Bertie is a three-year-old Working Cocker.
He has been well trained from the start. His gundog training classes have taught him to retrieve a dummy and to give it up. This would easily transfer to a dead pheasant I’m sure.
He still attends the weekly classes and also goes to agility. He has a very fulfilled life.
Bertie however hunts, chases and eats birds.
He hunts for fledglings and for adult birds in hedgerows. He then catches and eats them.
The lady sometimes manages to exchange for sardines. By this time, if the bird isn’t already dead, it will be badly injured and in pain. This troubles the lady as much as the harm eating the bird may do to the dog.
He continues his gundog training so the running and picking up a ‘dead bird’ is being constantly rehearsed.
The difference
We need to work on the difference – changing his response to living and moving birds that he finds for himself. He’s not been cued to go and fetch it. ‘Leave it’ doesn’t work (he may well not even hear it).
They have a large garden of about one acre which is impossible to police. However, Bertie doesn’t like being out by himself, so the lady now will have to pay good attention to him. We have a plan.
Raw food?
This got me thinking that just possibly Bertie is lacking something in his diet. It’s a long shot, but I suggested replacing at least one of his meals with raw food.
Although in the training environment Bertie’s recall is great. He may ignore the lady when he’s in the garden, particularly if he senses something live to hunt.
A ritual
Now the lady will repeatedly rehearse the following ritual, both indoors and out.
Using “Come”, different to the whistle used in training, she will call Bertie to her. Once (but only when he’s either coming anyway or certain to come). Reinforcing coming at immediately.
She will then say Yes as soon as he gets to her, and feed. Then….. the next part of the sequence is for him to know that “Come” is the precursor of something that is fun. Or something that redirects the prey drive. She may have a game of tug, throw in the opposite direction a fluffy toy he loves or even have a little run in the opposite direction.
This needs to be repeated over and over.
Now she needs to watch him carefully when he’s outside. At the first hint of hunting, she should put the sequence into action. The more serious the hunt, the more rewarding should be the game that ends the sequence to keep him from running back again.
The only other option is to keep him on a long line at all times to prevent rehearsal. There will be a habit element to it all. Unfortunately the lady is not strong enough if he should suddenly launch himself at something.
Relevance of arousal levels
Bertie gives them no other problems so the only other thing they need to do is to be aware of his arousal levels. When aroused, he’s going to be more wired. More likely to want to chase and hunt. Less likely to take notice of the distraction/redirecting sequence.
It would be great if one day, when he looks in the hedgerow or at a bird he would chase, instead he looks to the lady.
If he catches a bird
One last thing we discussed was what to do if he actually still caught the bird. We know he will either eat it or badly damage it if persuaded to exchange for sardines. That can’t be changed once it’s caught.
I suggest if he doesn’t return at first call, the lady walks straight indoors and shuts the door. She can’t do anything about it and ignoring her as she chases him undermines her ritual. He may learn something from the consequence. He doesn’t like being outside alone.
In every other respect apart from when he hunts and eats birds, he’s a wonderful companion and pet to the couple.
