Adolescent puppy scared of/barking and lunging at cars

[puppyy8]

Hi all, I just wanted some advice for my 7-month-old puppy. She has started barking and lunging at cars that pass her on walks. It started a few weeks ago out of the blue. Before that, she was always fine with other cars and I had done a lot of work with her from 10 weeks old to get her used to cars.

I have been doing 'look at that' training and we have gotten to the point where she will look at the car, and then look at me for a treat. However, I've not been able to progress getting closer to cars. She seems ok watching cars cross in front of her, it's more when they come up along side her, either behind or towards her. I live in quite a busy area and if a car comes down our road it will trigger the barking and lunging and then that's it for the session as she won't calm down after that. We've been spending lots of time on our driveway with treats, playing tug of war and having a lickimat whilst cars drive past in the distance, but if I try and step off the driveway it just goes wrong.

She is fine with the sounds of cars, it's the sight of them. I think it's fear, but I wonder if there's also a chasing/herding instinct too?

Does anyone have any advice?

Do you stop when a car is in the vicinity? Make her look and then give a treat?
This could be counterproductive.

A better way of dealing with the behaviour would be a look at me & walk on without stopping or drawing the dogs attention to the moving vehicle.

Is she a herding breed?

Mine did/does this when she goes through a fear stage. I did as above - look at me and keep walking on a very short lead so it's not possible to lunge

It sounds like you’re doing lots of things right to help your dog.
Licky mats while cars are at a distance she can cope with is a good start. Maybe you could take a licky mat out to other places where cars are at a far enough distance to help her generalise being calm around cars. You may need to drive her to these places if she’s not able to negotiate busy streets just yet.
Tug games can help in some cases, but if the dog gets really involved the game itself can raise arousal and then when the dog notices the car, they are already quite ‘excited‘ and it’s easy for them to tip over into barking and lunging.
I’d be thinking of teaching her a ‘go sniff/find it’ cue, so you can help her calm down after a car passes and just break down your progression from garden to near cars much more slowly. Are there other places where she can comfortably see moving cars without reacting? Even if it’s in your garden with the gate open, or just one step outside your garden. Usually slow and steady wins the race.

A lot depends on the breed, if its a large dog, the force of the lunge can be a danger in itself let alone them being on the road chasing a car.

My German Shepherd started doing this, I got a figure of 8 lead and was very firm. I trained to sit as depending on the road it might not be possible to just keep on walking. So: clear sit instruction (i now use "car" command)firm grip with fig of 8 lead, treats at hand to distract, crazy ott praise as soon as they begin to show signs of getting it and go from there. I also used a very firm no when she did lunge. She is now 9 months old and will sit by side of road by herself when she hears a car, although I still keep hold of her just in case as she's still young and I don't want to take chances. Good luck!

My lab use to do this.

we worked a lot to teach “ignore it”. We just walk past the distraction. When he doesn’t react and looks at me he is rewarded.

we do use a slip lead in a fig of 8 as we feel we have more control. Anything else gave more lunging power to him.

we did the same principle with everything. Dogs, cats, squirrels, birds, bikes, scooters, prams etc. we also used the same method with loud noises such as fireworks. I can now walk him during fireworks and he won’t react at all.

it took time and a lot of patience and perseverance but we got there.

Thanks, everyone.

I try and carry on walking but she will pull/lunge towards the car so I have to stand still to hold her lead to make sure she can't get into the road. Her lead is 6ft which is long enough for her to get into the road if I'm not careful. At the moment I've been just standing on our driveway or the path immediately off our driveway, but she gets frustrated as she wants to go on a walk so I feel bad, but if I do decide to walk her she'll get triggered by a car and I worry I'm flooding her? So we've just been hanging around on the driveway for weeks now and not really making any progress. I drive her to fields and the woods for her proper walks but with the nights drawing in that's going to be difficult to keep doing. Does that approach sound right or should I just be walking her round the residential areas and getting her used to cars?

She's a miniature poodle

Go for her walk first.

You are too close if she is still reacting. You need more space between you and the cars.

"Look at that" means the dog has to see the stimulus. (not to distract as mentioned in a thread above).

I initially would just see the distance required so your dog can not react.

7 months is prime time for a second fear stage so I would not push on too quickly at this point.

I would continue to drive her to quiet places so she can have a proper walk when you can, but have a think about other places you can take her to where she can see cars at a comfortable distance (where she doesn’t react). Supermarket carparks can be good places, as you can start off in a very quiet corner and build up to busier areas as she gets more confident. She is only little and quite young - you don’t want to scare her by walking her next to things that she finds overwhelming.
You can give her a lot of exercise just in your garden (if you have one), by playing games or teaching her some scent games to get her using her brain/nose - that will tire her out as much as a walk.

You’ve posted about her a few times now, I think, and have had lots of good advice about not walking her on roads until you can sort out her reactivity.

The behaviour she’s displaying is incredibly dangerous - especially as you have her on a lead that’s clearly much too long. If she lunges and knocks someone off their bike or causes an accident, she could get badly hurt (or worse) and you could be held responsible.

There’s lots of good advice upthread about keeping your distance and just driving to walks for now.

Agree with @tumblingdowntherabbithole !

Id further add that a lead that long by roads when even when a dog is under your control (you think) is foolish, in this situation it’s downright negligent.

OP you need to invest in a proper trainer and/or behaviourist rather than standing at the edge of your drive just making it worse.

And for the love of God PLEASE stop putting your dog in situations where ‘she might go into the road if I’m not careful’ because tbh, the fact you can even say that casually is pretty shocking ownership.

Definitely shorten that lead, there’s no control with a 6ft lead.

Some of you are incredibly rude and nasty for no reason whatsoever.

She walks with a 2m/6ft Halti training lead, which was recommended by her trainer. I shorten it to make sure she can't get in the road, I'm not stupid or negligent. I just mean I have to hold the lead tightly by my side, as if it slipped out of my hand she could technically reach the road when standing on a narrow pavement. However, I've literally said that since she started lunging at cars I have stopped walking her alongside roads and instead I stand with her on the driveway which is below her reactivity level or drive her to quiet places far away from roads for her walks.

I don't think people are trying to be mean, they're trying to help you.

Standing with a frustrated puppy on the driveway is a recipe for disaster - if you can't tackle this on your own then it's probably best to speak to a qualified trainer.