Help with pulling on the lead needed

Hi guys,

We have formally adopted another terrier. He is an absolute sweetie and is generally impeccably behaved. On the lead he is great to walk and doesn't pull UNTIL he sees rabbits. He came from a city based couple so to begin with we really did put it down to him being overexcited at this new experience but it's beginning to wear thin. He is responsive to other training and like i say is brilliant most of the time but then will shoot off after a bunny. Oh and obviously at this moment his recall goes out of the window so at the moment we can't trust him off the lead in case this happens.

Please can you help me with some training tips?

Do you have a pets at home near you? they allow dogs into the stores, they also normaly have small furrys,
It could be a good idea to pop in to let him see them, Or do you have anyone near by that have rabbits, Let him see them in a safe area that he cant get to them, you may find when hes had his curitosity settled that all is well, that said he is a terrier so he may want to hunt.

He has met lots of bunnies in "pet" situations now and doesn't even want to take notice of them. It really is the hunt instinct kicking in i think.

what sort of terrier is he? some have a very high pray drive

Cassie is the same! She is a gem on the lead until she sees a cat or rabbit, then she pulls, rears up and is a pain in the bum. Its the movenment rather then the animal itself, if the cat stays still and holds its ground she loses interest.

We just worked on the 'Leave' command which is working well with small furries and cats. TBH though i wouldn't want to put it to the test in an open field with a bunny running off, i think she would just be off like a rocket.

A welshie so the drive is probably going to be high.

Hmmm - i hadn't thought about the leave command (it's normally been no s and come) but he is responsive around the house to the leave command. Hell, he's good around the house with every command - that's the problem

I was very pround the other month as we had a fledgling (sp?) blackbird in the garden. I didn't know (he was hiding in the grass) so let the dogs out for a wee. Cassie dashed off into the grass and the poor thing started flapping all over the place! One 'leave' and she stopped chasing and came back to me. Even more impressive as Ela (she was much younger) was still chasing the bird, but she was just doing the puppy paws thing where as Cassie wanted to kill it.

So i would try 'Leave' and then use a toy or a tennis ball to draw the attention away from the prey object.

Ah you see that's the random thing - plenty of birds around here - including those hopping along the path or garden but he's not interested in them! He did scare the life out of a poor pheasant though when he bounced through some long grass and practically on top of the bird accidentally!!!

Maybe distraction is the key - have tried using a whistle, might try one of his squeaky toys instead.

I had to look up Welsh terrier from the kennel club site
There are loads of great terrier owners on the forum, who can prob give far better advice { more breed specific advice than I can offer}

But were it any of the breeds I know about, I would start by trying to get the dogs attention back to you, getting him to sit, if they do sit I dont mind them watching the rabbit/cat/dog/ whatever it is they are intrested in, so long as they sit quietly, reward good behaviour with whatever your dog loves best, be it food, toy or just a good pat,
You can add a command to this if you like, eg, leave, wait, or just sit, IT really depends on how determined the dog is to get at said bunny

training a drop recall can be a good thing too,