Then you can start to introduce toy-play. Yes, some dogs are more difficult to introduce to toys than others, but you need to work at that too. Be inventive and start in a place with NO distractions (indoors). If he likes to chase, he will chase toys. You just need to find the toy and method that tugs his rug. You can’t expect to shoot and train him at the same time to overcome this problem so, assuming that it’s the sound of gunfire or the falling bird that triggers the running in, I would suggest you take him out with a friend who is shooting while you concentrate on the dog. Certainly a work in progress, all I need to do now is find a more suitable type of toy “for wood walks”, one that is not so easily lost in the undergrowth and I will work with her some more on this.

Milli Bhatia’s engaging production is designed by Moi Tran, with a revolving stage, and is helped by attractive video projections of shadowy flora and fauna by Akhila Krishnan, as well as a good cast. Irfan Shamji is suitably torn as Prab, while Scott Karim and Ayesha Dharker, as Devesh and Chellam, are both excellent, with his vigorously evil leers being matched by her acidic worldly putdowns. Zainab Hasan has a calm practicality as Kajol, while Saroja-Lily Ratnavel’s Amba represents the present and hope for the future. With its energetic arguments, moments of great charm, gritty humour, and mix of filth and idealism, this story of resistance and dignity in the face of dreadful global exploitation is both relevant and contemporary. Consequently, it is the worst of both worlds, neither complex nor thrilling, with a central character that takes far too long to take things seriously. On several occasions, the action shifts rather awkwardly so as to engage the audience in a call-and-response, which might deliver more organically if such erosions of the fourth wall were part of the enduring fabric of the play.Your article really confirms what I thought about my dog’s chase instinct, and I will try what you suggest. Archie is walked twice daily for about 2 hours in total, mainly off lead around local fields and the farm down the road where he hunts rats – the farmer is aware and encourages to take Archie there! In Chasing Hares, it is not a rubber factory the drama is based around, but a clothes factory. “I felt like that would speak to people. We know so much about the garment sector after things like Rana Plaza,” Bhattacharyya says, referring to the catastrophic collapse of a building in Bangladesh that contained five garment factories, which killed more than 1,100 people. When she started writing the play, in 2018, the culture of work was shifting around her. Since then, with India’s months of farmers’ protests and Britain’s university and railway staff currently fighting casualisation, the play feels even more pertinent. “The workplace precarity that my mum’s family had been so used to was increasingly becoming the norm here.”

He is about 18 months old, we’ve had him for a year from a rescue centre and took him to puppy classes for socialisation and training for recall. He is a cross breed, but clearly has whippet and some sort of terrier in him, and probably sheepdog too judging by the way he crouches and crawls while approaching his “subject of interest”. The jatra, meanwhile, plays out a miniature version of the feudal tyranny that Dev imposes but also the quest for an egalitarian society. There is an overt sense of the theatrical, with a world of story and illusion conjured through striking silhouette projections of forests and falcons (video design by Akhila Krishnan) as Prab tells bedtime stories to his baby girl, as much to progress his allegories as to entertain her. Dogs with a high inherited drive not only derive great pleasure from chasing, they also need to perform it. They are driven to perform the behaviour to receive the boost to their feelings that it provides. They are constantly looking for outlets for it.You don’t say how long you’ve had him for, but it often takes six months to establish a basic relationship with an adopted adult dog. It could yet be early days. Archie’s previous home was apparently very noisy as three generations of the family lived there aged between 3 years, and 75 years of age. Archie wasn’t well liked by the older generation but got loads of fuss and cuddles from the young children. He was put up for homing as he was too demanding for the owners who had little time to spare for him

This is pure dog training, so use short bouts and lots of them, in a place with absolutely no other distractions; always stop before your dog gets bored and always end up keeping the toy yourself. Build up those neural connections between the “Got to chase” centre and the one with the picture of the new toy as a label. Play, play and more play. I wonder if your above technique will work for such a high drive chase machine ? Or whether another approach may be required ? What is your favourite exhilarating activity? Hang gliding, ballroom dancing, cuddling your grandchildren, alligator wrestling, strip scrabble, or extreme ironing? Imagine you are halfway through and I say, “Stop that now and I’ll give you a biscuit.” I am so pleased I found your article, it has given me hope. I have a 18 month old staffie cross lurcher (we think – was a rescue pup) She has been well socialised with our cats, dogs, horses and no problem until recently.The first thing to recognise is that this is not going to be easy. You have a dog that is in the ‘difficult’ category, but that means when you succeed it will be all the more enjoyable 🙂