December 15, 2009

How do I stop my puppy from chasing my cats?

Susanne,
How do I stop my puppy from chasing my cats?

He is 3 mos old, 30 lbs and wants to”play”. I have tried “No, bad dog” and turning his attention to his toys to no avail.

Please help.

Kimberly

Kimberly
This is what you need to do with Sparky to stop him from chasing cats.

When your cats come nearby, you need to watch your puppy.

As soon as he starts to get the ‘alert look’ on his face (head pops up, ears pop up, sits or stands up), lightly touch his back and say ‘no, leave it.’

The will distract him and will snap him out of this mind set BEFORE he gets into chasing mode.

If your puppy is still focus on the cats and not the correction, then you need to get up, get in front of your puppy (so if he walks further he will walk into your legs) and say ‘no, leave it.’

Snap your fingers and point in the opposite direction. If he doesn’t move, walk into him, slightly pushing him to turn and walk the other way.

This is a challenge for your puppy, because he’s not out to hurt your cats, he’s simply wanting to play. Your cats run and he thinks it’s a game of ‘chase.’ You do need to correct this behaviour now, before he gets bigger and ultimately someone gets hurt.

Another suggestion would be to keep small treats with you when you make this correction. When your puppy is back in the position you want him to be in and his focus is completely taken off your cats, tell him ‘yes, good leave it’ and reward his good behaviour with a yummy treat.

This is a timely process and your puppy will not learn it over night. You need to be consistent and patient and if you are those two things, he will learn.

Before you know it, your puppy and cats will be cuddled up next to each other and when you’re cats walk by your puppy, he won’t be sitting there just waiting to them to pick up speed so he can start the chase.

Just be patient. Their natural instinct is to retrieve. Keep that in mind. Make sure your puppy is getting lots of exercise. A tired puppy is a happy puppy.

Good Luck

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Also…consider training classes! This would benefit him tremendously or if you haven’t got puppy classes near you then you could try the secrets to dog training programme.

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