# Chase Game Problems



## Meredith (Mar 30, 2014)

Nado loves to play chase. He gets something he's not allowed to have, crouches down in the play position and waits for the fun to begin. This was a very fun game we let him do when he found a sock. He would drop the sock when I told him to come so it was pretty harmless. 

The problem is that now there is no command that will end this game. I hate to stop letting him play it at all because he has so much fun. I need to know a way to make him know and accept when the game is over. If it was only socks it would be no big deal but it could be anything really. Last night I spent about 45 minutes trying to get a banana peel from him. I don't have a chance of catching the little monster.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Don't chase him ever. Walk away, make a great show and noise of getting and offering him a treat in exchange for whatever he has got. He learns to come when you call because he knows he will get something worth much more than a grotty sock. Make it a good treat especially to start off with!


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Agree with Marilyn, swap/trade us a great way to solve this. 

Lola plays chase with one ball. She loves the game but she doesn't do it with anything else.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Dexter just craves one of us to play chase games and I never do as he is very naughty about giving up stolen socks or anything he has stolen. Now we have 2 poos he is in heaven as they play chase games all the time as they snatch each others toys and chase each other round the house and play tug of war together. Luckily Bonnie never tires of these games and they play them for ages till they are both tired out!


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

So there you go. Tess has the perfect answer......get another Poo!


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Rufus loves to play chase, but he knows that "stay" and "off" supercede the fun so getting things from him is no problem.


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## Meredith (Mar 30, 2014)

I have another poo coming shortly so it would be wonderful if that solves the problem. In the meantime I've started following the advice of not chasing him at all ever with one exception. If has one specific toy I'll chase him with that. It's so hard to ignore him when he wants to be chased though.


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## mairi1 (Mar 12, 2012)

Nado is deeelicious 

I agree with the others, never start a chase ..especially as they can completely outrun us and get to places we simply can't!!!  

Much better to tempt back with a treat distracting from the chase/game etc. 

xxx


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Meredith said:


> I have another poo coming shortly so it would be wonderful if that solves the problem. In the meantime I've started following the advice of not chasing him at all ever with one exception. If has one specific toy I'll chase him with that. It's so hard to ignore him when he wants to be chased though.



My two tag team with socks and underwear. One will do this gallop of joy then promptly get it taken away by the other who has his/her turn at the gallop. But they are really decent with leave it/drop it and that works. Before you get #2, I'd work on drop it/leave it. 


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

He is gorgeous, yes they love a good chase game, I rarely do it but my son can't resist and throws himself at Dudley in a rugby tackle style to get things off him, so of course Dudley has worked out how to stay just out of his reach, he does usually come to me to trade if he has anything he shouldn't though. I have told my son to use a command like 'game on' with Dudley before he starts chasing him around so he knows it's ok to do it when playing the game. Not sure it works but better than nothing!


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Cheese!!
I just shout "cheese" and walk in the kitchen towards the fridge - works every time


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## Nanci (Mar 1, 2012)

Tinman said:


> Cheese!!
> I just shout "cheese" and walk in the kitchen towards the fridge - works every time


That is funny!!! I yell "TRADE" and head for the kitchen and it works 90% of the time . . . I have learned the hard way I cannot come close to catching them.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Mine is "COOKIE!" One responds to "leave it" and the other to "drop it". I can't remember which is which so I say it both. They know the game stops once I say that. 


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

DB1 said:


> He is gorgeous, yes they love a good chase game, I rarely do it but my son can't resist and throws himself at Dudley in a rugby tackle style to get things off him, so of course Dudley has worked out how to stay just out of his reach, he does usually come to me to trade if he has anything he shouldn't though. I have told my son to use a command like 'game on' with Dudley before he starts chasing him around so he knows it's ok to do it when playing the game. Not sure it works but better than nothing!


Can just picture this. A boy and his dog. Just love it.


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## Meredith (Mar 30, 2014)

Tinman said:


> Cheese!!
> I just shout "cheese" and walk in the kitchen towards the fridge - works every time


lol. Unfortunately he doesn't have a treat that he likes at much as playing chase so it takes a crazy amount of encouragement and treats to get him to surrender. I think I'll keep him on a leash for large amounts of this long weekend and work like crazy on reinforcing drop it and leave it commands.


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

The other thing I can do is shake the treat tin & they come running.
Have you done / thought about clicker training?


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

Though I say Dudley will come to me to trade, that is at home, not if he has found 'treasure' while out!


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## Meredith (Mar 30, 2014)

Tinman said:


> The other thing I can do is shake the treat tin & they come running.
> Have you done / thought about clicker training?


I've thought about it a lot! Any books you could recommend? How would it help in this situation?


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Meredith said:


> I've thought about it a lot! Any books you could recommend? How would it help in this situation?


I did a bit of it wait Ralph, you have to be consistent, there are people on here who use it, who will be able to recommend better than me. X


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Clicker training, I don't know a book - but loads of you tube stuff. Nina Bonderenko is great, I think. I went to a workshop with her with my hooligan rottie cross Hooch. It was excellent.
The first step is to 'charge' the clicker: click treat (mega treat - garlicy liver cake or equivalent) repeat quite a bit so that when the dog hear's the click he is looking to you for the treat.
Then think about the behaviour you are trying to train for and break it into really small stages. So if your dog has grabbed your keys and is legging it up the garden with them what do you want them to do? come back and give up the keys - before they come back, what do they have to do? Listen, stop, recall, drop....
So I think I'd start training a 'watch me', command - you want the dog to stop and look at you - right in the eyes - even if at a distance. In gun dog circles they train the dog to stop and sit looking back to the handler on a long whistle command, the dog is then waiting for the handler to give the next command. If a dog is looking at you, you have a chance, no point shouting at a dog's bottom.
So with a clicker sit with your dog no distractions. He knows you have treats, he knows you have the clicker, because you have already charged it. So he'll be waiting thinking 'hmmmm when will the click go?' If he glances at your eyes click and treat. Timing is crucial, don't say anything just every time your dog looks at your eyes click.
Very quickly he'll be looking intently. Delay the click a tiny bit, but before he looks away... and begin to introduce your 'watch' command. So you are working towards dog looks at you, you say 'watch' you click and treat. Then you are looking at saying 'watch' and dog looks at you and you click and treat.
When the dog has this and is looking you in the eye willing you to click & treat him in response to you saying 'watch', and you have a built in delay before you click and his gaze is steady and at you then you can begin to put in a bit of distraction. While he is looking at you, before you have clicked try stretching your hand out to the side. He associates your hand with giving a treat, so he will probably track your hand, don't click until he looks back to your eye. In time you should be able to reach one hand out, both hands out and he'll remain focussed on you.
Then when he is playing on his own with a toy try saying 'watch', if you haven't rushed the earlier stages you may well find that immediately he'll look towards you. click and treat - some dogs come towards you, but I prefer that you go to them and reward them in the place they offered the behaviour, so when you start doing this you only want him a step away. If you already have a sit command that is good, I'd try for 'watch' dog looks to you you click and walk to him giving the sit command, when you get to him give the treat.
A well charged click is a reward in itself as the click is like Pavlov's bell. Rewards are really important as reinforcers while training.
The test of course comes when your dog grabs a forbidden article and goes to leg it. You calmly say 'watch' dog looks back and, because by giving sit command you have begun to introduce a dual desired behaviour, he sits. If you haven't got your clicker to hand - mimic the noise with your tongue to your teeth and walk to him as you have done previously. Do not grab, do not run. Hopefully he'll stay sat anticipating the treat and you can offer the treat and gently hold his collar while he works out to drop the article and eat the treat. This stage is much, much more difficult for a dog that has learnt the joy of chase games, but go slow and he will get it.
You can train lots of different behaviours simultaneously with a clicker and it is fun watching your dog offereing everything he can think of to get the click - that is why you need to work in the vocal command. Have a go. It is fun.


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Thanks marzi!! Well done - a clicker training lesson in one post! Xx
Should be a thread all on its own??


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Tinman said:


> Thanks marzi!! Well done - a clicker training lesson in one post! Xx
> Should be a thread all on its own??


It should be made a "sticky"


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Marzi clicker training is great. I used it with Molly when she was a baby and she caught on really fast it was so cute I had this great basic book that explained step by step and had pictures in it I don't use it anymore since she went to her puppy classes etc but before we did that this was what we were using. This is the book I had http://www.amazon.com/dp/189094808X...lickertrainusa.com/clicker-training-books.htm


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## Meredith (Mar 30, 2014)

Marzi said:


> Clicker training, I don't know a book - but loads of you tube stuff. Nina Bonderenko is great, I think. I went to a workshop with her with my hooligan rottie cross Hooch. It was excellent.
> The first step is to 'charge' the clicker: click treat (mega treat - garlicy liver cake or equivalent) repeat quite a bit so that when the dog hear's the click he is looking to you for the treat.
> Then think about the behaviour you are trying to train for and break it into really small stages. So if your dog has grabbed your keys and is legging it up the garden with them what do you want them to do? come back and give up the keys - before they come back, what do they have to do? Listen, stop, recall, drop....
> So I think I'd start training a 'watch me', command - you want the dog to stop and look at you - right in the eyes - even if at a distance. In gun dog circles they train the dog to stop and sit looking back to the handler on a long whistle command, the dog is then waiting for the handler to give the next command. If a dog is looking at you, you have a chance, no point shouting at a dog's bottom.
> ...


Thank you very much! I was looking for a fun project this long weekend so now I have one. I'm going to start working on it now.


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