The thrill of the chase....

[Cleo2014]

Hi I am a new to the forums and I need some guidance. Cleo is a typical 6 month old sheltie. She loves walks and is very good while on one.... unless there is a car that drives by. She starts gearing up for them the second she see one. Bouncing and spinning then lastly the barking. I have to wrap her leash around my hand several times when this happens in fear of her darting out into the road to chase the car. If I don't do this, it is only a matter of time before she gets herself hurt. Sometimes, when she is really wound for the car, she jumps really high when it goes by and doesn't even land on her feet all the way, thus falling to the ground. I have tried everything to get her attention away from the cars. I try to stand in front of her to block her from the cars. I try to get her to sit and look at me with treats. Even when I bring high value treats with me nothing works. I guess nothing compares to the thrill of the chase. My street is fairly calm and has few cars that go down it. So it is not a constant thing. But there are at least one or two cars I have to deal with on walks. And we live in the county so there are no sidewalks. Currently, the only way I can even deal with the situation is.... I shorten the leash and stand in front of her to block the car while saying no. So... I want to keep taking her on walks but I don't want to cause her harm by doing so. Does anyone have any other suggestions to help with this issue or am I just doomed?

 

[tesslynn]

what helped the focus

Savannah has the focus of a gnat, it is s-l-o-w-l-y improving, but walking and not lunging at cars was not easy to break. I finally took to stopping and picking her up, holding her close, and talking softly but firmly in her ear, telling her "no chase". I did that consistently when the treats didn't quite cut it. UPS trucks or noisy mtc's caused her grief. I think it is the noise and vibration, it finally registered. Now and then, she still has issue, so we stop, I pick her up, speak into her ear, and put her down, wait for the next car, just to see that it took. With her, I have to physically intervene, to get her attention-get her to calm and quiet herself, and stop the behavior from escalating. Her independent, I will do what I want attitude demands it. She only gets released when she stops any squirming or any indication that she is not focused. Kaleigh always responded to voice and tone commands...not Savannah, she doesn't really listen or selectively listens, so I had to make a big deal about limiting behaviors. Kaleigh is an auditory learner so to speak. I have decided that Savannah is more of a kinetic learner. My point is you gotta find which style works for Cleo. Good luck!!!

 

[alonsoe]

My shelties are now 15 months old now and I'm still working on it but they have improved a lot.

It's scaring when they try to chase cars, bicycles, runners, skaters...everything that moves.

It's important to work on the look at me comand, as you do, when a car aproaches then call her "look at me" with those high value treats you use and give the reward if he does best or if she tries to, if she doesn't a little tug leash and a "Shh no".

As I live in a quite quiet place I have taken them a couple of days a week to the city in order to get used a bit to traffic.

Good luck and keep on working on it.