My dog chases cars, birds, cats, joggers, rabbits and the postman.
What can I do?

Ah yes. We are standing there with our much-loved dog and suddenly it’s off. Chasing kids, chasing joggers, chasing other people’s pets, chasing cars.

As with so many naughty dog habits, chasing is instinctive. Dogs enjoy it. For them it’s exactly what they should be doing. And some are worse than others, depending on the breed.

To break the pattern you need to take control.

First up, to protect your pet and its targets, it’s best to keep the dog on a lead or restrained in the yard until the problem is resolved.

Training your dog in the basic commands such as ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ is the starting point for controlling any undesirable behaviour.

What you really want to achieve is that they listen to you, rather than listening to their instinct to chase.

To train the dog to listen, use a favourite toy or treat. Place it a few metres away from the dog, and as the dog approaches it, interrupt them by asking them to come or sit, depending on the command you want them to learn. When they obey, give them the toy and lots of praise. Keep repeating until they listen to you.

Then do the same process with a challenge. Get a friend to jog or drive by (depending on what the dog chases). Try to distract the dog by waving the toy around. If they start to chase rather than come to the toy, give them the sit or come command. When they obey, again reward warmly.

Repetition is necessary to get the dog to choose to obey you rather than undertake the chase.

Another option is to get your friend to squirt the dog with a water pistol if it starts to chase them.

A toy alone may not be enough to distract some dogs. You may need to build up a whole routine.

Develop a game with the dog, by having a favourite toy that can be used for throwing and fetching. Play the game away from chasing distractions. Once the dog is trained in the game and the commands that indicate the game is starting, you can begin trying to play the game closer and closer to possible chasing targets.

If the dog starts to see this as great fun it can become a substitute for the thrill of the chase. So when the dog starts to chase, call out ‘toy’ or ‘game’ or whatever command you use to indicate you are going to play with the dog, and eventually many will choose the game they’ve come to love over the instinct they have to chase.