I am afraid that I cannot help you but hopefully someone who can will be along soon. In the meantime,

You have to make yourself more exciting than what the dog is looking at, very high valued treat usually does it with mine, sausages work usually. Or one of mine (to my great embarrassment) would only look if I did a mad dance flinging my arms in the air, mind you that got everyone's attention LOL


They prey drive I never managed by treat or training to change though it isn't called a drive for nothing it is hard wired into them I think. But we have some really good trainers her who I am sure can help you.

Welcome to dogsey !

I don't think any treat will work once my dogs are after a rabbit, I don't train my dogs to recall with treats once they know what the word means.

I teach mine using a 30ft long line, this may not work for all dogs but works for me. I NEVER let my dog know how long the line is, I call him back from any distance while the long line is loose but start close, just 5 to 10ft then when he is 100% at that distance I lengthen it to about 15ft, then 20ft etc. Once my dog is getting to the end of the long line I add another to it which gives me 60ft and continue the same way. My dog never learns he is on a long line and under control.

When he is 100% on 2 long lines I drop my end and let my dog drag it behind him, he can now go further away. With such a long line I can usually get my foot on it before he gets away. I then take one of the long lines off and let him drag one.

Each time I start were it is quiet and gradually move to busier and busier places before moving on to the next stage, this give more variety for my dog and I am training with more obstacles for him to ignore me.

I don't worry about when the long line comes off completely, it depends on were I am, a busy place with lots of distractions I will leave it on, a quiet place I will take it off.

I have found that treats will work to teach my dog what I expect of him, once he knows I have to move on, I have to find something better for him. With 2 of my dogs it is a ball, with Cyril a tugger or stoop down, Tilly I turn my back and she races back.

I also teach my dogs to recall to a whistle, my dog can hear that a lot further away than he can my voice.

Many owners make the mistake of calling their dog when they know he won't come back, their attention is on something else. This teaches your dog to ignore you. Over the years I have seen many dogs only go back to there owner after the 3rd or 4th call, the owner has taught them to recall then and not the first call. If I know my dog won't come back I don't call, it is very difficult to do though

I also play games with my dog, I hide behind bushes when he isn't looking and call him once, then wait, doesn't take long for my dog to realise I am not there and come racing across. I find this helps a lot with recall. I have been known to lie flat on the ground to disappear to my dog Playing games with them encourages them to stay with you.

Recall training continues for the rest of the dog's life, if you stop bothering the dog stops listening and coming back to you. It doesn't take much to keep them up to it, just an odd recall, reward then let go again.

Good luck.

I feel better knowing you couldn't train the prey drive out Mattie, and luckily neither of the two we have now have that particular trait. Betty couldn't catch anything anyway she lollops towards prey with a yappy gay abandon giving everything minutes to get away before she arrives LOL and Mollie has never been a hunter she loves all creatures.

I have always had very high prey drive dogs, even my Cavaliers get the hunting urge if they have half a chance.

There are trainers who do not believe in clicker or any reward based training, several on here & it is upto the owners to decide which way they should train their dogs.

I always start off teaching a"watch me"for a very very high value reward-whether it is food or a toy in a situation where there is little or no distraction.

Armed with high value treats-cheese, chicken or sausage I have the dog sitting in front of me(off lead BTW)& I am always seated. Holding two treats(one in each hand)between my forefinger & thumb & a clicker in my palm in one hand. I hold the treats at the end of my nose & when the dog looks at me, I then move one hand away from my nose to one side & as soon as the dog looks back to me I click & treat from the non moving hand. The dog has to work out why did it heard the click & got a reward, some dogs pick it up quickly others can take a while, the greedier the dog the quicker the uptake usually. Once the dog has realised the click means good, reward to follow, you can alternate moving your hands & add the word "Watch"(or whatever you want to use). Once the dog is looking at you immediately on the word"Watch", you can do away with the clicker & reduce the treats, but always praise. This is the first step to getting the dog to focus 100% on you because it is rewarding.

This click & reward training can be applied to all aspects of dog training & can be used to channel the dog's drive the way you want it to go. It can be used to break the habit of fixating without the dog realising it.

My BCs are very focused & are bred to have high prey drive, using the click & treat method I have channelled the drive away from sheep & into obedience & fun, I even used it to get a settle(or chill out & relax)without ever touching them

What is her background - is she a rescue dog? Have you had her since puppyhood? How old is she?

It's asking a lot to have 100% focus when you're out and about because there are so many things vying for her attention. What problems does her fixating on other things cause you? Is she aggressive or a danger to herself?

It isn't possible to have 100% focus all the time and that wouldn't be fair on her, you only need it at certain times and in that moment you need to be infinitely more interesting than anything else she is fixating on. There will be something that you can do that brings her attention back to you, you just need to work out what it is.


I would buy a whistle, arm yourself with extremely high value treats -( I'm using salmon with my dog which he adores) when she is in another room blow the whistle loud and clear when she comes to you, you feed her copious amounts of the high value treat. Call her name and give her good treats but when she hears the whistle she will soon associate that with very high value treats.

I too have a real "focus" problem with my dog and the only solution was a boomer ball - now I only have to call out boomer and he stops dead in his tracks and turns 360 degrees to focus upon me, because he knows when he does that he gets to play his favourite game with his favourite toy.

Good luck with her

Sorry - just re-editing to say that I would try to be one step ahead of her all the time, work out what she fixates on and intervene, it's not easy but it can be done. Once she is fixated she is above threshold and then it's very difficult to motivate her away, you need to motivate her BEFORE she fixates, so I think you need to do some monitoring and detective work and find out what she regularly fixates on and if at all possible avoid those triggers.