# Birds and Squirrels



## Mommyt (Jan 4, 2011)

Ok, My golden 2yrs, understands come, but sometimes in the morning I let him out to potty, and he bolts like a bullet out the door to get a squirrel or bird and don't come home for a few hours. How can I distract him from the critters???? I know it is in his natural and I can't say my son will teach him to get ducks and squirrels later (after they have been shot), but I need him to stop bolting out into the woods and not coming home when called or stay gone for long. When he is not distracted, he comes with no problem. I trained him to come, but why the critters? Help (Just to clear the air, we will not get any fence for our dogs and yes he is safe from cars)


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## doggylove86 (Aug 26, 2010)

Oh boy, this is a tough one. My dog is crazy for squirrels as well, and I'm sure that nothing would get her attention if there is a squirrel in the midst. I don't really have any suggestions but I am very interested to see what others will say!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Uhhm.... 

If your dog takes off running and is who knows where for hours, that is a safety hazard for him and it's irresponsible of you to keep letting this happen. You have no control over what your dog is doing or what happens to him. 

This just gives the rest of us "no fence" owners a bad name. 

Goldens have high chase drives, especially when they are young. Training and prevention (leash ON the dog, you stepping outside with the dog every time you want to take him out) means that he will learn over time to stay close to you and the house. And if you have him on leash, then you can teach him to ignore birds and squirrels and to stay close to you.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Put him on a leash, even a long one, if you can't put up a fence.


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## Russ Krain (Aug 12, 2010)

Mommyt, well, there is a solution so I will give you a background on the problem. I have Chloe, a rescue, young golden female that did that, chased a car, ran across a major highway (twice) and would generally act very Alpha. Well, I had an invisible fence for my last goldens. One day out of curiousity, I held the colar while going over the fence....now that really hurt. I threw it down. It works, kept my last one in the yard, but I thought it was a little strong. I know AKC likes them... So I checked with my local trainer who told me to get a sportdog electric collar with a remote. Why? It has adjustable settings. I did, put it on settings from 1, 2 and 3 out of 8, it wasn't that bad as I could hold it. I watched the video than put it on Chloe. OK, so what happened. I used the beep training in the yard where the yard ended. I taught her all her command being "Come" being the most important. When I call her name, come right now. All on the mildest setting they call "nip" or "tap". She got away one day and was "getting ready" to cross a highway, I had her on setting 2 most of the time but never had to use it. She stopped in her tracks, turned around and ran back. It scared her enough to get her attention. I called her name twice, told her come and realized the cars would hit her. She only tried it one more time months ago and now will come when I call her flat out. There was a squirrel across the street and she made the big bolt. I called her twice...she stopped...turned around and ran back. I had her colar on everytime she went out in the yard, in the car...yes, she ran away from me as she could get out of a harness. Understand, Chloe had no training at all, no discipline, didn't even know what a colar was or a leash. I chipped her since I was afraid she would run out the front door and keep on going...and she did a few times. She was an alpha and at first refused any control or commands. This was three months ago. I do put it on her right now and leave it on, however, I have rarely had the trigger with me. I have had no problems with her running without a leash on and she is even a better walker with the leash. I now how the freedom to let her out to do her stuff and not grab a leash. She always comes to her commands, always, come bicycle, car, squirrel, even cat...she stops and will run back to you. If you do go down this route, watch the videos and learn about it first. Don't just put the colar on and go outside....It is not a punishment tool, its for training and to protect the dog from danger. I only wished they had these 10 years ago, life would have been much easier......


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I agree mostly with the idea of keeping her onleash or putting up a fence or doing at least something, because you have to do something to keep her safe.

The worse thing you can do is continue to do nothing because right now she is being rewarded for the behavior which is making it worse and turning it into a bad habit which is harder to undo than to train a good behavior; also you have a responsibility to keep her safe.


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