chasing cars

[katy_harvey]

Ive been taking Harvey out for walks now that his vaccinations have cleared and sometimes I need to walk near roads to get where I am going, the only thing is he runs after every single car that passes!! No matter what way it is ging, making it very difficult to walk anywhere! Will he grow out of this, or being a BC will he just do it for life unless I train him not to? How would I even go about doing that?

[Tassle]

BCs can be notorious traffic chasers if you are not careful.

It generally starts as a fear based reaction - (they are big scary, fast and make a bit of noise) so the dog panics.

It very quickly starts to have a go at the retreating end....and wins! It becomes a great game because they win ever time! (They chase - it goes) Therefore it is very self rewarding.

I would start only taking him out around slow moving traffic, I find car parks are best for this. Lots of calm walking - rewards for ignoring etc.

[katy_harvey]

Hmm, I will need to find a decent car park to take him to!
Thanks for the advice

[only-borders]

I had to walk along roads with fast moving cars and no sidewalks also when my girls were young.

I took my dogs to a parking lot and walked them away from the slow moving cars. If a car came close and they reacted I put them in a sit/stay.

When we walked the road side and a car was coming I put them in a sit/stay and treated. It didn't take long at all for them to learn not to lunge at the cars.

[lornski]

Lola was terrible for chasing and lunging at cars and unfortunately it resulted in her running into the side of a car and breaking her leg. It is difficult to stop this obsession and we have tried many things. We have recently purchased a Shoulder harness lead which gives us more control . The accident has made her more wary too, she still shows interest but is much improved. Good luck it is definately a b /collie herding thing though!

[katy_harvey]

Oh dear, I bet the same thing happens to Harvey! Hes a total nuisance, I think I will take him to obedience school

[Fergus10]

Fergus used to do this, we tried all the methods and nothing seemed to stop him it was such a strong instinct. Used a combination of methods:

1 - had him on a choke chain, so we had control (he's incrediably strong)
2 - sat on the roadside with toys and distractions
3 - we have a plastic bottle with stones in it (shake it and it produces a loud sound that distracts their attention away)

With the toys and treats ready we waited for cars to go past, if he concentrated on the toys etc he got them if he didn't the bottle was shaken and I walked in the opposite direction. This produced a response even if he didn't follow intially as the lead and choke chain combination made him follow. Harsh as it sounds i'm convinced it's saved his life, he would hide in the bushes and jump out at the moving cars, now he stalks them if they go past fast but never makes a move to chase them. Saying that I always have him on a short lead and correct him if he pays too much attention.

I think some things they almost need to be scared out of before accidents do happen. We've lost a dog before after being hit my a car, I won't let that happen again. Sometimes i think you have to be cruel to be kind.

Hope it gets better soon it's incredibly annoying if nothing else

[Bristol BC]

The DH and I ride motorcycles and a vehicle chasing dog can cause injury to more than itself. We were nearly done in by a sheltie once. It's def. a habit that needs to be broken. In our county, a dog that chases cars is concidered a nuisance and can be picked up by animal control, even if it does not leave off its own property.

[kglacer]

I am glad this thread is here - Finn is showing signs of wanting to chase cars so I got to nip this in the butt asap too! He's only got a 4' lead right now so he can't go very far but I can see the look in his eye and sometimes he'll try and run after them! But this is only in the yard, when we are on the side of the road he just watches them go by or lays down! I tried to teach him to stop and sit when a car goes by but for some reason he wants to lay down :S

[katy_harvey]

Its actually becoming a problem! He lunges for them, I have to stop when ever a car comes past, and stand him between my legs, because he won't sit, and wait for the car to pass!
I am getting him private obedience classes with a behaviourist soon, hopefully it will work "/

[izzysmom]

Izzy too wanted to herd cars after his initial fear of them went away. I was fortunate because I caught it early, so luckily it turned into a non-issue. I didn't do the sit/stay with him; whenever we'd be walking and a car would be approaching us, the moment Izzy's head would turn (even before he showed any sign of wanting to chase) I would give the leash a sharp tug and say "NO!" and would make him keep walking. I caught him as soon as he showed any notice of the vehicle at all. Thankfully this helped to stop it before it did grow into a tough problem to resolve; catching him at the exact second the car registered in his brain, then redirecting him immediately with the "NO" and keeping him focused on the walk, helped tremendously.

[Fergus10]

I forgot to mention that once his reaction became much less servere I began walking 'with purpose' everytime a car came past, this gave him the message that we were walking past with no reaction. It paid off! Good luck