Need some help please? Very long post!

[Bellasdad]

Ok I seem to have come across a problem that I have no idea of how to fix. If fill you all in with the whole picture then maybe someone can give me some suggestions that have no thought of yet.

Bella is now nearly 15 months old she has what I would call reasonable level of obedience she is by no means a champion or performing show dog but overall she is a fantastic girl & great family pet.

She has always had a bullet proof recall until a month ago when I seem to have committed a gigantic foo par. Were lucky enough to live in the country literally 80 meters from a green lane were I walk her twice a day. Since the day she was able to be walked I have 9 times out of 10 walked her off lead she is good on lead also but I have mostly trained with her off lead. She is well socialised & a very balanced girl.

A month ago I dog sat my friends GSD/Rotty cross Ben for a week he also lovely well socialised fella but not at the same level of obedience as Bella has. Ben has always been a bit of a hunter he is a very independent dog & will chase rabbit’s, deer or anything else in the wild for miles, he does always come back but not when called its more of when he feels like it you could be stood there for 20 minutes before he comes back.I was fully aware of this when I agreed to look after him but to be totally honest I gave no thought to how it could affect Bella.

While I had Ben here with us I walked both dogs off lead twice a day on the green lane with no real issues Ben would on occasion do his thing & chase something like a rabbit but Bella always responded to command never going more than 20 meters away on the command “close” or within about 100 meters on her command “Get On” she has always seemed to be on an invisible string she was just her attentive self no matter what Ben did, all here commands worked fine.
Typically on the last day of having Ben with us a hare ran out 3 meters in front of us, Ben & Bella both took off like guided missiles after it. As soon as a could react to what was happening I called “Close” to Bella with totally no reaction from Bella for the first time ever. At this point they were in full flight & as all GSD owners know that is sure some pace I decided not to even bother again with “Close” went straight to the recall, again no response from Bella she just kept going. At this point they were half way across a farm yard & just in sight. I was totally taken a back so decided to use Bella’s safe word which is “Drop” nothing, so again “Drop” at the top of my lungs nothing again on the forth go just in sight she did as commanded. I yelled her recall “Come” & she came belting back while Ben disappeared for 25 minutes Bella & I just sat & waited for him.

Since this took place it seems that Bella has decided to single handedly chase down every rabbit in East Yorkshire & it is just RABBITS. Now when we walk of an evening if she sees a rabbit she is gone straight after it. I can call her back with the “Come” command but its only 90% of the time not 100% the “Drop” command is still 100% all of the time so far but not the recall. This is only happening with Rabbits with everything else cats, deer, mice, birds everything is normal. I thought it might be that she & Ben had actually injured the hare they chased & she had a taste for them (she is raw fed but I have not given her rabbit before) but to night she caught up to the rabbit she set off chasing she just knocked it over with her nose & made no attempt to hurt it I watched her just let it run off it seems like a game to her.
Right this has happened maybe 30 times so far over the last month with the rabbits, here is what I have tried to try to correct it. I have tried to re enforce the recall again by making a big deal of successful ones rewarding her with her favourite toy (she is ball driven). When she has failed to respond to the recall command chasing the rabbit before resorting to the “Drop” command I have shaken a small plastic bottle with some stones in to try to attract her attention before trying the recall again that seemed to do nothing though I must admit. Also before trying the second recall I have tried running the other way away from her flat out before giving the second try at the recall (some of you may think that sounds nuts but if you knew how I taught Bella most things off lead you would see why I thought that may work. To long post already to post it now) the final thing I have tried so far is to throw her ball within sight of her if she is still within range to get her attention but she is so focused on the rabbit even her ball does not work.

So to some up I am looking for some help with this, I know this is a massive post but I wanted to be as through as possible with it. It only happens with Rabbits nothing else seems to trigger this so far anyway I know 90% of the time the recall working on one very specific situation may seem not so bad but its driving me NUTs hence a post at 2am.
Thanks for reading
Jamie

[Stuart]

Morning Jamie,...it is certainly a game that she has found she likes, and has nothing to do with food, this is why she didnt hurt the rabbit she caught up with

It is always difficult for us `none trainers`, all we can do is suggest what we would try, and I think if I was you, I would try two things.

For a while find new ground to walk,..the green lane is now associated with rabbit, when ever she goes out, she will be instantly on the look out for them,.... break that habit

At the same time, change your command word from `close` to something else,..I use the word `close` for heel walking, if I wanted to stop my dogs in a hurry I would simply say `No`,... this word always seems to come across as a far stronger word,..a sort of `I mean it` word.

Everything else I would do, you are already doing,..that recall has to be re-learnt

[Jude]

I think you need to go back to walking her in that area on a long line and giving her a firm "leave it" command when you see a rabbit. If this is ignored and she attempts to go after it on a long line you can at least enforce your commands and follow up with praise/treats. I have had a similar situation with Kira who has very high prey drive and has to date killed two rabbits (but one was hiding in the grass and the other popped out of a field of beans between her and me.) We have now got to the stage where she will stand and watch the rabbits running in all directions but rarely attempts to go after them but I still keep her on the long line in areas where I know there are large numbers and wait until we are in a rabbit-free area to let her off. At fourteen months your bitch has entered the "terrible teens" and will conveniently forget some of the things she has been taught if there is something more interesting around. You must set her up to succeed and if this includes keeping her under closer control for a while she will learn that rabbit chasing is not on the agenda. The trouble is that if she manages to get away with it more than two or three times it can then become a habit, which is much more difficult to break.

[Caryll]

I agree with both posts - I think you should walk somewhere else for a while and work on her recall again, maybe with a different word so that it means something new.

Then I would go back to the lane with her on a long line, using the new recall command coupled with the long line which will reinforce it.

Hopefully, the two together will work.

[Mazz]

I too would go along with what has been said.
She is a funny age, so you will get it back.
All in all, she sounds a very good girl.
Mazz

[kita]

You need to prevent her from chasing rabbits totally for a while, every time she does it she is reinforcing the behaviour and getting a 'high' from it that she wants to repeat.

Change the walk to where she will not see any rabbits. At the same time introduce a different toy (not one she normally has) and keep it 'special'. Then introduce her back to the normal walk on a long line, using the special toy when she spots a rabbit at a distance.

This may take time, so be prepared to be patient!

This article explains how to do it in more detail (and has video's to demonstrate):

How do I stop my dog chasing? – David Ryan CCAB

Sue

I had exactly the same problem with Zee when I got her at 7 months. Working line, high prey drive, no previous obedience training.

She'd disappear off in the woods after a scent trail and be gone for 5-20 mins, then eventually come back - usually when I was having kittens with worry!

I did whistle training with her and Remus (he's always had 100% recall, I can call him off chasing a deer). I mixed up the reward randomly - 2 peeps on the whistle and when dog comes back it gets one of the following:

• liver cake / sausage treat
• ball
• tuggie
• lots of fuss

So dog knows the whistle means come back, but doesn't know which of the rewards I'm going to give (but they're all nice). Start doing it when the dog's not running after something, so just off lead, that way you set it up to achieve the recall. I also hide and blow whistle to make the dog find me when it can't see me.

[Stuart]

I have had the same problems with the deer on the hills,..its not always easy to deal with, its a long job very often,... another key is antisipation, get your `No` command in before the chase mode sets in, watch the body language, and get in fast and firm, and repeat if she still wants to go,... I have never used treats or toys with this kind of thing, and I know I can hold my dogs well now

[Bellasdad]

Thank you all for the replies, they were very useful. I decide to go with a slightly different option than those posted but I am now using a new ball as a reward that I let her pick out herself from PAH. I have to admit I never saw this problem coming up but I guess it is one of the draw backs to the way I trained her. Bella had never been trained on a long line or lead as we used a packing method to train her off lead. I would have even trusted that I could walk in the city without a lead, although I always have used a lead for other pedestrians peace of mind.it had always worked very well up until the rabbit chase.
So a little update of were at now with the problem, Bella as always 100% walks to heal even with rabbit distractions tested that a lot over the last few days. We have been going up the green lane 5 times a day & at peak rabbit time; we have even been with in a meter of a rabbit with no reaction from her.
The “close” command were I allow her about 20 meters in front has now been tested a number of times (about 20)with rabbits all with successful recalls. I have not had as much chance to work on the “get on” phase at about 60-100meters all though we are seeing the rabbits she seems to have lost interest in them. Her new ball is being used only to reward her on rabbit recalls & not for anything else I am hoping that over the next few weeks I can phase out having to carry 2 balls & just go back to the one.
Thanks again for all the suggestions
Jamie

[Stuart]

This is good, it seems that she has not forgotten the way things were before the other dog turned up,..and led her astray,..looks like it was just a glitch,.. but the extra training will not have gone a miss,... well done