Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 10/23/2006

Question
Hello,
I am curious about my 7 month old lab.  We have had him since he was 1 1/2 months old.  I visited your site but did not see anything addressing the paticular problem.  He is obsessed with chasing shadows.  If he sees a shadow he will start running back and forth trying to "catch" the shadow.  He will also chase a flash light beam on the the ground.  How should we approach trying to break him of this?  Once he starts chasing the shadows/lights, he cannot focus on anything else. We are currently physically stopping him and telling him "NO" and then rewarding him with praise if he stops but usually it is only for a few seconds before he becomes enthralled with it again.  Any ideas on how to stop this?  

Answer
Dear Rhonda,
Thanks for the question. The behavior may or may not be a serious problem. It depends- will Jack skip meals to chase shadows? How much of his awake time does he spend hunting and chasing and exactly how much force do you need to interrupt the behavior?

Would he just as soon chase a ball or go for a walk (as opposed to chasing shadows)?  

He may be motivated to chase by a combination of attention/rewards from you and the good brain feeling he gets when he is chasing. He may be trying to self-exercise!

Do your best to keep him out of situations that elicit the behavior. Increase his exercise.

Instead of telling him no and rewarding him for "not chasing", tell him what you do want him to do and reward him for that. Teach him fetch. If he will stop chasing shadows to play fetch, it's more of a lack-of-exercise issue than a compulsive behavior issue.

Happy Training!
AT