dog chases everything!!!

[ACol]

I have come to my wits end trying to train my dog not to chase everything...he's chases runners, bicycles, scateboards, other balls and now he chased a toddler on a scooter in the park which was terrifying. I've now resigned to keep him on the lead until this stops. BUT when he's on the lead, he doesn't even look at them or care about them. He's a smart dog and knows that he is off lead.

I've tried distracting him with a ball but the trouble is, he won't return the ball. The game for him is more fun keeping the ball, so recall is then a nightmare.

I really want to get to the stage where I can let him off knowing he won't chase anything - is this possible - help please!!

He's got so much energy. He's a spring spaniel/poodle cross - about 2 and half years old.

There's a book called 'Stop' written by an ex police dog handler, all about managing the chase instinct. I can't remember his name, but do a search on amazon!

It sounds as though your boy's chase instinct is well-honed, but with plenty of training (can you use high value treats?) I am sure you can work wonders - hopefully Minimuu or someone else with lots of experience will be along soon

With the ball issue, try two balls. We had a ball obsessed GSD who loved the chase but would not give up the ball. We bought a number of identical, squeaky balls and I wouldn't throw the next one until he came and dropped the first at my feet. The squeaking of the ball also drove him mad and NOTHING was better than having the ball thrown for him.

Thanks Elibean - I'm going to order it from Amazon - just found it, David Ryan.

Hi MrsZ - I tried that but he didn't seem to understand the concept...might need to try again with a squeaky one. Thanks.

Thats the one. We had to work on our dog's chase drive (he started catching the squirrels he was running after, and I didn't want it to escalate to cats/toddlers etc) and it took a week or two of constantly getting in his face the moment anything exciting caught his eye - using high value treats, squeaky balls, anything to distract him.

That said, he was about 9 months old at the time, and it hadn't gone on very long - so we didn't have to work through months or years of chase-addiction!