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Chisum is very easily overstimulated, which is something we're working on. No doubt it doesn't help with his reactivity. Four things seem to get him the most: the chickens, a few cats he wants badly to chase, cars, and our cattle.
We've been working on general impulse control exercises as well as upping training and exercise (hard now due to cold and being dark when I'm home). I've also been playing a lot of LAT and rewarding calm interactions.
We worked a LOT on his issues with the cattle because he used to be very reactive at the sight of them. Now, after a lot of LAT he's great. He can be near them when we feed and can even walk in the vicinity just fine.
The problem is that sometimes it's just too much and he'll just rush the fence making growling sounds. It's the same thing he does when he wants to chase something so I'm not sure if it's truly fear or not. But, we've done LAT so much that if I say his name (either after he has started or when I can see he's about to do it) he looks at me for his treat. If I've got one, he's fine. If I don't have anything to give him he starts up again, sometimes more intensely. If I try to get him to jog away with me he is still lunging behind me.
I can see that he's probably getting over threshold But it's hard to tell what his threshold is exactly as sometimes he's fine and others he can be farther away, look at them expecting his treat and will start up after seeing I don't have one.
What is the best way to handle this?
I should note that he's never off leash near the chickens for fear he could harm one but we've been off leash in the pasture around the cattle and sometimes he'll try to chase but 90% of the time he's just fine. The cattle aren't phased at all by him.
We've been working on general impulse control exercises as well as upping training and exercise (hard now due to cold and being dark when I'm home). I've also been playing a lot of LAT and rewarding calm interactions.
We worked a LOT on his issues with the cattle because he used to be very reactive at the sight of them. Now, after a lot of LAT he's great. He can be near them when we feed and can even walk in the vicinity just fine.
The problem is that sometimes it's just too much and he'll just rush the fence making growling sounds. It's the same thing he does when he wants to chase something so I'm not sure if it's truly fear or not. But, we've done LAT so much that if I say his name (either after he has started or when I can see he's about to do it) he looks at me for his treat. If I've got one, he's fine. If I don't have anything to give him he starts up again, sometimes more intensely. If I try to get him to jog away with me he is still lunging behind me.
I can see that he's probably getting over threshold But it's hard to tell what his threshold is exactly as sometimes he's fine and others he can be farther away, look at them expecting his treat and will start up after seeing I don't have one.
What is the best way to handle this?
I should note that he's never off leash near the chickens for fear he could harm one but we've been off leash in the pasture around the cattle and sometimes he'll try to chase but 90% of the time he's just fine. The cattle aren't phased at all by him.
