Chasing Shadows

Hi all ,

Roxi is coming on in leaps and bounds , shes now nearly 6 months old and is turning into the perfect dog , obedient , placid and very friendly :-).

Just lately though she is tormenting herself to death by chasing shadows on walls floors , even her own shadow ... She barks , cries and scrapes with her paws , how do i help her to overcome this phobia ?

Thanks

Try to distract her with a toy and make sure she gets plenty of mental stimulation.

Distraction is the way to go toys, games and treats maybe too

Yeah distract her as soon as she starts doing it  

Thanks i will try it , i feel sorry for her when she gets frustrated :-(

Bane started doing this about a month ago...he chases his tail shadow as he wags his tail, the little light reflections you get from watches and shiny things and at one point tried going for the reflection of a cars headlights on a parked car 
We just distracted him from it with toys, or did a bit of training and now he barely does it

What's her background? Has she ever been encouraged to chase lights/lazer pens erc. That much frustration at that age needs to be worked with. You need to build up her tolerance for frustration and ensure she learns to control her impulses. An adult dog without this is much more of a handful!

Hi Rachel ,

No , she hasnt been encouraged to chase lights , in fact the one time someone tried this i put a stop to it , from getting her at 6 weeks ( early i know ) she has been quite easy to train and is turning out to be really placid in nature , im hoping with taking the advice above and using my own common sense i can coax her into a feeling that these shadows are no threat and that she can ignore them , every time she does it i get down to her with her fav toy and talk to her , soothing her and this seems to work with a treat when she stops .... I will do this every time until she is happy ignoring shadows completely :-)

Keep working at it you'll soon train her out of it, saying that my friends dog loves chasing shadows, never been able to stop him but its a game rather than worry Xx