Rough Collie puppy and the road

[Puppalicious]

We have a 11 week old rough collie who is fab. However we live on a noisy busy road and she’s not a fan! The last 2 days are the first days we’ve been able to put her on the ground, and I’ve taken her to parks. Seeing how much she loves it just makes it clear how much she doesn’t like the road - I had to carry her down the road to get the park, she wouldn’t walk on the ground! I took her out in my arms before she could go on the ground, one day it was early with not much traffic and she was still shaking with nerves. She’s not very food motivated especially when she’s nervous - she will barely eat. I see lots of dogs walking down the road (including a beautiful rough collie) so any stories of puppies who got used to busy roads in time, or any tips would be welcome. Will she come to love her walks so much that she’ll get used to the road as she'll know there’s a park at the end of it?

She may get used to it without any additional training but it can go the other way and she may get more and more worried. Can you sit out on your drive with her feeding treats when cars pass - if it's too close and she wont take treats you may need to start at the park instead. Basically she needs to be desensitised from what she sees a safe distance.

I agree with @ferretface.

You’ll need to start with the scary thing at a distance and gradually work up to walking her alongside the road.

Can you drive somewhere that you can sit back from a quiet road with her where the odd car goes past? She won’t be interested in food while she’s anxious but if you can get far enough away from the road that she’s happy you can slowly build up to moving closer, moving to a busier road and eventually walking along a main road.

We took our pup out tucked down the front of our jackets as soon as we got him to get him used to noises and smells. He’s fine with normal traffic although was a bit wary of lorries and buses for a while.

Have you tried super high value treats? We use JR pate, Primula cheese or pieces of cocktail sausage for high value treats.

I did sit on my front step the other evening and she did accept treats so might be a case of going slowly. She had stopped shivering in my arms (we had been up and down the road a few times) so perhaps its just being at ground level with the big scary buses going past is a new and scary change? I’ll take it slowly with her and perhaps just carry her for a little while more - she’s not meant to walk that far at this age anyway so it’ll mean she can walk more in the park.

Took my rough collie a little while to get used to busy roads. 11 weeks is very young, wait a couple of weeks and give it another go. Do you have any children or other dogs? Mine was much braver when the children were with us. He's 18 months old and hasn't been bothered about busy roads for at least 10/11 months now.

We went to the other park at the bottom of the road today (with the children) and it was too much for her altogether. It’s surrounded by a busy road, basket ball player (terrified her!), skateboarders...too much noise. The difficulty is that going anywhere on foot involves the busy road. I’m keen to socialise her but you’re right I guess i better slow it down completely. Will try a lot of playing in the front drive, will drive to the nearest smaller enclosed park and then see if she will walk the 4 minutes home with loads of high value treats etc

please please please...can we have a pic??

I too have a rough collie puppy! She was very wary and scared of the main road but is now much better. We find that we let her just sit and watch whatever. So if she hears a bike, she will stop so we keep the lead relaxed and let her watch. Ours is VERY treat orientated so lots of treats at first. I also, for the first few walks took her a very short distance. Is parking somewhere and having her in the boot, open that but she can watch the traffic going past? I do find ours is reactive to noise. The first time I took her, I picked a quiet time on a Sunday. Now a week and a half later she can manage rush hour.

Here she is!

Also, is there a private enclosed dog field near you? I haven't let mine off the lead yet because although her recall is pretty ok, I worry about loud noises - I can't say she won't bolt. Take it slow. Ours was wary of dogs and now is ok. Still a bit wary of people but interested now and will go and say hello (if they sniff of treats...).

What a sweetheart. My now 9 month old pup was scared by a busy road when she was a similar age. I spent lots of time doing quiet walks around an estate nearby at different times particularly after dark and early mornings when traffic was less. We also went on my ds early morning paper round quite a bit which really helped. I have taken her on the scary road since but started dojng that early in the morning when there was much less traffic and built up like that too. I spoke to our gundog trainer at the time and he said its not uncommon until 18 months and a lot of his steady dogs would have been similar. Hope that helps

oh my!!! what an adorable pup!!

no advice to offer but your dog is stunning

oh sorry ! i see its @LostArcher pup...either way, adorable!!!

@Bluebird2021 Thank you. She's fab and very floofy! Mostly quite chilled. Eats like a horse, though!

Well, we had a great evening on the driveway, she was playing as if there was nothing to be scared of and i even had to stop her several times from running out to the pavement despite the traffic! Unlike your pup (who is adorable!) @LostArcher she loves people, I let go of her leash in the park but have learned i need to grab her when we see people as she rushes over for a belly rub. So she was doing that with random passers by. Hoping this is a good sign!

I’ve tried to load a pic and I can’t get it to work!