09/02/2026
If your dog is rewarded by chasing, use the chase—don’t fight it.
High-prey-drive dogs can lock and load onto movement very quickly. When that target is another dog, the staring, lunging, barking, and attempted chase can become intensely self-reinforcing.
To change that pattern, we first need clarity.
The dog must understand what we want instead: disengage from the trigger, look back at the handler, and remain available for direction.
Then, when the dog makes that correct choice, we bring in the mega reward.
For many high-drive dogs, food alone cannot compete with the opportunity to chase. But movement can. A ball, tug, or toy moving away from the dog allows us to use that same prey drive as reinforcement.
Now the dog is no longer accessing the chase through reactivity. They are accessing it through the handler after making the correct choice.
See the trigger.
Disengage.
Look to the handler.
Earn the chase.
We are not trying to remove the dog’s prey drive. We are teaching the dog where to direct it—and making the handler the pathway to the reward.
