My dogs chase ANYTHING that comes into my fenced yard...birds, the neighbors cats, squirels, chipmonks, snakes & deer on the other side of the fence in the woods. Anything stupid enough to enter at their own risk! It is their territory & they WILL chase ANY inturders. I have never had this have any effect on their obedience when off my property. There are 'critters' out in the fields when & were I work my dogs & have never had them give chase. Obedience under distraction is a training issue & has nothing to do with your dogs chasing ( prey drive) in their own yard. They do have to be able to be just dogs & not obedicence machines some of the time! JMO

BTW...my female has caught & killed a number of creatures in my yard, but even though raw fed, she has not eaten any of them, much to some peoples suprize about raw fed dogs.

 Quote: Mara Jessup

In my 100+ acre back yard there are turkey, deer, cats, sheep, plus a myriad of other small critters

Wow, that's my dream right there. I'm jealous.

No worries. I just thought it was a fun story and he was being a dog in prey drive. I wish I could transfer that drive to the agility course. He is so driven with me and when he chases the birds in the yard, but I think he has claustrophobia since he won't do the tunnel and shuts down. I am working with a top agility club and they have never seen a dog like him where no matter what the treat or toy he won't go through. I joke we should put a bunny or bird at the other end and that'll get him through . He also kind of scatters if you try and step over him. He has a great nose, I've thought about getting him into tracking or maybe I should do bird work lol.

That is what you get with a rescue I guess. Although my female shepherd/husky rescue reminds me of a malinois with her drives and nuttiness which I love about her. No issues other than a little female dominance issues, but a great dog. Ted, our other rescue is very nervy, but a sweetheart human like personality. Next go around it'll be a working line puppy that I choose the breeder.

 Quote: Keith Kaplan

He has a great nose, I've thought about getting him into tracking or maybe I should do bird work lol.

If agility isn't his thing, you might want to look into the K9 Nose Work program.

http://www.funnosework.com/home.html

http://www.nacsw.net/home.html

It's a whole lot more fun to do something with a dog that the dog loves doing.

leih

If he loves the chase you could also try lure corsing - high prey drive dogs usually love it!

You may also want to check out the book "Control Unleashed" by Leslie McDevitt. It was written to give ideas in building focus, confidence and drive in dogs that are unsure/shut down or dogs that go nuts because they're easily excited in a variety of settings. It's a marker based positive training program. I've used her ideas in working with my 5 y/o dog (working bred but I got him as an adult after his first home didn't treat him right) He would get all worked up with over threshold excitement/nervousness around other dogs so he couldn't think. It really made a difference for him and his confidence and calmness has blossomed.

Both suggstions are great. I was actually just going to order control unleashed.

Also, an indoor dog training facility just opened and they offer nosework classes starting in two weeks. I am thinking of checking it out.

Thanks!