Chasing cars

[itchernoousko]

It's my 2-week anniversary with the pup, and I am blown away by this little guy. Thanks to all the advice from this forum and to his own intelligence, a lot of progress has been made. Commands like come, sit, down, stay/released, off, etc. are understood and executed pretty well. The "off" command works like magic for biting and chewing. He does some better than others, but I am guessing that for someone 10 weeks old it's quite an achievement.

Questions:

I hear all manner of things about border collies, and one of them is that they often get hit by cars because they actually try to herd the vehicles like sheep. Mishka stays leashless on his own within the immediate area around the house - some 20 yard radius in the front. However, I suspect it will change as he grows and becomes more active. We have about a half-mile of woods in the back, but he seems to be a bit afraid of it.

- Is there a way to teach him to stick around the house and not go close to the road (we are behind a gate, so there are maybe 20 cars that would pass the house every day, and those are all just the neighbors; but I want to be as cautious as it is reasonable).

- To add to the above: what's your opinion about the electric fence and collar, that would limit his movements?

- In general, any suggestions for teaching him to avoid moving moving cars? He likes traveling in our Toyota; I tell him to stop and sit at each intersection we cross in town on a leash. But I don't think any of that will help him understand the danger associated with cars.

All advice is appreciated, thank you.

Iouri

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[RobD-BCactive]

You might like to take a look at this thread from another forum called Chasing Cars (petforums.co.uk)

Collies have high chase drive, you can re-direct them if you are consistent and have them ignore chasing animals from puppy hood. If they get their eye going on cars, they focus on trying to herd a car or chase it, they become oblivious to other traffic until it is unfortunately too late.

They can be trained through habit not to leave your property. My family had an open gate, just gateposts and front fence, and the dog would wait for me, then lead on, and we'd walk along a busy highway to go to park.

All the dogs I've had are actually rather frightened by traffic at some stage, and need habituation to it.

As per other thread, underground fence type idea are held in very low regard in my country, and shock collars are illegal here, because they are cruel to the animals.