How to Stop Your Dog from Chasing the Cat

In this Omaha dog training session we worked with Irving, a Border Collie mix, who needed help to stop chasing the cats around the house.

After I arrived I chatted with Iriving’s guardians about their main dog behavior concerns and learned that Irving was chasing the cats. While it is somewhat “natural” for dogs to chase cats because dogs have a natural prey instinct to chase, this is something that can be corrected for by using counterconditioning. To see how we started to change Irving’s reaction to the cats you can watch the video below.

When dogs are reactive meaning that they have a strong reaction to something, you want to break down whatever they are reacting to into small, individual and manageable pieces. For example, instead of trying to get Irving to accept the cats right away we started with jingling the cat’s collar to help him learn to be relaxed when he heard a noise that would typically trigger a reaction. After breaking down the noises and visual cues of the cat into pieces we can then start to put it all together over time.

By the end of the session Irving was learning how to use counterconditioning to relax when he heard noises that would typically make him have a strong reaction to the cats. He was also learning how to look at the cats and then refocus his attention back to his owners. We wrapped up this dog behavior session with Irving’s Roadmap to Success video, which you can watch below.