Since day one Ive been working with Patchs to control her prey drive. It is HUGE!!! Im not talking about stopping it, I just want to control it so she doesnt chase one of the neighborhood's many wild critters into the street and get hit by a car.
To this end, I have worked on boundry (border) training every day. Ive had great success using a long lead and off leash when there are no distractions. In fact, she will stay in the yard for hours if there are no distraction.
For this reason, I know that she knows where the boundries are. I have even established a visual boundry by mowing the line at a lower hight than the neighbor's grass. Because of the time of the year (grass is not growing now) so I have taken some small construction flags and put them on the border and established it with both Neka and Patchs. (They Get It).
The problem only comes when she is off leash and a squirrel or ferrel cat comes into view. We have a lot of trees and a few brush piles in the neighboring yards and Patchs feels that it is her duty to keep the squirrels in the trees and off the grass and the cats out of site completely.
When these events arise, and she is off leash, it is impossible to keep her in the yard and under control. I spoke to a trainer recently and she mentioned that I turn this "Squirrel Chase" into a game. The idea is to keep her at the border, and make her wait until I release her to give chase. Then call her back after a short time.
Id love to here your thoughts on this issue. Since we are still in the beginning stages of this, we are still working out the bugs, so I'll keep you up to date on our progress.