I don't think I've posted this here before. I did a search and it didn't turn up. If I have posted it before, sorry.
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CRITTERING AND DOG TO DOG AGGRESSION
The technique outlined below works well to stop a dog from chasing unwanted game, commonly known as “crittering” and for stopping dog to dog aggression. If you’re using it for the second purpose, just substitute a dog that your dog is aggressive towards for the prey animal. Where the references are made to “chasing game,” “prey,” or “prey animal,” just substitute the appropriate language for a dog to dog aggression problem
As with all the other techniques the stimulation level that’s used for this is the dog’s working level, that is, where he first perceives the stimulation.
Many people use a “leave-it” command when they see their dog start to chase game. The problem with this is that many chases begin out of sight of the handler. If the handler doesn’t see the chase start, he can’t give the dog the command to stop. By the time the handler realizes that his dog is chasing game, the dog may be out of earshot and won’t hear the leave-it command or the recall.
I use a form of behavior modification so that the dog doesn’t even start the chase. He sees the prey animal, realizes that chasing it is uncomfortable and just goes back to work. Often no one, except the dog, even knows that a prey animal was present.
Keep in mind that critttering is the main reason that Ecollars were invented, to stop dogs from chasing game. The old way of doing it was to wait for the dog to start the chase and then blast him off it with the highest level that the Ecollar had on its dial. (Early Ecollars didn’t have different levels. They weren’t adjustable. They just had one, very high, level.) But this often resulted in problems; the dogs wouldn’t go out anymore or they didn’t stop the chase. This method allows you to introduce the animal at a low level of distraction so that it’s easy to use low level stimulation to stop the problem.
There are three components to a chase of an animal. The first and least distracting is the scent of the animal. The dog only knows this if it has had a chase and makes the association between the chase and the sight of the animal. The second is the sight of the prey animal. The third is the chase itself.
If a dog has had a successful chase, that is, he has caught and killed a prey animal that he’s chased, it may be very difficult to break the dog of chasing that animal. I’d suggest that if your dog fits into this category you use the scent of the animal first in the behavior modification scheme. Since this is relatively rare, I’ll cover it last.
Some dogs will generalize from one prey animal to the next but some will need to be trained on the specific prey animal that they prefer. Some will generalize based on the size of the animal, for example, a dog proofed off a cat may generalize to skunks, squirrels and other game in that size range but will still chase deer or elk.
First let’s discuss the dog that has had a few chases but hasn’t as yet made a kill while doing so. If you’ve done the recall work properly, you can call him away from the animal if he sees it or even if he is actively chasing it.
But we want the dog to do the work himself, not in obedience to a command, for reasons stated earlier.
To do this you’ll need a cooperative prey animal. Some are easier to get than others. Elk and moose are obviously fairly difficult to get but there are ways around that. A cat works well and they are fairly easy to get. You can’t use the cat that lives with the dog, it has to be one that he’ll want to chase. (Unless your dog wants to chase that cat.) You can trap a wild one or borrow one from a neighbor. For a cat I recommend that you use a leash and a harness unless you know that he’ll walk well in just a collar.
The Materials
1. A six foot leash,
2. A flat buckle collar.
3. The prey animal and
4. A harness or collar and leash for that animal.
If you’re using a wild animal such as a deer, you’ll probably want to confine him somehow. Either with some kind of a rope and harness or in a small area so that he can’t run off. The idea is to keep the training so only the sight of the prey animal is involved. If he starts to run the dog will be too distracted for this method.
The Process
Imagine yourself on a football field. You’re going to need an assistant who will walk the cat (or other prey animal) back and forth on the “other” 0 - yard line. You and your dog, wearing a buckle collar and his Ecollar will go to the other 0 - yard line, 100 yards away. (Actually you can probably start on the 70 or 80 yard line but this will give extra insurance for those highly driven prey dogs.)
It’s important that your assistant keep the cat moving. A cat that’s holding still may not be of much interest to your dog. Keeping him moving at the same pace and at the same distance provides a constant distraction to your dog and makes the training go easier. If the cat stops and starts the distraction level changes and the training is harder.
You’re going to hook a 6' leash up to the D-ring on the buckle collar and lead the dog back and forth across the field at your own 0-yard line, 100 yards from the cat. Don’t give any commands just direct the dog gently with the leash. You don’t want the dog focussed on you and if you give him any commands that might happen. If the dog doesn’t see the cat by himself, have your assistant make some small noise, a whistle perhaps, to draw the dog’s attention to him and the cat. More than likely at this distance your dog will not show any interest in the cat. That’s perfectly all right.
You’re going to walk from sideline to sideline with the dog. Have your assistant make the noise a couple of times to draw the dog’s attention. Don’t have him call the dog’s name, just draw the dog’s attention.
If the dog shows no interest in the cat, next time you get to one of the sidelines, walk diagonally across the field; such that when you get to the other sideline you’re at your 10-yard line. That is, you’ve moved ten yards closer to the cat. Walk back and forth a couple of times at that distance. Have your assistant make a noise to draw the dog’s attention if he doesn’t notice the cat, just as before.
If you make two passes at the 90-yard distance and the dog doesn’t show any interest in the cat, close in another ten yards, just as before. Walk from the sideline diagonally across the field so that when you get to the other sideline, you wind up ten yards closer, at a distance of 80 yards from the cat.
At some point, as you get closer to the cat the dog will notice him. He’ll give the cat “the stare” that always precedes a chase. He’s sizing up the cat, wondering how much fun the chase will be, how fast he’ll have to run, how long the chase will last, and other doggie thoughts. When you see “the stare” you’re going to press the button on the Ecollar and step back, pulling the dog DIRECTLY away from the cat. You want to pull the dog directly away from the direction that he wants to go. You should be able to draw a straight line from the cat to the dog’s head that the leash should lie directly on. Generally you’re pulling the dog back to your own 0 yard line, but the angle may be off slightly. Make sure that you step back, keeping the distance between you and the dog a constant, rather than just pulling him away from the cat and closing the distance between the dog and you. If you just pull him towards you, you’re reinforcing the recall, not teaching him not to critter.
As soon as he takes a few steps away from the cat in response to the leash pressure and looks away from the cat, release the button.
Walk back and forth a few times at that same distance. If the dog gives the cat “the stare” again, repeat as above. It’s very important that you walk backwards to move the dog, rather than pull the dog towards you. Again, as he goes with the leash pressure and looks away from the cat, release the button.
Get closer to the cat as described above, by moving diagonally across the field. This turns up the distraction level very gently and slowly, allowing you to control it.
As you get closer the dog will again give the cat “the stare.” Repeat as often as is necessary.
The leash should always be slack for this until you’re actually pulling the dog away from the cat. You’ll probably have to coax the dog to get him to walk, but don’t give him any commands. This is between the dog and the cat; you have no part in this confrontation.
What you’re after is getting the dog to think that giving the cat “the stare” brings discomfort. If your timing and leash manipulation with this is good you’ll probably have to give the dog 5-7 stimulations as you close on the cat. With most dogs I’ve been able to get them to walk within 2' – 3' of the cat on the first time doing this. Some dogs have been able to step over the cat and ignore him after one session of this.
With some dogs it may take several sessions to get him to see the cat, and then ignore him for the rest of the session, without it taking any more stimulations to get this.
A lot of how successful this is depends on the dog’s history in chasing prey animals. If he’s had success it just takes more repetitions. It WILL work.
Copyright 2002, Lou Castle
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Lou Castle has been kicked off this board. He is an OLD SCHOOL DOG TRAINER with little to offer.