- I trained him on “watch me”
- make sure he’s totally calm before we leave for walks
- use his “cat toy” (a fur ball attached to a string) as a training tool to get him in an out of prey mode on my command, including telling him to “leave it” and “watch me” while having him sit or lie down while the fur is “scurrying” around him
- taking him to Petsmart and getting him to “leave it” or “watch me” while we sit right next to the bird, hamster, rat and guinea pig cages (you should have seen him the first time we went to the bird cages — he was ready to catch himself some dinner!!)

So he doesn’t seem to be fixating on the squirrels quite so much, and even though he’s not perfect, it’s soooo much better. Thanks so much again for all your tips!

I was thinking a lot about your post, and yesterday I realized that we do have an “indoor squirrel” to help train him. We have one of those cat toys that’s a furry ball on the end of a string, attached to a stick. It’s his *favourite* toy, and he loves stalking it, pouncing on it, and it’s the only toy that when we put it away, he searches for.

So yesterday I combined the game with training and hot dogs, getting him to stop mid-stalk, hovering the fur ball right near his nose while getting him to leave it, or putting him in a stay while twitching the fur ball right near him. He definitely got better by the end, and didn’t search as long for the toy when I put it away. So that might help get him to focus on me. We’ll transition to doing that outside, increasing distractions as we go. And I’ll teach the watch command.

The other thing I realized we were doing is not making sure he’s totally calm when we go out for a walk. We make him sit and stuff, but we don’t take the time to really “follow through”, as Cesar would say, and make sure that he’s totally calm before heading out the door. After doing that game yesterday afternoon and really taking our time out the door, he was already much better on his evening walk, and not only didn’t pull, but stayed in a heel with a slack leash the whole time! That was a first!!

I’m going to hold off on the e-collar for now (not because I’m opposed, but I’d like to try these other things). And I’ll try your suggestions of doing the U-turn — that’s one I hadn’t tried. And I’ll refrain from the “bite”, unless I know I’m really, really, really calm.

Again, thanks so so much for your advice. It’s very kind of you to help out a random commenter on your blog.

In addition to this, make sure you are providing him with enough physical exercise and mental challenges so the squirrels are not his only outlet. I’m sure you’re already providing these things, but we can all do better. Work on his obedience commands so that he listens to you 99 percent with no distractions on leash, then with mild distractions on leash and so on. Teach the “watch” command as I suggested earlier. When I’m working with squirrel-obsessed dogs, I usually block them with my body to get them to look away from the squirrel for even a second. This seems to tone the fixation down a notch. Then we do a U-turn and continue in that direction until the dog is calmer. Then we head back in the original direction, but I’m ready to do a U-turn again if the dog gets too excited. When the dog fixates or pulls or “chokes” himself, I do not move forward. We turn around.

These things take a long time to overcome. Some dogs are always going to have a prey drive and want to chase squirrels. But you can still have control over the situation. As your dog gets older and you continue to work with him, you should see some results. It’s a slow process, though.

Finally, and to be honest I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but I “bite” with my hands, on his neck. I save the last one for when he’s fully gone after the squirrel, as I consider it last resort, but that is the only time he actually checks back in with reality. I try to make sure that I only “bite” as hard as it takes for him to respond, and as soon as he does, I let go and praise him. I also try to make sure to very soon after do some basic commands that he knows (like sit, paw, high five, etc.) so that he has a good experience shortly after that one. It’s not that I’m opposed to physical discipline because (a) I know it’s not a lot, given how I see him play with other dogs at the dog park, and (b) I don’t think a little bit of pain on the neck, controlled by me is so terrible, especially if it means that in the long run he’ll be safer (e.g., if I lost control of the leash or some such thing, I think these “bites” hurt a lot less than a car running him over). But by that time, I’m usually very frustrated, and we’re really not having a good time together, and I’m worried that I’m not leading with the right energy, and that stresses me out even more… and it just sucks.

I guess the main thing I don’t know is how long something like this takes, and if I expect too much from him too soon: he’s just over a year old (we think) and we’ve only had him since September. We’re still working on him coming back when called (he does it in many situations, but not when he’s chasing something, and we almost lost him once because we thought he was trained for recall…) and he does bolt after prey (squirrels, opossums, deer…). So should I be investing in an e-collar, or should I wait it out? Every other thing we’ve taught him has just gone so well that we’re at a loss of what to do here…

And if all else fails, you could always go the e-collar route. I usually wouldn’t recommend this though unless you are dealing with a serious issue such as a dog that bolts after squirrels and won’t come back when called.

As for the actual ball obsession, the most important thing to do is catch his excitement and calm him down before it escalates. Watch for panting, ears forward, staring, whining, etc. Turn around and make him sit with his back to the ball and ignore it. Do not let him get his leash in his mouth.

You’ll have to keep seeking out or setting up different situations where there is a ball in sight so you can teach your dog to be calm. Reward him for relaxed behavior and for making eye contact with you. Practice walking and practice some obedience training when there is a ball in view so he has to learn to ignore it and pay attention to you. If he will accept food around a ball, then use some highly valued food to distract him for the time being (hot dogs, cheese, etc.), although most dogs will not even care about food when they are that obsessed.

For more tips, just search “ball obsession” on my home page. Here are a few of the many posts I’ve written about a dog’s ball obsession:

http://www.thatmutt.com/2009/05/12/tennis-ball-obsession/

http://www.thatmutt.com/2008/09/20/breaking-a-dogs-ball-obsession-days-16-20/