Chasing Cars

[Moshamoon]

My 2 1/2 year old Mika girl is taking a liking to car chasing. When I walk her on the leash and a car comes down the road, she focuses on the car and then lunges at the car as it passes. I think she knows I will stop her as I always do with a tug. Sometimes, if there is plenty of space off the side of the road, she will choose to move as far away off the road as possible. I think she is afraid of the cars.

If she gets off the leash, I am afraid she will chase the cars. If I don't correct quickly, I am also afraid she could get hit. Any input is so appreciated. Otherwise, our walks are consistantly improving...less pulling etc.

[Mary Beth]

Cars are fun for a dog - she lunges at them, and when they sped by, the dog thinks "I chased them away" so the game is on. To train her, anticipate when a car is coming and quick turn - even if you bump right into her -praise and reward her when she follows. Practice by going down a busy street - first have her on the side away from the traffic - do your quick changes of directions - keep her interested. Then work on having her sit and watch the cars go by - you may need to stand right in front of her at first with a treat to get her to focus on you - praise and reward - then work your way up to having her sit by your side on the sidewalk waiting for the crossing light to change.

[Good_Karma]

I had this problem with my GSD too. What I ended up doing was when a car would go by (this happened very rarely as we live way out in the country, but I was always prepared), I was ready with Niko in a sit as far to the side of the road as I could get without ending up in the ditch lol. As the car got closer I held his attention by stuffing treats in his mouth, one at a time to begin and more frequently as the car got closer and then passed us. Than after it had gone by I would say "Yay!! Good baby boy!!" And Niko would be quite pleased with himself.

Now since cars are so infrequent, we don't get much chance to practice this. It would not be an exaggeration to say that even though we go out every day for several miles, might see one or two cars in an entire week. Therefore his training hasn't been completed, but we are to the point where I put him in a sit and he gets one treat as the car passes us. My husband is able to not stop at all when he is with Niko, but Niko tends to be more reactive when he is with me and I don't mind stopping for a second when a car goes by so I have not tried to train him past this point.

[Moshamoon]

The traffic in my area seems in between your last two comments. I will take her for a walk down my narrow road with no side walks, and encounter 0-5 cars on any given walk. Unfortunately, they whip down the road. I, also, take her in my car very often, so the car is not foreign to her.

Do you think that your pup is afraid of the cars, or truely trying to herd? the reason I ask is Mika will cower from a trash can on its side rolling slowly in the wind, and then try and go after a car minutes later. Honestly, I would feel safer taking on the trash can. That being said, why is my girl more interested in the car, which could kill her?

[Mary Beth]

Mika doesn't understand that a car can kill her - she just sees something speed by and her prey drive kicks in - she chases after it and the car goes away. She would probably do the same with a squirrel, a rabbit - though she could catch the rabbit. The trash can, now that is scary to a young dog and that steel monster was coming right at her. When you next see a trash can rolling - go up to it and pet it - stop it - you have tamed it - then wait - continue to pet the can and make it roll just a bit - don't entice Mika to approach - just wait a bit - she will start to come up and sniff it.

[Good_Karma]

With my dog, he tends to be fearful and he also has a high prey drive and low excitement threshold. So it is probably a combination of those.

I seriously doubt that any dog who chases cars realizes how dangerous it is.

[Moshamoon]

Thanks for your thoughts, very helpful. Guess I can't do the petting the object trick with the car . I have successfully stopped her from getting too excited around squirrels, rabbits, and cats believe it or not, since she was a pup. She actually walked right up to my neighbors cat to sniff, and I had to gently back her off before the cat swiped.

Perhaps I need to have that same confidence with the cars. She must sense that I get tense/reactive when a car is coming (although I try not to). Makes sense she would have no idea a car could harm her. Hopefully she won't find out the hard way.

[middleofnowhere]

Good Karma's technique is a variation of what I would recommend. The youngster as a youngster was very intersted in eating cars! As I live in a city & our walks involve walking on sidewalks & roadways, this was going to need some change.

I worked on redirecting - see the car coming (human can see when car is coming/hear when car is coming), get dog's attention, move off road a bit and into a focused sit. Reward as car passes. In a few sessions if your rewards are high enough in value (is used very fine treats) dog will start looking at you and sitting as a car approaches. Reward this behavior. I was then able to fade the reward & now have a dog that fire trucks can pass without arrousing interest.
Carry treats, keep the encounters few to start with and the walks short.