Michele McAtee Webboard User Reg: 02-05-2006
Posts: 1121
Loc: Iowa City, Iowa
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My dog has *always* enjoyed going after birds, squirrels, rabbits, etc. on the fence line. Heavy prey drive. I do a recall and he does come to me after the initial take off. Which usually means getting to the fenceline and then turning to come to me. I don't always see the bird, rabbit, or bumblebee until after the chase is on...so I'd say his recall is pretty good.
However, lately, MoJo will take off after a low flying bird, or a squirrel across the way; he will charge at it with a bark, hackles up at the fenceline, ignore my call, TURN and run back to his ball, grab it and run back to the end of the fence where the critter was and stand there like a bronco billy, snorting and shaking his ball. THEN he will come to me.
Reg: 01-23-2006
Posts: 1608
Loc: Cali & Wash State
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If your dog is not coming to you on the recall, perhaps you need to go back to basics & do recalls only on a long line with a pinch collar so you can correct him immediately. He needs to remember recall means "must & now", not "in a minute, let me check out something else first". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Reg: 01-23-2006
Posts: 1608
Loc: Cali & Wash State
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I have a wild guess. You mentioned he has a lot of prey drive. Could it be that he is frustrated at not being able to catch the bird, so he takes it out on the ball & acting like a bronco? Sort of redirecting himself?
Anne Vaini Webboard User Reg: 07-14-2005
Posts: 775
Loc: Wisconsin
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I'm with Susan on this one. I also would guess he is redirecting his frustration/drive onto the more easily caught prey object. Why not take up the toys in the yard and use a prey item to reward the recall? That should be a pretty strong reinforcement.
Hi Michele, one of my males does the same exact thing, really ripping it side to side when he reaches the fence, i've always wondered what is going thru his teeny little mind when he's doing it. I can't speak for your dog but in my dogs case it's not an aggression thing(he has zero), we laugh at him trying to look tough,
AL
Michele McAtee Webboard User Reg: 02-05-2006
Posts: 1121
Loc: Iowa City, Iowa
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I like the "teeny little mind" aspect of this discussion. <img src="http://www.leerburgkennels.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
The dog in that situation acts so bad @** and thinks he really looks tough! Personally, I do find it rather charming, or cute, or whatever, as I've SEEN him catch a bumblebee and the look on "MR. Prey drive"'s face is quite hilarious! I've often wondered what he'd actually do if he did by chance catch a bird or squirrel. He'd probably throw it back to me to throw it for him!
Also, knowing that the Mr. Bronco Billy is the same dog who bows DOwn to my 2.3 year old son, is what keeps me not so concerned about this "ball aggression".
The aggression is perhaps there, like was posted about the ball being the "easy catch", but true aggression in this dog seems to be deep and far away.
Thanks for sharing thoughts about this circumstance. It was just one of those nuancy-dog things I was wondering about...
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