Hi All

Pippin lunges at cars...its dangerous and frightening.

As she is a recue we dont know what her history is with traffic and cars. We make her sit at pavements. But when walking along roads, as soon as a car or any vehicle comes near, she goes towards it with no fear at all. It scares the life out of me.

Any advice would be great thank you

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Has she got a strong chase instinct with anything else

Yes, she chased one of our cats once, and if she sees sheep or birds she tries to run after them. Im just worried for her safety.

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i have a 9month old border collie puppy. and he used to do exactly the same! with perseverance it will fix itself almost.
we have tried:
a down. and stay on the pavement when a car passes. and i know its hard work if 4 or 5 cars pass one after the other. but it was my step one. and once he stays and doesn't move or get up to chase the car, i reward him for doing so.
Miller Used to stalk [herding gene] and then lunge forward.
so eventually what actually fixed it was a tug on the lead everytime. if he even slightly showed interest in the car. and a firm NO! did the job. and then walking in a relaxed mode he was also rewarded.
i got alot of advice also, such as take your dog to a car park. aka [tesco or asda?] where there are cars moving all the time. but its also a secure spot and start there. walking around. teaching your dog that a car is nothing to fear and its not a target.
my dog still watches for cars, but there is no afterthough.
but this is on a lead. i would never allow him to walk off lead on the pavement beside a road. because i have no idea how he would react. i hope this has helped or given any advice to you.

hi

thank you for the advice, its definatly made me feel that we can do something about the problem. its so hard though as its such a dangerous thing that she does! she does stalk as well....anyone would think we had a hunting dog not a poodle x! in the fields where there were sheep, she remembers, and begins to stalk on approach to the fields. when theyre not in there, she runs on as normal.

she pulls on the lead at the best of times, which were also trying to work on but finding it very hard! the pulling and the lunging combined are a total nightmare.

she will wait when we cross roads, she find downs hard....as in, hardly ever does them!

so much to work on!

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Quote

Poodles are retrievers or gun dogs, and can still be seen in that role. The poodle's appearance made it popular as a circus dog and pet for the wealthy. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale lists the country of origin as France, but some experts believe poodles may have originated in Russia or Iberia; Germany is also frequently cited, including by the American Kennel Club, since the breed's English name has German origins[2]. (The name poodle comes from the German word pudel, short for pudelhund or "splashing dog", reflecting the breed's development from a water dog; the word pudel is related to the English word puddle.) However, most sources concur that the French are responsible for developing the modern breed into its current form, and developing the different sizes. The French name for the poodle is caniche, referring to ducks and the poodles' water dog origins.


I have seen a couple of working poodles retrieving duck and very good they were too

Hi
My youngster developed that nasty habit last year whilst I was at the coast - everytime a vehicle went by she would lunge at it and make a biting movement - it is very worrying, and a habit, I feel that needs breaking at the earliest opportunity.

We were doing quite a lot of road walking at this time - and we were on busy roads (being at the coast). I walked her on a shorter lead then normal (I nomally us a long tracking lead) about 45" whenever a car went by I kept say the words Leave, Leave, Leave and whilst carrying on walking drew he attention away with a titbit. It didn't take long - obviously I don't use titbits any more but do occassionly have to remind her to LEAVE
regards
DT

I never knew that about poodles! I cant see Pippin retrieving much...she did manage to corner a loose sheep once though! You do often get them over her, and she spotted one, ran after it, and once it couldn go any further she just looked at it! At least she didnt attack it! Either she has herding instinct or she thought she was a sheep!

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Thank you..Iv just been saying no, when obviously i should have been saying leave! I try to carry on walking and not stop, but sometimes i just get angry and worried for her, as she doesnt realise the danger of what she is doing.

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Hi there, I have a 7 month collie who started pulling out towards cars growling and sometimes barking. Walks became a nightmare if we were close to roads. I tried lots of different ways to try to stop her but nothing seemed to work. The trainer at the dog training class suggested trying a head collar. The difference was absolutely amazing. They dont like it much to begin with but i only used it for about a week and it seems to have broken the habit.