How do I keep my dog from going after squirrels? A Complete Guide

Why Dogs Chase Squirrels

Depending on your dog’s breed, it may be more challenging to train them to resist the urge to chase. Most dogs have some level of prey drive. The scent and the sight of a squirrel, especially as it darts around your yard, piques your dog’s drive to hunt and chase.

But most of the time, dogs do not successfully capture squirrels. Those that do rarely attempt to eat their catch. Even an unsuccessful chase results in a heart-racing thrill, and incites an exciting, fearful reaction from the squirrel.

It’s important that you manage your expectations. Chasing squirrels is exciting, and the more experience your dog has doing it, the more difficult it will be to change your dog’s habits. Even so, it is possible to teach your dog that recalling to you, rather than ignoring you in pursuit of a squirrel, is the more rewarding option.

Our dog is a determined squirrel hunter. He hasn’t caught any, but he loves to follow their scent and chase them. It’s like he’s obsessed! Is there a way to teach him to leave the squirrels alone? When it comes to protecting their yards from squirrels, many dogs see themselves as canine Homeland Security agents. Dogs bred to flush small animals are especially inclined to this behavior. Our Wire Fox Terrier, Scooter, was notorious for patrolling the fence line, even though she was more likely to befriend any squirrel she caught, rather than harm or kill it. For some dogs, though, chasing after small animals can be a safety hazard. I worked with a Beagle named Gus who became obsessed with sniffing out the trail of a squirrel, pursuing it even hours after it had passed through the yard. Despite reinforced and seemingly secure fencing, Gus would find his way out of his yard to pursue to the squirrel. His escapes and his single-minded focus on tracking the intruder worried his family. Dogs like Scooter and Gus, who cannot seem to resist the urge to stalk squirrels, need other outlets to channel their predatory and chase behavior. There are a few ways to redirect your dog’s attention away from the squirrels — your success may depend on what it is about the squirrels that

Step Two: Training Games to Help Dogs with High Prey Drive

You’ll hear me talking a lot about impulse control. That’s because most of what we humans view as “naughty” dog behavior is actually pretty normal dog stuff. Our job as good owners is to teach our dogs what we expect from them – and then help them work through situations that challenge them.

Dogs with poor impulse control are more likely to act immediately on their instincts, rather than slow down and remember their training. Think of it like teaching your dog to slow down and think through their actions. For dogs with high prey drive, this means a dog with good impulse control should be able to look to his owner for direction rather than lunge to chase the squirrel.

Try these 9 games to teach your dogs impulse control or these 13 dog training games. Using a variety of these games will give your dog more chances to learn how to slow down, rather than simply react instinctively.

You’ll especially find “Ready, Set, DOWN” and “Look At That” useful when working with a dog with high prey drive.

So how do you actually go about controlling dogs with high prey drive? Other than strict management, I like to implement “Look At That!” games with dogs with high impulse control. “Look At That!” (LAT) games are common for fearful, reactive, or aggressive dogs as well. Check out my “Ask A Dog Trainer” post on reactivity for more details.

The basic idea of LAT is to expose your dog to his “trigger” at very low levels. For Konrad, that might mean having him on a leash across the field from a bird, deer, or squirrel. The goal is to teach your dog that when he looks at the trigger, he gets a reward. Eventually, you start to teach your dog to look at the trigger, then look at you, then get a reward.

This rather simple principle works because it teaches the dog what to do when he sees his trigger other than his underlying impulse. Paired with good impulse control, LAT can be a pretty magical training tool. We’ll start easy.

Have your dog on a leash in a boring area (like your living room). Use a clicker and some tasty treats or a favorite toy. Have a friend handy.

As your friend walks into the room, click and reward your dog for looking at them. Repeat this 10-20 times (at least).

This stage is important, even though humans aren’t your dog’s trigger. You’re perfecting YOUR timing and clicker/leash/reward handling skills. You’re also getting your dog into the pattern of seeing something interesting, and then looking back to you for a treat.

After both you and your dog are feeling pretty fluent at stage 2, you’re ready to move on. At this stage, let your dog look at the fake trigger (your friend) for up to 2 seconds. Click and treat if your dog looks back at you. Our goal is for your dog to look at the trigger, then look back to you as if to say, “Hey, you! I looked! Where’s my treat??”

Get really good at step 3. Then move on to increasingly distracting environments. If your dog is having a hard time remembering to look back at you, go back to step 2 for a while. It’s ok to make a noise to get his attention, but we don’t want to rely on that. We want the look at the trigger, then look at owner sequence to be automatic.

For dogs with high prey drive, it might be important to set up some fake scenarios involving prey items to work on this training. Since you can’t control where the squirrels are, this requires a bit of creativity!

Want more personalized help? Check out our different remote and online training options. We have something for everyone!

Get Your Dog to Stop Chasing Squirrels

But there’s hope – many dogs with high prey drive can learn to control themselves around bunnies, squirrels, and pigeons.

My 5 year old Dutch shepherd, Konrad, has an EXCESSIVE prey drive. He is all around an amazing and well behaved dog, who never barks, chews or destroys, and has an amazingly calm and composed demeanor. In our 4 years together, we have found that we are practically able to teach him ANYTHING, except how to stay calm in the presence of anything that runs. When in the presence of any wild animal (or cats) he becomes almost unrecognizable.

His ability to listen and respond on command disappears, he gets extremely frustrated and anxious, pulls violently if on a leash, and the adrenaline rush he gets tunes out the world around him. He will lunge and growl at squirrels through the window and has run off on us after deer, coyotes, and bears (which is a terrifying experience).

At this point enough is enough. He is our wilderness adventure buddy, and we value his presence on the trail and in the woods, but this behavior is becoming a dangerous and frustrating habit, and as we live in a small cabin in the woods, we need to be able to gain his attention and take control of such situations. He was stray before we adopted him, and is an extremely adept hunter, so our best guess is that he may have hunted to feed himself during his time as a stray, and as a result, the behavior has become ingrained in him.

What can we do to stop this behavior, calm his demeanor, and turn his attention toward us when faced with wild animals?

Certified Dog Behavior Consultant Sue Brown has created two excellent resources to help you with your unruly dog: an impulse control online mini-course, and an online dog training course. Both of these options will really help you get started on controlling your dog!

If you’re considering getting another pet, check out our article about introducing high prey drive dogs to kittens and cats.