Quite possibly a car chaser

[Caro]

Welcome to my nightmare.

Both mine were/are car chases, Tully was cureable, Deska is not. Time will show you which Jaspar is. Tully has a high prey drive - so I could redirect her behaviour with something else to chase, which was a ball. She has never chased a car since I increased her ball chasing. If Jaspar likes to run and chase then this might be the ticket. If you are a bike rider then take him for a run on your bike, either way its a matter of giving him an equally high value alternative to chasing cars.

Now Deska, as you probably recall is an entirely different kettle of fish and can never, ever be trusted. His is a herding response to things with people moving away from him. And he gets such an adrenalin rush from chasing that nothing gets through - not even an e-collar on the highest setting. As for what to do when he comes back, there is nothing you can do (except leash him asap in case he goes again) as he will be so pumped up on adrenalin that nothing will get through. Do not under any circumstances give him a treat for coming back (I did this at one point - boy what a mistake) because he will still be on a high from chasing the car

For Deska I do give him an alternative behaviour, herding me - but of course I am nowhere near as fast or fit for him so it diverts him maybe 50% of the time. And he is somewhat better if he has had a lot of exercise before he sees the car moving away. The biggest problem is he slips off so quickly and quietly that I dont know he is gone sometimes until I realise I'm not holding his leash! I've seen 3 behaviourists and the only response is he is too far gone so never let him off his leash.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Toffee is a chaser, but I was able to redirect him and found a compromise to be able to control that chase. I can tell him to leave it because I have allowed him to chase 18 wheeler trucks where it was safe along the fence in the dog park...
So he is actually not frustrated anymore in not being able to do what he thinks is his calling, because I let him do it sometimes. He doesn't chase cars anymore AT ALL, not even motorcycles.
I started with watch me when he was on leash, then wait. This translated then to off leash, as well. Problem is that I have to know a big truck is coming so I can say leave it very FAST....
Anyhow facebook message me sometime if you want to talk about it.

 

[KarenCurtis]

In the moment, you do whatever you can to make him stop. Toby did this to me at the park and I've not let him off leash since. I yelled at him at the top of my lungs, which seemed to break his concentration, then when he started running toward me I gave him LOTS of praise.

I'd purchase a long line for him (I bought mine at the dollar store), or tie a really long rope to him and go to the park to practice. When he takes off after a car, give him a light pull to break his attention then call him to you. Give him REALLY high value rewards and lots of praise for listening. Hopefully you can break him from this habit, but some shelties are just car chasers.

I did this, it worked. We did it over and over and over again. It is made worse if a dog is left to run a fence (I mean consistently, like having a chain-link fenced in yard and letting it happen). I know you probably do not let that happen. I use the sit-stay on walks when a car is going by, Sandstorm used to try to rush at the car, it is so much better now. He also has very good recall, if in doubt, I yell at him to come and get cookies. I also used a 20 ft lead for quite a while, it helped allot.
Karen