Do I need to Buy a Bunny and a Bird!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to get Sophie to get over her obsession  with Birds and Bunnies.  So many of the nursing homes we are visiting have birds, one in particular has two large aviaries right inside the front door and she just goes nuts.  She has to get nose to nose on the glass and she just stares at the birds.  She is actually entertainment in the lobby because people are just amazed watching her.  My problem is that she is so obsessed she doesn't listen to my commands to her.  She is completely focused on getting over to the bird cages.  The Veteran's home as also a bunny.  She knows the second we hit that wing.  I've been wondering if I get one at home (our niece has one I could maybe borrow).  My mom also has a bird and she is the same way with my moms bird ... straight in the door to the bird cage.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Not sure about the bunny, but have you tried training Sophie around the bird cages at Petco or PetSmart? Maybe getting her to walk past those cages, treating when she ignores the birds would help to desensitize her. Guinness used to get very excited by the Petco birds, but now that he's totally used to them he could care less. That's actually where I did most of his CGC training because there are lots of great distractions.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Funny you should mention that, as we took all 3 of our training sessions at Petsmart. The instructor used to hold class in the aisle right by the bird cages and Sophie was always put right by the birds because she was attracted to them from the first time we went to Petsmart. She has only seemed to have gotten worse as she has gotten older. I agree, the distractions in a Petsmart are in sane ..... DH and I were normally exhausted at the end of an hours training session!

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

the more distractions the better the training is. If you can train your dogs when they are little to behave around these distractions you have a million dollar dog.

A dog trained with no distractions is not proofed.

[Ann Kendig]

I wish I had some helpful hints on this one. Sheba is also very interested in the birds at the nursing home. Duke seems to be more interested in the people. I will be interested to see the advice that will be posted. Jane, that is a great idea. The birds at out local pet store are almost eye level to the dogs. I'll have to try this.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

you may have to choose different venues to visit and work. Honestly if you buy a bunny and a bird you are basically buying lunch and dinner for your dog.

There is no need to push her buttons on this and it will likely end in disaster because she is doing what dogs do. She likely comes from hunting lines and this is ingrained in her.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I guess I was thinking that she might get over it if we had one around all the time, because once she gets up to the cage she just stares at the bunny and the birds. As soon as I let her look at them for a little while then we can turn around and go on with our tour. She doesn't bark aggressively or try to get to the bunny or birds through the cage, she just seems to want to look at them. Thanks for your input.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

in most cases this relationship needs to be established while the dog is really young before it becomes an issue like this.