I'm ready to delve back into the book again, and thought a good way to segue into that after the big Drama post would be to discuss dogs chasing in the lanes. Let's discuss the various ways people proof against chasing so we can learn from each other.
(Here's the first Book Project post if you have no idea what I'm talking about...)
I've heard of many different anti-chasing methods being used over the years:
- Control Unleashed-type drills that help desensitize dogs to motion and other dogs: includes use of ring gating, people standing in between lanes as "catchers," etc.
- Smacking things like pool noodles (those big foam things that kids use) on the floor when dogs cross
- Spraying crossing dogs with hoses or water guns
- "Come to Jesus meetings," where dog is caught and given a firm talking-to on the spot
- E-collars
I know nobody likes to talk about stuff like e-collars, but people do use them. Maybe they wouldn't use them if they knew of a more positive way that was effective.
I personally haven't had a lot of direct experience with chasing -- I've had a few herdy Border Collies and a few ADHD Jack Russells, but nothing too intense (although there was that time my JRT Cho, age 2 at the time and now 10, crossed over and ripped the ball out of the scary Great Dane's mouth in practice...). So here's how I covered it in the book:
A dog that chases other dogs is one of my biggest pet peeves because it negatively affects other dogs and handlers. Chasers tend to stress out everybody – you never know what they might do to the dog they are chasing, or how that other dog might react to them. Even if the chasers mean no harm and are only “visiting” they’re still a safety hazard because they’re usually getting in the way somehow.
Chasing is self-rewarding, so you need to make other activities, like playing with you, even more rewarding.
In some ways, it’s great that your dog is so interested in the other lane – it means he’s aware of who he’s racing against and whether or not they’re beating him. Competitive dogs like this often make spectacular start dogs or anchor dogs. They will be the ones constantly glancing over to the other lane with that “Bring it!” look on their face, the ones who will try harder than anybody else to win.
There are lots of different ways to refocus a chaser. My Border Collie Kraken was a pretty bad herder, so the first thing we did was put a line of ring gating between the lanes in practice so he couldn’t cross over. Then I worked on small pieces of the game with him (like close-up box work or recalls) while there was a dog running in the other lane. I made sure the dog in the other lane was pretty laid back, I didn’t want Kraken working next to any amped-up speed demons yet.
As his handler, I also worked really hard on being as exciting as I could be. Any time Kraken started to head over towards the other lane, I would call his name very excitedly, smack the tug on the floor to tease him, then run away from him a little bit, which usually was enough to pull his attention back over to me. I tugged with him a lot at home, too, to build up his tug drive.
After a while he was able to stay focused on me (or at least run right back to me when I called him), so we took the gates down and continued to desensitize him to motion and other dogs by the box and in the runback areas. I would stand about ten feet away from the box and play tug with Kraken while another dog raced. It’s hard to do this with intensity for more than a couple of minutes – once your dog gets a little bored, his attention will shift right back over to the other dog. So we practiced this drill in short bursts. I would also stand in the runback area and play tug with Kraken while another dog was doing full runs.
Then we would switch places and let Kraken do full runs while another dog was tugging with somebody down near his box or in the runback area. He was very distracted at first (there were a lot of dropped balls!) and I had to work to stay upbeat and positive. I asked my teammates to step in whenever necessary to keep him away from another dog or to act like a human wall. It was my goal to always be the happy person with the tug that he wanted to come back to – I didn’t want to be the one correcting him for anything.
When I went to tournaments I would also tug with Kraken on the sidelines while racing was going on. He really wanted to bark at the other dogs and lunge around on his leash, so initially it was a lot of work getting him to play with the tug – lots of ridiculous-looking happy-voiced hopping around on my part – and when he did tug he’d do it with a vengeance, almost like he was taking his frustration out on the tug. Eventually he became a crazy sidelines tugger and stopped paying attention to what was going on around him. That’s when I knew he was ready to go into the ring.
Next we did tournament warm-ups. We started out with restrained recalls. Once Kraken was doing solid focused recalls, I brought him down to the box for jump-box-jump drills, then eventually full runs (this was over the course of several tournaments). He often looked around wildly at the other side but he would not cross over.
Eventually we felt comfortable enough letting him run in anchor position (last). I would hold him up until I could tell that he was focused on the ball/box and was going to run down there when I let him go. Next we’ll work on tightening up his passes.
Kraken is not an aggressive chaser, he’s just an extremely herdy Border Collie. If your dog is chasing other dogs in a scary way, you really need to work for a long time on correcting this behavior. Don’t put other dogs at risk (no game is worth that). You may need to seek out help from an experienced behaviorist or trainer.
When you’re working with a dog who has multiple issues, work on fixing one thing at a time, then build on each skill. Don’t try to train or change too many behaviors at once.
I should add that Kraken, at age 4, is still not racing full-time. Mostly because we haven't practiced much lately and I just don't feel comfortable running him in a tournament situation without a lot more practice running head to head against other dogs. He just went through a 7-week Control Unleashed class and it was AWESOME, if any of you are lucky enough to have access to one of those nearby. I can see a big difference in him.
After hearing about the mess in Region 1 and seeing the huge interest in that situation and its outcome, I think I need to write more in the book about chasing in general, and also about when people think it's appropriate to race a dog (or put it in warmups) and when more practice is needed.
So weigh in, folks. What's your favorite method to deter a chaser? When do you think a dog is ready to warmup or race?
