Is Your Dog a Squirrel Chaser?

Dogs are amazing creatures. They make us laugh, keep our livestock safe (and organized), play with us, lift us up and keep us humble.

One thing you can always count on with dogs is their honesty. Being creatures who are closer to base instinct, but who still have social and intellectual motivations, some days, they can be very humbling. One thing is for certain. You can always count on them to give you an honest inventory of what you’ve trained and how good of a job you’ve done.

So here’s the question: Are you the type of person who’s going to challenge the status quo or are you content to sit still and accept what life, and your dog, offers you?

Okay, that sounds too large. Let’s break it down and examine it with the example of squirrel chasing.

Your dog chases squirrels. Lots of dogs do — in fact, I have yet to own a dog who didn’t get wide eyed and pumped when they saw a squirrel. They’re exciting and fast and most times, they’re an intruder in your yard that must be chased out at all costs!!! So, do you become complacent about your recall because it’s part of their instinct to chase or do you turn up your training power and work hard to teach them to respond to your Come command? In my experience, there are people on both sides of the fence. Let’s break it down.