Sudden fear of cars
He has suddenly become scared of cars, I think this is since the weather has been bad and so the cars have lights on. He never had a problem before and has definately not had a bad experience (only Greg & I walk him) and we were doing ok with teaching him not to pull, using the 'heel' command and feeding him treats as he stayed at our side. Now he has lost interest in his treats  making it difficult to control him.
The streets are narrow where we live, and in order to get him to the park I need to walk him about 7 mins along them. If he hears a car behind us, he turns his head. I'm trying to anticipate it & distract him before he does that by giving a quick shh & tug on the leash. Then he watches the car go past (I continue walking briskly ignoring the car) but he pulls REALLY hard to get away from it, he tries to run forwards even if the car is going that way too. I try the SHH noise or a sharp 'HEY' to distract his attention while giving a sharp tug, maybe 4 or 5 times each time a car goes by (every time he starts to pay attention to it) but the problem is getting worse. He does the same thing with cars coming towards us. He is pulling so hard now my knees and back are killing me and I have huge blisters on my feet. The pulling is constant on busier roads, he just panics. He gets three 45 min walks a day, with off leash running in an open space as well. We have stopped feeding him when arriving home because he was pulling like crazy to rush back home, but he still seems like he can't wait to get away from the cars. He really hates walks near cars, I tried going out with him for 2 hours, sitting for 10 mins at a junction with him & keeping him calm while watching the cars go by but he still freaked out when we were walking. What can we do to get rid of this fear? |
|
|
| I would walk between him and the cars and not make a fuss when they go by. just keep walking as if nothing unbusual were happening. I think by making a noise and a correction you might be reinforcing his fear.
Mine have some little fear of cars - which I think is a good thing to some extent. However, I noticed that the dog who bikes with me is less reactive to the cars now than before. I think this is because with the bike, I jjust keep going when a car passes and she is gaing some confidence. |
| He is in a developemental stage when puppies are fearful of things - even things that have never bothered them before. You do have to be careful, as some fears from this age can stick with them for their whole life.
I would try to distract him from the cars - which sounds like a challenge from your description. I would try a treat or toy that he really likes on the walk to get him past them. Be happy upbeat and totally ignore the cars. Focus on him and how much fun you are having with your treat and toy. If possible, pick time to go to the park when traffic is as lighter. If possible, find a route that is less challenging, and gradually work to the busier streets (in an ideal world!). It may be tempting, but don't do things like soothing him after he has a reaction or babying him. That just reinforces that those cars really are a threat! |
| I would also perhaps take a few metaphorical steps backward and try again with this new fear. Perhaps take him to a parking lot, where most cars are STILL. Sit or crouch down at the side of the lot with him (way away from any danger of moving cars) and entertain him with maybe some games or just attention and rewards. Just being rewarded for good behaviour in the presence of cars may be a good start. Then, as suggested, try walking on less busy streets for now (you may have to drive to the dog park??? Sounds silly given how close it is, but we're shaping the behaviour so maybe...) and gradually work up to it.
I agree that acknowledging the behaviour in any way could actually and unintentionally reinforce it. As well, when you are trying to pre-empt it with that little tug, you will actually begin to cue this behaviour, and next thing you know you'll tug for something else and puppy will freak out, thinking a car is approaching. I'm sure the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, would approve of your technique IF you see the beginnings of this "freakout" behaviour, but if he hasn't noticed the car yet, don't do anything. Lots of praise and reward for no response to a car. Is he afraid of cars with lights on that are still? If he is, I would recommend parking yours in the driveway, running with lights on, and while he is watching you but without acknowledging him at ALL, just go up to the car, touch it all over, stand in front of it, lean against it, everything to show the dog that this is safe and will not hurt him (unless of course he runs in front if it which is a whole different ball game). Tucker has fears of things that appear to move on their own, like unfamiliar things moving in the wind or if something falls over. We do the "I'll go touch it and show you it's ok" routine and it works really well, Usually within a few moments he calms down and will come over to investigate. Hope this helps a little! |
| George went through this.
We took him to Asda car park and sat him in the boot (open)we stayed with him while the cars passed we didn't respond at all to the cars or to him when he was looking. People were coming up to pet him and after a while he just forgot about the cars. He's still a little fearfull but to honest I don't mind that. |
kerry wrote: I would walk between him and the cars and not make a fuss when they go by. just keep walking as if nothing unbusual were happening. I think by making a noise and a correction you might be reinforcing his fear.
Mine have some little fear of cars - which I think is a good thing to some extent. However, I noticed that the dog who bikes with me is less reactive to the cars now than before. I think this is because with the bike, I jjust keep going when a car passes and she is gaing some confidence. I totally agree with Kerry. I was going to suggest jogging with him because you pick up the dogs pace. We are pretty slow for them but as soon as you start running they enjoy the "walk" more and they focus on it more. They don't have time to look around, they have a mission in their mind. I love jogging with my boys, they are so much better. Boni was attacked by two dogs when he was 4 months old. This made him terrified of dogs on the walks and he attacked every one of them. I started to jog with him and run by other dogs. I was actually looking for dogs! He did great. Now, we can walk by dogs and he carries on walking. So, I would suggest the same thing as Kerry did. Get moving faster and keep going.  |
| Thank you for the replies
We will try him near parked cars soon and we just continue walking now, with just a tug on the leash to bring him back to heel- it seems to be working for now. Walking faster REALLY helps, I can't jog but Greg jogs with him. Also we bought him some different (very smelly) treats which he really loves, this is helping with his training alot. I also got a ball "flinger" so I can throw a tennis ball much further so I'm wearing him out much more, and a whistle, we have just started whistle training, only doing recall at the moment. ALL these things seem to have taken his mind off his fear a little, and made him so tired he almost forgets about the cars. I didn't realise he could develop new fears if he didn't have a bad experience but I guess it's obvious really! I was thinking in a human way |
| This is exactly what happened to Summer. We were walking her down a private road but cars come down to get to garages. We were taking her to side of path and saying "wait car" and she sat. Of course when we were walking on the path in traffic she kept stopping and sitting when a car went past and trying to pull away from it. We chose quieter areas to walk and had her near the wall, when a car went past we just carried on walking, pulling her gently and not speaking. when she walked normally we praised her. She sometimes looks at the car and then at us, but if we dont look worried she is Ok.
She started to jump up at us in the house so I leave my car keys on the side and if she jumps at us we drop the keys on the floor. This also works when she has her head in the dishwasher. fingers crossed. |
When he falls behind, take your leg away from him and swing it back and tap him. That way there's no tug on the collar, just a nudge to get his attention back into walking up with you. Of course the trick is to not trip and fall........  |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|