ballistic aggression to cars

[rojo]

yup, he circles and then lunges at cars on our walks...only for the first few blocks...then settles down and ignores them...I'm afraid if the lead breaks I'm gonna have a dead dog...

Anyone else notice this behavior?

thanks

rojo

[Toto times 2]

My older dog dislikes cars, trucks, planes, skateboards, crows, SQUIRRELS! and particularly hot air balloons. He turns around in a circle and shakes his leash in his teeth. I've tried making him sit, holding him by the collar and holding his whole body still. He's nine and still does it so I double check the condition of his leash every time we go out. I could use some suggestions too.

[hallswel]

I think mine is in love with motorcycle, he will stop whatever he is doing and watch them. If he is in the back he will take off across the yard and sit or stand at the fence with his tail wagging and watch the motorcycles until they pass. (we have a highway behind our house) He doesn't bark just wants to play with them, I think. Harley's are his favorite so I think it is the sound he is responding too.

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! Riley will bark at the young kid's who have their radios turned way, way up but for the most part he leaves all other vehicles alone. When he was a puppy my husband would scoop him up and take him for a ride on the lawn mower while he mowed our lawn. He loves this!!! It has cured him of barking at all moving vehicles that make noises!

[mOmOfaBe]

We recently got our front yard Abe proof. My concern is, we don't get much traffic, BUT, when a car goes by somewhat fast, Abe runs the fenceline with it. I tried taking him back inside, as punishment and scolding him for this, but he is continuing the behavior!

What now??

[wheezie23]

Zoe goes NUTS whenever a motorcycle goes past our house, or if the kids in the pasture are riding their 4 wheelers. Oh, and lets not forget the cows. She has gotten out in the field and actually tried to go nose to nose with them!!

[jendubois]

My Molly who is almost five months old now. She started lunging at cars passing by almost immediately. I have been working with her on the leash to make her sit whenever a car goes by. I hold her hind end down as the car passes by and praise her for a good sit. In just a couple of weeks of doing this, she seems to sit on her own and stays in the sit position until the car passes by or ignores the car completely.

Sometimes she tries to chase after the car after it gets down the street a little way - so we're working on STAY until I tell her it's okay to continue walking. If you do it consistently, your dog should learn to sit or stand still when a car goes by. Not sure how busy your street is, but you might want to try it on a quiet residential street for practice and then graduate to a busier street... just a thought.

[Senator Cody Wilson]

Have you guys given any thought to the amount of exposure your pooch has to cars. Cody spends the day curled up in our front bay window and can see whatever is going on outside. While he does get excited when a squirrel or cat comes by, for the most part I think he enjoys seeing what's going on. I think this has been the main reason why he has shown no signs of separation anxitey. He has access to the whole house but prefers to sun himself on the window while keeping an eye on everything. When I take him for walks, he is wary of cars but shows no signs of agression towards them. Also, whenever he has had any bad experiences at the vet with us driving him there, we reinforce it with a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house or the pet store for treats very soon thereafter so he does not think that something bad will happen every time we take him in ours.

[CathyAnn]

ooops, wrong thread....duh!

[wheezie23]

Just when I thought that Zoe was the exception.....she started lunging at cars on our daily walk today! Not only that, she chased a flock of geese flying overhead this morning. She still continues to dart out of the yard if someone happens to leave the gate open to go chase the cows in the pasture! It's become a very dangerous situation. The car aggression really suprised me because she spends so much time with me on the road, as well as out front with us. She is used to the cars passing by. What are your thoughts on the shock training collars? It seems so cruel to me, but it was suggested by a neighbor. Any input?

[bradl]

Here are three ideas that don't involve punishment for being a normal dog (chasing moving prey seems pretty wired into a lot of dogs - not their fault we disagree that a car is 'prey'). Sometimes they just go through a phase, too. Hard to know.

If she's on a leash and you put her in a down-stay when a car approaches, she can't chase after it. Simple obedience training coupled with giving her a job incompatible with the behavior you are trying to extinguish. This is the basic recipe for training out almost any behavior: substitute an acceptable one.

Increase socialization. Once a situation becomes commonplace, they tend to calm down about it. Example: to work on cars, I might take a dog to a very high traffic area and do some fun exercises (on lead of course). While they might lunge at a single car passing by, they tend not to lunge at every one of hundreds of cars. By the time a half-million cars have passed them, they sort of lose the drive (so to speak) to chase them.

Set up and counter-condition. Maybe enlist a friend or neighbor to drive up and down your road. You 'set the dog up' and then give it a way to be rewarded for doing something right. Watch for your friend's car out of the corner of your eye and as it approaches distract Zoe by being a total loon, playing with a ball, simply hand-feeding her something yummy, whatever so that Zoe is interacting with you instead of the car. (Again, substituting behaviors.) For some dogs this kind of of conditioning works so well that seeing a car turn down the street becomes a signal that will send the dog racing into the house to collect their 'car treat.'

Yes, it may take quite a while depending on how hard you work it and how creatively you match your plan to your dog's interests and personality, etc.

[wheezie23]

Wow, thanks again, Brad. It all makes perfect sense to me, too. Zoe does so well with rewards that training her so far has been pretty easy. I'll try your suggestions and let you know how it goes. Thanks!