My mother has what I call a feist but I think its really a Jack/Rat terrier mix that was my uncles. He lived in the country and squirrel hunted with this. Well he died about 3 months ago and my mother got the dog and she lives in town. Well when people walk down the street he chases them and sometimes there way down the street like over 200 yards. I googled how do you stop a dog from chasing people but all that came up was to stop them from chasing cars so I figured I might be able to get some help here. I'm not a dog behaviorist?sp or a trainer so don't bash me or ridicule me for what I did since I already know what I did may not have been the best thing to do but here is what I did.

She has 2 brick columns at the end of her driveway and the dog runs right beside one of the columns when it chases people. She lives at the dead end of a sub division. Anyways I would get someone to walk down the street and of course the dog would take off. well I got a plastic air inflated ball about the size of a soccer ball and when he run by me to chase the people and I would nail his ass with the ball. then when he figured out what I was doing and people would walk by he would not move and I would reward him. He does fine when my truck is in the driveway but he's right back to his old self when I leave.

If anyone has a solution to this problem it would be greatly appreciated cause she wants to keep the dog. We own the the sub division and she could just tell everyone to F off you know but thats not the right thing to do and I used to hate dogs chasing me when I was a kid so I know how the people feel even though it is a small dog he can be scary. TIA

My thought is two things.

1) this dog is being poorly managed. Most dogs shouldn't be put in the situation were they can get out of the yard. As Aaron mentioned a fence would be great but lacking that even a kennel or a tie out for outside would be better than letting a dog tangle with strangers and cars. This dog is on a fast track right now to being a dead dog.

2) I'm thinking this dog has no outlet. Running squirrels, coons, etc, is a great time for a terrier. Why not give this little dog something to do? It doesn't have to be hunting but it should be something that is a good time and burns some energy.

I should have mentioned the fence she's tried that but the dog runs the batteries down then goes right out.

I suggested a tie out and we got one and the dog damn near killed hisself then we got one of those kennels and he tore claws off and jumped up on the fence and got his leg hung in the chainlink. She's never had a dog act quite like this one. the road that people walk on is about 200 yards from her yard so really most dogs dont even associate where the people walk as there territory.

I don't have time with my job to hunt with it I wish I could find someone that does it but most of the people that do it are dead.

So keep the dog on leash.

I hate a dog on a chain in your situation I'd go back to the tie out, maybe attach it to the back door instead of "out in the yard". He won't like it but it beats being dead.

Play ball, or use a flirt pole with the dog morning and evening.
You could set up a lure coarse in the yard for some fun chases.

Change the batteries more often in the collar. If you can, turn off the warning buzzer on the collar so he can't tell when the batteries are down.

I'm sorry, but as problems go this is a really silly one.

Take the dog outside on a long line and figure out the boundary he should not pass. Its better if its not close to the road. Train the dog not to go past the boundary. eventualy the long line might not be needed, but he should always be supervised when outside unless there is a physical fence.

I just talked her into building a fenced in area around this side door on the house. She's a real stickler for her yard and didn't want to put a fence around the yard but she does understand something has to be done. This dog is so hyper its unbelievable. I also forgot to mention the dog does stay in the house but when she's working in the flower beds or doing anything outside he's out there with her. thank you all for your comments. she'll listen to someone she doesn't know on the internet but won't listen to me. I'm sure some of you guys can relate to that.

Is there any way this dog can get some EXERCISE? That sounds like the reason behind the people chasing... he's going to explode with energy. It's gotta come out some way or another. Climbing fences, choking himself on a tie out... can you take him for a run?