Rosesilly Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Hi everyone Not sure if anyone can advise me Rosie my two year old rescue collie x spaniel chases the lawn mower and bites at its wheels when I mow the lawns. The hoover doesn't bother her indoors, but she does the same to the strimmer outdoors. Apart from that she's brill Any ideas ? Thanks Jane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Leave her in the house when you mowe the lawn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosesilly Posted May 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Good point !! I like it ,although seems such a pity on nice days. She kind of attacks the wheels , snapping at them and then runs off rather than constantly chasing !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Good point !! I like it ,although seems such a pity on nice days.She kind of attacks the wheels , snapping at them and then runs off rather than constantly chasing !! And besides being dangerous, is probably stressful for your dog. My collie is the same with most 'noisy' things including drills and other electrical tools. I just lock him in the house. Doesnt take long to mow the lawn so she wont miss out on much sunshine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 I would have said the same as above, to keep the dog inside when you're mowing/strimming. I would be worried about one of the dogs getting hurt by accident even if they weren't chasing anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smirnoff Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 I'd love to know how to stop this - Mya does the same. I just keep a very careful eye on her and whenever she starts to get near I stop mowing and yell "no". But she's still fairly desperate to do it and I can't take my eye off her. And it does take a long time to mow my lawn - a good couple of hours at least. And I can't lock Mya in the house because if I'm in the garden she'll do everything she can to get next to me - and she can open doors and windows. Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careli Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 Bruno used to do this. We have managed to stop him through clicker training, though it took two of us. When one person was mowing the lawn, the other had Bruno on a lead. When he started to bark or go towards the lawn mower, we just told him 'No' fairly firmly, but with no pulling or yanking on the lead. As soon as he was quite we would 'click and treat'. All the time he sat quitely he would get his reward. We then built up to an alternative behaviour such as a Sit. This would again be clicked and treated. Then we built up to a down. Now he is quite happy to lay on the patio and just watch the majority of the time. However, there are occasions, when the mower first starts up that he has a little bark, but we just tell him No and usually goes and sits on the patio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 (edited) I haven't retrained a dog out of this, but am just +1 for the not wanting to shut the dog indoors. It's all very well if you only have a small lawn (or a huge lawnmower) but I have 4 lawns arranged on a steep slope, so I can only get a little lawnmower to them, it takes a while to mow all of it and lug the mower about. Dogs know you are out there too, it's quite different to leaving them in the house and going off somewhere where they can't see you, they stand in the window and yodel at you, or try to take the doors apart. Luckily mine just mooch about once they are out so I can mow round them. To attempt to make this post slightly less useless, assuming the mower-chasing is an aspect of general inappropriate chase, what about spending 15 mins doing ball-fetching first, to give the chasing instinct a bit of an outlet? Edited May 20, 2008 by cycas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summersun Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 hi there, does the dog do "leaveit" ? if not this is what you need it is pretty easily trained with a clicker but start indoors and without any distractions at first. have you done clicker before ? claire x p.s. i have trained my dog out of this using clicker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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