Lashing Out At Cars

karleee

Experienced Member
This really only one of dazzle's vices.
When i try to take her for a walk,and a car drives past,she crouches down,waits for it to be close enough....and tries to jump out at it.

I've tried take her down to a very busy road in peak-hour traffic and just sitting there,every time she tried to lunge at it she would be fulled back sharply and corrected....I EVEN RESORTED TO TAKING A THOUNGE ON WALKS WITH ME.But nothing seemed to work.I'm really worried,our farm isn't fenced of for a dog...only for horse's and cow's...and she just slips through the fence wires...and one day she might be at the boundary and a car may come pass...and BAMM (I don't won't this to happen to another dog...even though it happened under different sircemstanstes with layla :cry:)
 

sara

Moderator
Staff member
this is a tough one. as the chase and herd instinct is very rewarding for her. Is she a ball chaser?

First thing I would try, if she is a ball chaser:
Get a long line, go near the road, but not too near, and play fetch, throwing the ball away from the road every time, give her treats for the retreive, and another ball throw... If she is a ball chaser and wont focus on the ball due to cars, then you're too close... get further away from the road and try again, until she is paying very little attention to the road, and focuses on the ball. You can start moving closer and closer, but stop and move away a little if she shows any sign of distraction.

Some say that making them afraid of cars is the only way to proof them, and shock collars are used for that. I hate the use of them, and wouldn't use one on my dogs, I'd fence a space for the dog first, and keep her contained, away from the road.
 

karleee

Experienced Member
this is a tough one. as the chase and herd instinct is very rewarding for her. Is she a ball chaser?

First thing I would try, if she is a ball chaser:
Get a long line, go near the road, but not too near, and play fetch, throwing the ball away from the road every time, give her treats for the retreive, and another ball throw... If she is a ball chaser and wont focus on the ball due to cars, then you're too close... get further away from the road and try again, until she is paying very little attention to the road, and focuses on the ball. You can start moving closer and closer, but stop and move away a little if she shows any sign of distraction.

Some say that making them afraid of cars is the only way to proof them, and shock collars are used for that. I hate the use of them, and wouldn't use one on my dogs, I'd fence a space for the dog first, and keep her contained, away from the road.
Thankyou :)

When i'm not with her...she has her big cage (10 by 10 meters) with her kennel and that....but its when i come home from school,or in themornings before school that she is out and has free-range of the farm
I'll try your method :) ...And I would NEVER use a shock collor on dazzle.I think that the're just cruel :mad:
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
weirdly, Buddy developed a similar thing, after my guy pulled up to us in his car while i had Buddy on a walk. Buddy was delightfully surprised and shocked, to see his 'Daddy' in a car while we were on a walk, Buddy was so stoked and:eek: shocked that,
after that,
Buddy then wanted to leap up and get a good look into ALL cars after that, now moving TOWARDS all cars.
.
Real bummer---- as i'd pretty much had him trained to step up into the grass for all passing cars. The word 'car' meant step up into the grass, and over time, Buddy did this reflexively. Well, he USED TO------- til he realized some cars have his Dad inside of them.:D
.
I was surprised how long that 'car-lunging' behavior persisted, and it grew even stronger in my dog, and i became very worried about it.:eek:
.
I did this to help Buddy (video below) to help him 'snap out of' his car thing: (might not help your dog but, worth a try) It did help Buddy 'snap out of it', he is now back to his baseline behavior of being calm and stepping up into grass when cars go by now.
.
And like Sara pointed out,
you might want to begin work at a distance that your dog CAN do this successfully,
and then move ever closer over time.
.
You won't want to try using the interruptor noise for cars
UNTIL AFTER your dog knows it solidly.
http://youtu.be/TBvPaqMZyo8
Possibley some of Kikopup's 5 videos on barking might also inspire you to find some way to approach this, too? There might be ideas in those videos, too...)google "kikopup barking" and find all 5 videos on it, one of them *might* help you with this.
there's probably other ways, too, to help teach your dog you want him to be calm when cars go by.
GOOD LUCK!
 

MissyBC

Experienced Member
This really only one of dazzle's vices.
When i try to take her for a walk,and a car drives past,she crouches down,waits for it to be close enough....and tries to jump out at it.

I've tried take her down to a very busy road in peak-hour traffic and just sitting there,every time she tried to lunge at it she would be fulled back sharply and corrected....I EVEN RESORTED TO TAKING A THOUNGE ON WALKS WITH ME.But nothing seemed to work.I'm really worried,our farm isn't fenced of for a dog...only for horse's and cow's...and she just slips through the fence wires...and one day she might be at the boundary and a car may come pass...and BAMM (I don't won't this to happen to another dog...even though it happened under different sircemstanstes with layla :cry:)
I have the same problem with my Missy... I need to work on getting her to relax and focus on me when cars are around... it's a tough one... I still haven't gotten the hang of it with her (neither have I really worked on it much as we live on a very quiet street...)

Good Luck with Dazzle, karleee!
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
Try doing some commands such as sit lie down watch me with her start off at a distance from the cars and gradually get closer to the sidewalk or wherever you walk the dog so that the cars won't be that big of a deal she'll rather pay attention to you cause your giving her treats.
 

karleee

Experienced Member
Thankyou guys....the only problem is,she doesn't mind the cars unless she is about 2 meters from them.Cars on our country road never really used to be busy,as it was all gravel.But now its been bitchemised (lol...i don't think thats how to spell it,but close enough!) it's really busy. :(
 

laramie

Experienced Member
I'm not sure how we got Fairley to do this, but she learned the command "stop." Now she stops dead and lays down. I don't know if this would work for you because we usually use this command when she has a toy and we just want her to stop in the middle of her bringing it back to us. If she were paying attention to something else, she might not listen to the command.

Also, she has a tendency to try chasing anything that's running (usually my boyfriend or Sparrow). We've taught her "leave it" for whatever she's focusing on at the moment and not just toward toys. She's very good about listening with this command, even when she's trying to herd.

You should also try getting her to stay in all circumstances. Fairley's favorite thing is playing frisbee. Sometimes we give the command "stay" when we throw her frisbee, and she waits until we release her.

One more thing that might work is "watch me." I haven't really taught this to my dogs, but I've seen it an action and it's awesome. The dog that I saw do this command was a BC, so you would probably be able to get the same unwavering attention if you worked at it enough.
 
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