How to train your dog to stop chasing shadows
Welcome back to My Dog Dilemma: Country Living's weekly dog column in collaboration with the PDSA. Each week, a vet will answer your dog dilemmas, sharing tips, tricks, and advice to help you and other owners.
We know how a pet's irrational fear, unusual behaviour, bad habit or health condition can affect an owner's life – and My Dog Dilemma aims to answer all your burning questions.
Last week we heard from Sam who asked for advice about separation anxiety in dogs. Keep reading for our next dilemma, submitted by Sacha.
The problem...
My female Bracco Italiano (Italian Pointer) Betsy is 6 years old this August.
She is an amazing dog, but she has developed a habit/problem of chasing reflections and shadows. This has gradually become worse. She will stand on high alert watching and waiting for the glass kitchen door to be opened and chase the reflection along the fence, barking too.
If I leave the kitchen door open, she slams it shut with her paw to then chase the reflection. She also chases the moving shadows of the leaves on the ground or the shadows of birds flying past when I take her for a walk. I have tried every distraction, but it helps very little and has not solved the problem.
The solution...
Hi there, compulsive behaviours such as light and shadow chasing are often seen with other behavioural issues and medical disorders, so if you haven't already, we'd definitely recommend getting a full clinical workup by your vet and discussing a referral to a clinical animal behaviourist with them.
Particularly if this is a new behaviour for Betsy, I would be concerned that there could be an underlying medical cause with this behaviour change, so trying ways to train her might not actually help.
We wouldn't want to sugarcoat it as it's always best to be in the know and prepared, and light and shadow-chasing behaviours can be very difficult to solve. It's important to establish what is motivating Betsy to chase shadows, to treat this correctly, which will need to involve input from your vet and a behaviourist.
In the meantime, it would be beneficial to Betsy to try and avoid situations where there are lots of shadows and lights. You can also try to reduce any reflections and shadows at home, it sounds as though the glass door may be playing a part in triggering this from Betsy, so perhaps for the time being covering the glass might help to reduce her interest in it.
You also want to try to work on getting Betsy to focus on you and teaching calmness. As you've mentioned, scent training and other mental stimulation may also be beneficial for Betsy; however, this should be discussed with your vet and a behaviourist, as it may not be suitable for all causes of this behaviour, and Betsy will need a personalised plan to help her with solving this.
Answered by PDSA Vet Lynne James.
If you would like to have your query answered, please email us at dogs@countryliving.co.uk and tell us a bit about you, your dog (with age and breed), and your problem. Please go into as much detail as possible.
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