Chasing Trucks on Lead

[Weily4Life]

Just got back from taking Greta and Fozzy for a walk. Greta is now five years old, we got her when she was 14 m.o. We go walking on the street and if cars approach us we have no problem. Trucks and buses are a different story.

She sees a truck or a bus and her shoulders drop a little, she twists her torso some and she will run towards the vehicle. When we first had her I was totally surprised at this, so when she did it she practically would hang her self on the collar/lead trying to get the truck. Over time I have prepared myself for this when I see a truck or bus approach and shorten the lead so there is only about a foot of lead between my hand and her collar. This keeps her from getting off the shoulder and in my control. But, the yank is still quite hard.

She has learned over the years that it is uncomfortable for her and only does it about 50% of the time. I prefer her to not do it at all. When I mentioned this to my hubby he said she will probably always do some of it because of inadequate socialization during her first 14 months of life.

Has anyone else experience this?

Am I way off base here in expecting this behaviour to stop? Is my hubby right?

[Nishasmom]

I would get a prong collar; give a correction AS SOON as she starts to get "worked up". You really have to know your dogs body language in order for a prong to be effective.

[AngelBunny]

Inadequate socialization during her first year has nothing to do with her chasing moving vehicles and everything to do with the fact you haven't given her sufficiently hard corrections for chasing them and sufficiently wonderful treats, praise, and admiration for not doing so.

I'm with Nishasmom--get a prong collar, fitted correctly, get a bad of yummy treats, leave your other dog at home, and take her for a walk.

Guaranteed, if you put your foot down, making it clear in no uncertain terms you do not want her to chase moving vehicles by giving her a hard correction and rewarding her profusely for ignorning them Greta will behave.

[lengel]

Our rescued dog (adopted at three years old) did the same thing and also with squirrels, blowing leaves and pretty much anything else that moved and caught her eye. She almost dislocated by shoulder one day and severely sprained my ankle another time when she slammed into me trying to get to some moving object.

It sounds like you have time to act. As soon as you hear that truck coming, get Greta to focus on you. Call her name, give her a command (like sit) and fork over a whole lot of treats until the truck passes. Then you can move to treating her while still walking (does she heel?). Finally the occasional treat and lots of praise as the truck goes by. Definitely walk her by herself as you're working through this. A professional trainer could help you if you need one (I am not one, I just have my own experience). This behavior can be corrected. My girl no longer does this - but I still give her the occasional reward for behaving well.

[TRAINorBEtrained]

Originally Posted by Nishasmom

I would get a prong collar; give a correction AS SOON as she starts to get "worked up". You really have to know your dogs body language in order for a prong to be effective.

I have tried the prong collar as a training method during our walks.
My rotty (DIAMOND) is not fazed at all. Neck has lots of thick skin so maybe thats why.
In beginning of our walk Diamond always wants to walk very fast choking her self. (very hyper) Half way through she is panting so hard, drooling and actually drops to ground to rest.

PS; I have one of those hard headed rottys.

You might have good success with the prong collar.
Good Luck!!

[Nishasmom]

Originally Posted by TRAINorBEtrained

I have tried the prong collar as a training method during our walks.
My rotty (DIAMOND) is not fazed at all. Neck has lots of thick skin so maybe thats why.
In beginning of our walk Diamond always wants to walk very fast choking her self. (very hyper) Half way through she is panting so hard, drooling and actually drops to ground to rest.
!

You are not using it correctly then . The correction should be made before she can even begin to pull. And each time she starts pulling again, she gets another correction.

Use a collar with a medium sized prong (harsher correction); make sure it is fitted correctly. Most important, make sure you are correcting him the right way!! A quick, sharp, hard, correction should work. You should jerk hard enough that your dog stops, and looks up at you like "hey, why did you do that". Don't be shy , once your dog understands what is going on, a simple light tug will do in most instances.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, when not giving a correction, there should be NO tension at all in the lead. When starting this method, it may mean it takes you 10 minutes to leave the driveway!

[Weltterr]

Lengel has given you excellent advice for handling this type of reactivity. By far, that is the best way to handle the situation. My dog's trainer had a different take on using the prong collar. I did use a prong on a rescue, and following my trainer's advice, it was successful too. Her advice was to NOT give leash correction, but to rather let the dog move forward until her pulling was the cause of the pressure. As soon as she stopped pulling the pressure stopped. What she learned was that when she pulled she caused th pressure, and when she stopped pulling the pressure stopped. I had two hands on the leash at all times, with my hands located at the center of my body. This helped me control the leash better. This method also was very effective.

[Abigor]

Also note the location of the prong collar. You want it to be just behind the ears and skull NOT down by the body and front legs. The muscles of the neck are very strong and less sensative towards the body than at the upper part of the neck. As soon as you feel or see that your pup is going to do its thing, a quick snap TO THE SIDE, NOT STRAIGHT UP with the leach will jar his attention away from the distraction. Also what helps, is don't have him at full leash length. Only have about 1 foot of leash from where you hold to the collar. Once you give that quick snap of the leash, say whatever command you use for "no" and step in between the pup and the distraction so the focus is on YOU not the truck. If he continues to go for the truck instead of focus on you, keep yourself in front of him and the distraction and maintain eye contact with him. If you have to, repeat your "no" and quick leash snaps to the side no matter how many times it takes to get his attention on you. It will be rough at first, but eventually he will realize everytime he is getting excitied over trucks, he is getting "scolded" and will eventually realize it isn't worth his effort and will just go about his merry way. I personally used a shock collar on my pup. More of the "surprise" effect. That way she realizes every time she acts up incorrectly, she gets a mild shock as some dogs just won't respond to a prong collar and also you won't have your pup choking itself trying to get whatever he is after. I no longer have the collar on her anymore as she is now well behaved and just ignores whatever she used to get all worked up over. I never had to set the shocker more than half of its full power. She responds very quickly to it and I live by it. I even tried it on myself just to see how it feels, and I know she does not get hurt at all by it. It is more like someone flicking you with their finger. Gets your attention, but no lasting effects.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by TRAINorBEtrained

I have tried the prong collar as a training method during our walks.
My rotty (DIAMOND) is not fazed at all. Neck has lots of thick skin so maybe thats why.
In beginning of our walk Diamond always wants to walk very fast choking her self. (very hyper) Half way through she is panting so hard, drooling and actually drops to ground to rest.

PS; I have one of those hard headed rottys.

You might have good success with the prong collar.
Good Luck!!

I agree, you're probably not using the collar correctly. It should sit very high on the neck, and it should not have any tension to it at all. The fact that your girl is pulling while she has this collar on means that you're not using it right. She shouldn't even start pulling before you correct her.

[Weily4Life]

Went walking with a prong collar today. Hopefully the size is correct for the best correction recommended (the links are 1-1/2 inches long and the prong measures 1 inch long). The collar sat about 2 - 3 inches below her head, hopefully this was the right spot, with the swivel to the right side of her neck and the leash attached to the swivel.

Unfortunately, it was not just the two of us, hubby wasn't feeling well so I took them both with me.

However, we did have some success. After a few corrections, she just looked at the next trucks, you could see her thinking about it, but thought better of it. Walking today was a more pleasant experience.

lengel,
no she doesn't heel. We need to get back to training in the spring so I can learn how to do that with her and Fozzy. We only had very basic obedience when we took them 4 years ago. When I walk both of them I have Greta, 5 y.o., at my side and Fozzy who is 8 1/2 tag along behind. Anyway, training soon it is...we are long over due.

I thank you all for all the tips and advice. RDN is such a wonderful place.

[Nishasmom]

Weily4life: So glad the collar worked for you!! If you can do that, it will be easy to train heel. Just give a correction every time he puts tension on the lead. If you want a formal heel, correct every time he walks in front of you (steps out of the "heel" position). Make sure tension is only placed during a correction

[poohbearsmom]

In the gallery, there are pictures of poorly fitted, and well fitted prong collars that I posted a while back.

It's BEST to get hands on instruction when dealing with a reactive dog, and also be aware that prong collars have been known to pop open at the most inopportune times, so leave a buckle collar on your dog.

A prong collar, just like any other training tool is just one tool to have in the "box". It can be a very useful tool, but it's not a replacement for training.

[firemediceric]

For me, a prong collar only fires my Rottie up more.

Like your dog, mine would lung at big trucks with load engines or tires. I overcame this by a combination of having me walk between the dog and traffic. When the dog started to make his move his head would meet my knee as it came up. I also employed the technique of pulling him up on the leash and choke collar; Up like a rocket, Down like a parachute. I alternated that technique with well timed corrections from the E-collar.

After about a week of really working him on this, he got the signal and reliably began ignoring the trucks. Knock on wood, the behavior has not reappeared in over 4 years.

[Ayoka]

Originally Posted by poohbearsmom

It's BEST to get hands on instruction when dealing with a reactive dog, and also be aware that prong collars have been known to pop open at the most inopportune times, so leave a buckle collar on your dog.

A prong collar, just like any other training tool is just one tool to have in the "box". It can be a very useful tool, but it's not a replacement for training.

AMEN to that!

I think she probably continues to lunge because over the years everytime she does the bus "goes away". Lunging/chasing cars/trucks etc is self rewarding.

I would sugest making the Truck passing a predictor of good things from you (as suggested by lengel) and NOT a predictor of correction. Of course this will mean working at some distance from said truck and work up to being on the sidewalk however the result would be her to paying more attention to you than the truck when it approaches and sets you up as the centre.

There is a book out called Focus not Fear by Ali Brown that I have heard a few people mention has helped with reactivity to certain things and in certain situations which might be worth a read.

[Skip]

The TIMING of the correction is super important here. You need to change the thought the split-second it enters their head, before it becomes an action on the dog's part. The correction will have much more affect at that point.