Redzone? When Aspen hears....

[DolphinGirl]

a bunny or armadillo in the yard, he goes ballistic. He runs up and down the patio, fur up head to tail, jumping on furniture, bouncing off the patio screening, barking his ever living head off. I try to tell him NO or ENOUGH and it's like yelling at a wall. I catch him as he runs past and put him in a sit. Last week he was on a tie out (no fence) and I didnt see the armadillo in the trees. He took off running and snapped his collar. It didnt even phase him, nor dod he come when called. Is this a redzone? prey drive in full gear? He;s not this bad when stranger cut through my yard!

[DolphinGirl]

And any suggestion for a correction would greatly be appreciated. I dont want to kill his drive but would like him to settle when told.

[Ucdcrush]

I would like to see other replies on this too.

Tuki is similar, but a little less explosive, with a stray cat that I've been feeding that walks into the yard. She sees it through the window, and barks, adrenaline through the roof, but she is obedient. She'll get down off the window sill, sit, down, etc., even though she is clearly agitated. She only did that after I corrected her for not obeying during those times.

So one way to get some control is to correct/make the dog comply with your commands in that excited state.

I am still working on getting her to change her reaction to the cat though, and.. I have associated the word "kitty" with the cat, so when I say that, her attention is seriously focused, and if I'm by the window looking out, she'll jump up at the window to look out, for the cat.

By the way, here is a picture of her while we're out on a walk and I said "kitty".

I was thinking, since she knows this word, I could go to the window knowing that the cat is not there, treat and clicker in hand, say "kitty" to get her into an excited state and jump up on the window sill, then (since there is no kitty there when I say it), wait for her to look, look, look, then turn away from the window, at which point I'd click and treat. The idea being that the word "kitty" could act as a substitute for the actual cat, since the actual cat will make her much more excited. But if we start with "kitty" and no cat there, she may be able to handle situations when she does see the cat, and she could eventually learn to turn away from the window even with the cat there, if that brings a good association in the form of a treat.

The whole idea being to change her reaction when she sees the cat, to a calm behavior such as turning away from the window, as opposed to barking wildly at the cat. Luckily we are past the obedience part, I would just like her to be calmer with this cat so I think a clicker could work well here.

There is also the Cesar type method, put the dog on a lead, and correct him the second he starts thinking about chasing the cat/bunny etc. Let him look at it with ears back in a relaxed state, but not in a crazy focused state. I've actually had decent luck with that when we're outside with the cat right there, but it can go wrong really fast if your timing isn't right. Best to start slow and safe and not push too fast.

[RazinKain]

that is a seriously intense look on that dog's face. I would hate to be a stray cat in that dog's yard. Whew!

[Chicagocanine]

A Redzone? What's that? Are you talking about Cesar Millan's phrase "red zone"-- I thought that referred to highly aggressive/dangerous dogs?

This sounds like a dog with a high prey drive.

[vicky2200]

Sounds like high prey drive to the extreme. I cant be of assistance since I am still having problems with Daisy chomping my birds and she doesn't react as severely to animals as you described.