Rambunctious Remy!

I don’t know if you saw the post in behavior about chasing cars ( I think the post title is something about methods for stopping negative behaviors)but there’s a good discussion going on there about how to work with that.

As for riding in the car, I would start slow, slow, slowly. Treat when you pick up car keys, treat when you go near garage, treat when you go in garage, etc. I would work on each piece of this for several days (weeks?) until he’s not alarmed about each step toward getting in the car. Then, you could try sitting in the car with the car off and treats, etc., then with car turned on, etc...break it down as much as possible. I know this is all completely labor intensive. We had a young Sheltie years ago who got car sick and we did this with him over a period of weeks. When we actually started the car moving, we only went up and down the drive way, then a half block, then one block, etc. we built up to a short ride to a dog park where he could run and he started thinking the car was great. But, he never wanted to ride without a crate. I’d say it took us 4-6 weeks to get through the whole process.

These things are sooooo trying because we usually want to push through the tiny steps too fast and we get frustrated when the dog doesn’t change.

We also used Dramamine for our guy before he conquered this. Don’t know if that would help in your case. You could check with your vet.

Good luck with it! We are coping with a car chaser at our house and it is HARD work!

Diane

 

Poor Remy...it's hard to get them to enjoy something when they're over stimulated. Have you tried just sitting in the car with him? I would sit with Finnie in the non running car (Finnie in passenger seat, not in crate) and reward him for being calm. We'd do this several times (I'd have radio on) and we'd just sit and watch people etc. Then once he was ok with that I'd start the car and again we'd just sit and he'd get lots of treats, doing this over and over and over again. Once he was handling it well I'd start the car and back it up (I was always talking to him..good boy etc and treating) and then park it again. It's better of course if there's 2 of you then the other person can reward when you need to focus (I'm single so it was just me lol). Eventually I'd drive around the block and reward constantly (all this took place very slowly)...I did all this without a crate because I wanted him to get comfortable in the car first.
With Piper (he's a totally different dog than Finnie) I would have the crate in front passenger seat with the door off (we were constantly having to go to breeders to get his ears done and he had to be in the crate) and I'd reach in and pet him all the time. Now in the car he naps whenever I'm driving lol...he's like a baby, as soon as we start moving he falls asleep lol.

As for the peeing I just have to say boys!! Just when you think they have it down (or when they really do) they throw you a curve ball! These dogs are so smart, they think they can outsmart us humans lol.
Finnie who is almost 2 1/2 decided this past week that he didn't want to pee outside and rather than letting me know he first peed in basement and next day he peed in kitchen right after coming in the house! Back to basics lol and taking him out and rewarding him for peeing outside and he's letting me know again. I tell ya, never a dull moment lol!

 

Training 'off', put on some gloves, stand up, wait for him to jump on you, grab his front paws but not tight to hurt, just to hold. Don't make eye contact, talk, or show any interest. Just hold his front paws while he is on his back legs and you are both standing. Won't fizz him at first, then he'll start to get antsy, hang on but do not hurt. He may give up, then go at it with more vigor to get away. Do NOT let him get in a frightened state and as noted, do not hold tight enough to hurt, just tight enough where he can't get lose. He may just give up, you might stand there for a very long time, but eventually he will go back to fussing. Push his paws away from you and say 'OFF'. Once or twice and he should get it. We use a confirmation word 'YES' in our training. So I would say 'off' to Brodie and as all 4 paws go on the ground 'YES! Off'.

Train 'wait' for other people, say when answering the door or coming/leaving, even you both are coming/leaving for potty. Make him sit with verbal command; I also use a hand signal with many things (sit, down, stand, stay, wait). Confirmation 'YES! Sit', then 'Wait'. We have a release command for wait and stay, some use 'FREE', we simply use 'Release'. He is to wait for the release command before moving. In the beginning, it's a very, very short time he waits, then he gets released. If he waits for the release command, he gets a treat, if not - rinse and repeat until he does.

We use 'HERE' for our recall; some use 'COME' but our trainer said use something that you won't use for anything else with him. To start use a short leash, have a treat in your hand that Remy sees, 'SIT' (confirmation), 'WAIT', facing dog take a step or 2 backwards. Hold arm with treat straight out to your side, move treat to your center without bending over as you command, Remy 'HERE' and use leash to direct him to the front of you if needed. Your goal is that Remy comes and sits in front of you, gets a 'YES! Here' and a treat. You work backwards on steps, eventually using longer and longer leads. Recall is IMPORTANT!

Training is TONS of repetition, dedication from you humans, and LOTS of treats! Training should never be too long, should be fun and exciting with LOTS of treats and should ALWAYS end on a positive note! So make sure whatever you do, that you find something that Remy is good at to end with.

Cars - sitting in, short rides, patience, treats, fun stuff. If he gets car sick, make the rides short, not as many treats until after. Brodie always got car sick when he was younger; we live on a hill with a windy road down it that is in really bad shape - he'd barf a bit when we got to the bottom. He grew out of it, I always had his seat covered and carried paper towels. Now at 1 1/2 years, he rides great once in, but still doesn't like getting into the car. He's a spoiled pooch and rides in a cushioned car seat of his own with a safety harness to hold him in.

 

I do that too with Finnie (at 2 1/2 he still jumps up) and hates having his paws grabbed so I will say you wanna dance? Lol...he really likes to jump but detests the dance lol so I figure why not

 

I think shelties are particularly good at back chaining...meaning they recognize how certain things relate to what comes next, next , next. Right now we are dealing with Mindy’s over arousal about our grill. (I know!). For some reason she’s decided to FREAK OUT when we go onto the deck to grill, so she now gets herself whipped up when she sees my husband getting things ready for dinner even when there is no grilling involved! It is frustrating, but I’m trying to figure out when her anxiety and over arousal starts so we can work on making those actions indicators of happiness, plus, working on treats for the porch, sliding glass door, grill, my husband being out there while she’s inside. This will keep us busy all summer!

 

I find with my boys having a good down stay settles them right away. They have many many triggers too...food processor, kitchen aid, instant pot, raising the blinds and many more. And of course one dog gets another going so lots of barking but a quick down and settle and they calm right down. Of course in the yard it's a whole nother story as I live on a corner lot and lots of people walking. Of course the instigator is always my social butterfly Piper who loves all but not when he's in the yard lol.