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Misha and Bikes!

1046 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  marylou, 
marylou
When Misha was about a year old, she was hit on a *walking trail* by a mountain bike. She was not hurt, but was knocked down and the bike stopped. The guy just swore at us, jumped back on his bike and left down the trail. Since then, she has *hated* bicycles. We have been working to overcome her fear; I have slowly gotten her used to seeing bikes from a distance, and she can now sit and watch one go by - doing pretty well. It has taken us a year to get her to this point.

Until Yesterday! We were walking on a bike trail (she is on leash); a bicycle was coming toward us, so I put Misha in a sit-stay on the grass by the side of the trail (as usual). Usually, the people either say "thanks" as they go by, wave or make a comment about how nice she is behaving. This particular *person* slowed way down; said "oh, you are waiting until I go by to let him go to get me", laughed then GROWLED AND BARKED at us when he went by! Misha jumped up, growled and lunged at him. I corrected her, put her back in a sit-stay; (was royaly ticked at the guy) released her and we resumed our walk. The *([email protected] jerk CAME BACK behind us, we moved off the trail, but Misha lunged and growled at him again as he went by.

Do you think this just set us back from the year + we have been working on this behavior? We walk on the bike path alot, there will be alot more bikes out as the weather gets nice - any advice on how to handle this?
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tibvixie101
WOW! That guy was a total JERK! Im so sorry you had to deal with that after all you've been through to work with her. I think if you keep up the same training, she will quickly see that *most* bikers will say or do nothing as they pass her. It may set her back at first but she'll get back to where she was quicker than the first time, IMO.

Keep up the great work, and remember to praise her good behavior when she sees a bike and does well!
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marylou
Well...maybe I should put this in "success stories" now, cause Misha was...well...AWESOME!

After this jerk, I've been worried about how she will react with bikes again - well, yesterday it was FINALLY nice enough to go for a walk.

Headed down the bike trail, and here comes the first group; 3 bikes with one towing a childs stroller. Put Misha in a sit/stay; she shows more interest than I hoped (hard staring, but still sitting and no growls). The bikes passed - the little kid in the stroller even hollered "doggie!" and she did not move!!


The next bike that we saw was coming toward us going very fast; a quick sit/stay - it literally *flew* past us - and she just looked at it...She got pieces of steak for that one!

I am sooo happy with her progress - I just HAD to share.
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