How do I stop my dog hunting?

[dinamum]

I have a 5 year old labrador from working stock. He is sooooo different from any other dog I have had. He loves to chase rabbits, squirrels and deers. He gets a scent and then is it total deafness to us and his otherwise brilliant recall. He can go off for 15 mins at a time but is always able to track back to us. But that is not the point I worry constantly when out walking him. Is the only option to keep him on a lead?

If he won't come back when you call then he should be on a lead, sorry.

You need to teach a chase recall. Have you read Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson?

Yes I have resigned myself to keeping him on a lead in rabbit areas But did want to see if I could alter the behaviour

Bella chase recall sounds interesting tell me more! No I haven't read Jean Donaldson is it in there?

Yes, she gives a good method and the whole book is chock full of good training advice. I'd highly recommend it.
Chase recall is basically teaching a dog that they will get something even more rewarding if they listen to you rather than haring off after the rabbit. There are several methods and it takes practice but well worth doing.

I agree, The Culture Clash is a very good book, well worth reading, even if you didn't want specific information from it.

The method in the link works well:

www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-i-stop-my-dog-chasing/

I would suggest keeping your dog on the lead until you ave a totally reliable recall, as other have said. A dog out of sight for fifteen minutes is not good.

You have to make yourself seem really, really exciting and fun to the dog, even if you look like a loon to other people. Lots of jolly whooping, running around etc, to distract him. Try and get him more interested in what you're doing than in the chasing.

Also (however tempting) don't shout at him when he goes after an animal. If you get cross he won't want to come back. Try and look stupidly happy, offer him really top notch treats (throw them all over the ground away from the rabbit), and praise him as much as you can if he comes away from the rabbit. Try and convince him that being with you is even better than chasing rabbits.

I take a huge stash of things like cheese bits, leftover roast chicken, naan bread for my springer if we go somewhere where he is likely to chase animals. He now knows that if he sees a rabbit, deer, sheep he should run over to me and have treats rather than chase it. Two winters ago my springer was catching 3 rabbits a day, chasing many more, but now he'll come away almost all the time.

If your dog is running out of sight though I'd be inclined to walk somewhere else or keep him on a long lead until his recall was more reliable.

Thanks I will work on the points you have said.

I have tried the treats and favourite toy but I guess I took too large steps and will have to go back a stage or 2 or 3!

Great article Midor1999. It looks like I have a lot of hard work ahead of me! It is so frustrating as his recall is great when he is not in rabbit country, he is even an obedience champion but the second he gets the "high" from the chase he goes deaf.

That article goes a long way to explaining why.

If you see a sad labrador pounding the streets on a lead give us a wave