying and just go with what works?!

 

[Spudlet]

We work on the 15 second rule when dogs / puppies are playing freely.

If you watch well-socialised dogs playing, you will see that every so often - roughly every 15 - 30 seconds (or thereabouts) - they will break it off and have a break. They may play-bow, or perhaps even have a little sniff of the ground or similar. This is their way of stopping play from crossing the boundary into anything more serious. They may repeat these bouts of play - break - play - break several times, but they will put the break in. If your dogs aren't putting that break in, then you need to do it by distracting her away from her game after about 15 seconds. Recall her, maybe do a brief bit of 'work' (maybe a sit, or some heel work, or something anyway) then if you're happy that she is calmer, let them go again.

Also, we step in if there are any incidents of putting paws on each other, as again this is when things can stop being playful and start being a problem. We just call the dogs back to their owners and have a few moments to calm down, then either release them to play again, or if things are getting far too excitable we'll stop that session and move onto another exercise.

These are not dogs that live together, as yours obviously do, but you could still apply these rules to your situation.

 

[Annette4]

It's roughly what I'm doing now.....she'll pounce and if she puts paws on him she gets called back/distracted to calm down and if it goes on longer than I'm happy with (the playing that is) then the same happens.

Half the problem is that he's getting more and more miserable in his old age so his tollerance is getting less for any dog. He grumped at Charlie puppy last week for trying to carry on playing when he was finished (A vauluable lesson for Charlie IMO and he seems to have the message now so stops when Jack stops).

When I finish college in May I'll have even more time so even more exercise/training time with both of them (and more exercise will help the wedding diet!) so drain the excess energy and as such reduce the trying to play.

 

[SadKen]

Mine do this, without bouncing on each other. Big lad will lie down 'setting' the little one, who pretends to ignore him, then there's a bounce, a play bow, and a chase. But they don't lay a paw on each other or touch each other during this, although there is sometimes a light nip during the chasing bit! Big lad has learned 'the rules' very well and teaches little one manners. Little one has been known to tentatively try the paw at night when big lad's trying to sleep (most underhand). He is quickly and effectively corrected by big lad so I've not had to step in (although I have no objection to doing so and will if required).

I think Spudlet's advice is bob on, fwiw!