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April 29, 2011

My pup chases the cats. She is not agressive but wants to play. Should I start giving her corrections at this age when she starts to mess or chase the cats?

Full Question:

Hi Cindy,

I have a question about my 4 1/2 month old Dobe pup and my cats. I got my pup when she was 8 weeks old. I have your DVDs 8 weeks to 8 months, working pup, drive and focus, bacic obedience, and pack structure. I have my pup in the crate in the house most of the time except when I have her on a leash and with me. My cats are inside / outside cats. Still at 4 1/2 months my pup wants to chase the cats. When we are in the back yard and one of the cats are in the back also the pup will chase the cats. She will also try in the house when she's on a leash. My pup has extreme pray drive and we are in training with a Schutzhund club. I am afraid as my pup is getting bigger she is going to hurt one of my cats if I don't get this corrected. She is not aggressive but wants to play. Should I start giving her corrections at this age when she starts to mess or chase the cats?

Thanks for your help,
Annette

Cindy's Answer:

I would start teaching your puppy that chasing cats (or anything else) is off limits. I have found that if you teach puppies this rule around 4-5 months they learn it quickly and it makes all your future training much easier. A lot of people don’t want to give corrections to a puppy so they let it go and then the prey drive just continues to increase and then they find that they have to much harder on the dog to stop the chasing.

I use an electric collar and low level stimulation to interrupt this, and I start at around 4 months old if the pup has really pronounced interest in chasing the cats.

Electric Collar Training for the Pet Owner

My collar of choice for my own dogs is the Dogtra 280 NCP.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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