How do I stop my mutts harassing the cats?
In the house there's no problem, it's when they're in the garden. The cats can get away easily but that's not the point the poor buggers.
We've got two yorkies, note our first problem lol little terrorists and foof who is a 'designer dog' *giggles*. All three of them have inate prey drive, it runs... must CHASE!

How do I go about making my poor cats lives more bearable? Bar strangling the dogs of course!

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If that toy's so great, YOU go fetch it!

Well dont no if you have been reading the threads, but my dog chases the rabbits really bad and i use training discs they have worked a treat i use them in my overall training and doing super, but you may get other comments on here to say not to use, so good luck thats what use maybe more comments later from others

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I would either teach the dogs a reliable 'leave it' or 'off' command or teach them an emergency sit or down.

Teaching leave it or off is easy, but let me know if you want me to explain.

To teach an emergency sit or down, Start by teaching the dog the comman dwhen you ar enext to them reliably. I'll use sit as the example. Then, when your dog is int he garden, preferably when not distracted at first, run up to it and say 'sit' and give your dog a treat for sitting. Keep doing it, and use a treat your dog really loves. Maybe reserve a special treat for this exercise only. Then, start running up to your dog ans saying 'sit' before you get to them. When you arrive by the dog, give the treat as a reward. Pretty soon, if you say the command as soon as you start moving towards your dog, it will sit and wait for the treat. Eventually you'll be able to shout 'sit' from a standstill and the dog will sit.

Then progress to asking the do gto sit when it is distracted. The idea is, once the treat is given, you allow the dog to continue whatever it was previously doing. That in itself reinforces the behaviour. Obviously don't use it to stop the dog chasing the cats until it is relaible at other times, and as the dog obviously isn't going to be allowed to continue chasing the cats after you have used the sit or down to stop it chasing them, you need to make sure you use the command at other times when the dog can carry on the behaviour to continue reinforcing the command.

I have used this method to successfully teach mine not to chase rabbits, deer and seals. The are allowed to chase rabbits, but only with permission.

[QUOTE=jackson;276501]I would either teach the dogs a reliable 'leave it' or 'off' command or teach them an emergency sit or down.

Teaching leave it or off is easy, but let me know if you want me to explain.

Never tried this method i can get my dog to sit on command and im doing really well with her, as you all ready no i use the discs and they are working well for me, but if i let her of in the feild and she sees a dog she is of but not seen a dog while she as been in front of me as yet, and if shes down the field and im at the top she wont here the discs so im going to try that.

Would i still run over to her saying sit what would i do in the situation

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Chasing is so highly rewarding that using reward based training methods are often ineffective (as the reward that you give the dog for leaving the chase is not as rewarding as the chase itself, ie. the dog prefers to chase!) My dog too has a very strong prey drive and will chase anything that moves. I have found a way to manage the siruation by getting him obsessed with a ball. he gets to chase his ball for 15mins twice a day, and to start with I avoided situations where he'd get the chance to chase anything else, so his only chasing fix came from his ball. After about a month of this I found that provided he had had his chasing fix with the ball twice a day, he no longer showed anymore than a casual interest in sheep or cats or joggers or cyclists! Works a treat!

Forgot to say, it is important that the dog does not get the ball at any other time, just for his two sessions twice a day (so it stays as a novelty and treat).

Balls would not work with tess, she loves playing ball but if there was somthing better to chase she would chase it, strange dog LOL but i love her very much

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Thanks for taking the time to reply guys.

Jackson, I will give the emergency sit/down a try, thank you very much.
We have a relatively reliable leave, we're still proofing it with foof though. It's I'd say 95% reliable when she's using her best friend as a squeaky toy (much to my little girl cats horror).
But when our male cat bolts for it, 'leave' is about as effective as me eating a huge slab of chocolate during a diet And the male cat is the one that all three target. Very rarely will they give chase with the female as she's no 'fun' as she doesn't do running lol.

Lambchop I will see if giving them more regular toy chasing will slow down their urge for chasing their 4 legged toy, we already put their toys away in a toybox when play is finished to keep the novelty. It seems to be a bit of an ingrained habit at the moment as the second poor gismo even has thoughts of venturing off of a safe high place to cross the lawn they're anticipating him... little rotters.

Will let you guys know how it goes.

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If that toy's so great, YOU go fetch it!

Lol, sounds like the're having a great time, even if the cats arn't!!

Good Luck