Q&A with ‘The Paw Man’ (549) – Prey That He Doesn’t Chase :) Priority Paid Answer Peta Turland Hi Paw Man, I love reading your page and now would love your advice! My partner and I are currently on the waiting list for a puppy (German Pinscher). We have both had dogs before however this will be our first experience with a GP. We have done a lot of research on the breed and are fairly confident that this is the right dog for us however I do have one concern which relates to the breeds prey drive. Paw Man Prey Drive, just like other drives in the canine can present in the dog at various levels. Drives can be diminished, maintained or promoted. If you have your pick from the litter you can test each of the pups for prey drive and select one with the lowest level if you think one with high prey drive will cause you too many problems. Peta We have a fantastic walking place close to us which is a large (500+ acre) off lead area however as it is a bush setting I am concerned about how to manage recall with such a high prey drive dog? Paw Man Well there is one training tool that is brilliant for ‘chase-proofing’ any dog. The remote training collar (RTC) can cure all but the most extreme dog from pursuing game of any description. However if you start your training when the dog is young you can avoid having to use one of those altogether. If you place a lot of emphasis on recall training from day one in your dog’s life then you can effectively solve the problem before it even presents itself :) Peta There are numerous animals around at times including wallabies, echidnas and potentially snakes. I dont want a dog that is going to terrorise the locals or risk getting hurt himself! As such, I was wondering if there is some specific training you could recommend that we start from the beginning to ensure that it is possible for us to walk the dog off lead in such an area or is it a situation that is going to be best avoided? Thank you so much in advance for your time and I look forward to hearing from you. P.S. Please do let me know how to pay for your advice. Thanks! Paw Man I guess it all boils down to the amount of dedication you have to this problem. The mere fact that you have contacted me about this situation before you have even got the puppy is a pretty good indication that you are dedicated enough to solve this problem before it even arises. But it’s also good to know that there is a tool that can solve it for you later on if the unwanted behavior doesn’t present itself until the dog is much older. Remember that there may be times when your dog MUST return to you through no actions of its own….. such as an unscheduled meeting with certain snakes or other creatures that will not hesitate to kill your dog if he gets too close to them. Again a Remote training Collar is your best friend there. I have done a lot of ‘proofing’ work with dogs to proof them against snakes, toads, turkeys, cats, possums, wallabies and just about another other creature that can get them into trouble. :)
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 08:03:33 +0000
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