Hello all,
I'm new to the forum, and I need help with a car chasing problem, that is getting to be out of hand.
I have an 8 month-old Old English Sheepdog puppy, a neutered male named Harry. He is a fantastic dog, great temperament with my 2 young kids. He's doing quite well with basic obedience, knows sit/down/stay/place/heel very well, and is very good off-leash (provided there aren't many distractions~ working on adding that in now.)
The problem is with cars. In a nutshell:
I've had two trainers so far (both very good IMO), and we've tried a few things:
Looking back on things, I can't recall that he ever had a bad experience around cars that would have frightened him. We started with socialization in the car and on the streets since we first got him (he came home at age 9 weeks) so I don't think it's a socialization issue.
I could try to post up some YouTube videos of his behavior if you think that it would help.
Thanks!
DrTWT
I'm new to the forum, and I need help with a car chasing problem, that is getting to be out of hand.
I have an 8 month-old Old English Sheepdog puppy, a neutered male named Harry. He is a fantastic dog, great temperament with my 2 young kids. He's doing quite well with basic obedience, knows sit/down/stay/place/heel very well, and is very good off-leash (provided there aren't many distractions~ working on adding that in now.)
The problem is with cars. In a nutshell:
- When we're out for a walk, he swtiches from a mellow, balanced dog into a salivating, over-driven, maniac. Pulls at the leash, barks, loses all focus on me, just goes crazy. Think Incredible Hulk, only worse.
- One trainer we've used was curious whether this was driven by fear/anxiety, or a high prey/herding drive. The trainer felt it was likely a high prey/herding drive, since Harry would eat when all worked up. (Thought being is that he wouldn't eat if he was scared.)
- This same behavior occurs when he's in the back of my SUV. He'll be very excited to get in the car, as he knows that means he gets to go to the woods for his walk (we go every morning for at least an hour.) But once he's in the back of the SUV, Incredible Hulk takes over again, salivating, constant barking, jumping up and down. I think he's anticipating seeing cars along the way.
- This is to the point that it is very difficult to take him in the car or take him for a walk in town. It's impossible for my wife (or likely anyone else) to take him out.
I've had two trainers so far (both very good IMO), and we've tried a few things:
- Leash and collar corrections with a prong collar~ does really no good at all, since he gets so worked up he doesn't even notice the corrections.
- Desensitization exercises, which is the mainstay of what I'm doing with him now. I'll take him up to a field that is separated from a major road by a chain-link fence. There I'll put him through his paces- sits, stays, downs, heels, etc- while the cars are zooming by on the other side of the fence. He can do this OK after about 10 minutes. Then we'll do some heeling on the other side of the fence. Somedays this works, some other times not.
- I've also taken him up to a freeway overpass, and hold him in an extended down (up to 20-30 minutes or so), to try to desensitize him the sound and sights and smells of the cars.
Looking back on things, I can't recall that he ever had a bad experience around cars that would have frightened him. We started with socialization in the car and on the streets since we first got him (he came home at age 9 weeks) so I don't think it's a socialization issue.
I could try to post up some YouTube videos of his behavior if you think that it would help.
Thanks!
DrTWT