Quote:
Originally Posted by cocis
Our 13 wk BC walks perfectly off the lead whilst in the woods/fields, but as soon as she's out on the lead near a road, she is drawn to chasing cars!
I have sat for hours on the bench at the side of the road to try and get her used to the traffic but I get the same reaction every time a car goes by 
I had a friend drive by and pull up to talk to us a few times and as soon as the car gets close enough, she starts wagging her tail, (the dog, not the friend  ) making no attempt to go for the car.
I have heard that this is a common problem with Collies and just wondered if anyone had any similar experiences, and if so, how did they cope?
I think I will end up with muscles like Arnie if this carries on!  |
Hi there,
I have a bc and went through this when he was a pup.
Don't panic it is perfectly normal as collies, being hearding dogs have a high chase instinct.
Do you go to puppy class? If you do you may be teaching her commands such as leaves when you put a treat in front of her and tell her to leave it then giving her a different treat etc. Having learnt this we were adviced by the trainer, also a collie owner,to use this principle with traffic. As our dog is clicker trained, when walking down the road, if i saw an approaching car I would give the leave it command and click him at the moment before he had the chance to try to chase and would then phrase him and give him a treat. Repeat this method and your clever collie will soon cotton on to the fact that if she doesn't chase she gets treats. Even now from time to time i give him the occasional treat just to keep it going. Hope this helps. I think it is good because it makes the dog consciously make the decision to not chase the car. It certainly worked for us.