Dog taking to chasing (once) and barking at horses - any tips?

[iloverhubarb]

We often meet horses on our walks. Lola - 10 months springer - suddenly finds them very exciting. Bad incident a couple of weeks ago where she chased two cantering horses, getting pretty close and barking loudly. No notice whatsoever of us (usually good recall). Riders obviously stopped and waited for us to haul the dog away.

We're now hyper alert and get her on the lead whenever we see horses in the distance. But how do we 'de-sensitise her?' Had a lovely walk today. One horse passed very close to us with her on lead. Lola barked dementedly. We held on tight and the rider asked if we wanted her to stand with the horse, so L got a little bit more used to horses. Would this have been a good idea? We said no - thought it was abit hard on the horse! Bit later, five ponies and horses, again L on lead. This time she watched without barking, though v alert.

Are we doing the right thing? Any other tips? Really would love it if we could forget the lead and trust her to ignore them. I'm sure there are other threads on this but can't find them. Any help much appreciated.

i think great idea from the horse rider to stand still and let your dog get used to horse not moving. i dont think rider would have offered if she had a skittish horse

when she watched the later riders but didnt bark did you reward her?

do you know anyone who has a horse? spending time with them may help dog get used to them and see them as boring. though most things probably very exciting to 10mth old springer!

"when she watched the later riders but didnt bark did you reward her?"

I wouldn't reward in that situation when the dog is still focused on the horses.

OP, do you have a solid watch/focus command? IMHO it's the foundation of all positive reward-based training and will certainly help in this situation, where you can practise your watch/focus within gradually more demanding/distracting scenarios and then eventually work up to doing it around horses.

Glad this has been asked , our 10 month lab is very alert with horses the same with horses although luckily not chased any and hasn't barked . I have managed to get her on lead before she has seen them .

Tonight we came across a horse and rider and although she was on lead she was pulling to get near .

Will try the watch command ( we do this in dog training).

I actually do the opposite to hephaestus and have a look command at the object that the dog is reacting to.

I have found if you say watch me or basically dont look, that tends to up the tension eg if I told you whatever you do, do not look behind you - what you imagine is worse than what is actually happening.

So I have a look dog command for reactive dogs to dogs. In this case I would have a look horse command. You have to be far enough away for your dog not to be reacting just looking. Then when he looks at the horse calmly click and treat and say look dog. Each time you see a horse say look dog he will start to look for the horse click as he sees it. You will find this becomes his instinctive behaviour around horses to look at them and then come charging back to you for a treat. It will take time and you must not get too close that the dog reacts. If you do just say nothing walk away the dog must eventually turn to you click and treat.

Great - thanks so much all of you. Minimu I'm assuming you mean 'look horse' don't you, not 'look dog' a couple of times in that last para. Actually no need to answer, obviously you do! I'm going to try this, makes alot of sense and worth spending time on it.

Don't know anyone with horses chick, tho you're right about the 10 month old springer!

Minimu do you think that technique might work with a dog that's interested in cats?

minimu - you explained it so much better than i ever could i have a very obsessive excitable jrt and it would just up the ante for him if i got him to look at me and he knew something was around him. the only way is to desensitise him. he now though will ask to be picked up to kiss horses. tis very cute