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Lunging at bikes


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Good morning 

Our Four month old BC mix is terrible on her leash. Lately she has started lunging and barking at bikes and cars. I can get her to sit when they pass but then she lunges at them. I am concerned about her safety and the safety of the bikers. She also will only walk with a back clip harness. When trying to walk her on a front clip she grabs onto her leash and hopes along on her hind legs. We are taking her to puppy classes but the walking issue has me very concerned. She does know basic commands and is housebroken. Any help would be appreciated 

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Daphne, I didn't mean any respect to your concerns about her behavior. I've never raised a pup, so can't comment about that. I have had a couple timid b collies and one terrified one ~ Look At That was a lifesaver. It really helped them calm themselves and learn to trust me.

Good luck, please let us know how it works for you and your girlie.

Ruth & Gibbs

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I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound unappreciative towards your comment. She really is a beauty and also the first puppy we've ever raised.  Afraid that I am trying so hard to make her a good girl that I am making her neurotic. I truly appreciate all the help and info that is recommended. I will surely keep you posted and thanks again for the suggestion and compliment

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My dog used to lunge at bikers and cars and joggers, but has stopped doing it. (She still goes after skateboarders though.) I will say that the biggest difference for me was just her getting used to them. I would take her on a walk to a relatively busy area, and have her sit and just watch, rewarding her when something came relatively close and she didn't react. I'm not saying this is the correct path to fixing the issue, but it worked for me. 

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Hi and welcome. My pup is 4.5 months old now and I have been working on his traffic sensitivity for several weeks. He started off reacting to every car that went by. He did not always lunge but did show a great deal of anxiety. All I could do was to take him walks where there is going to be traffic and slowly let him de-sensitise himself. If at any point I felt it was becoming too much I had a get out plan where I could divert to a quieter road or park area. I found if he was getting too stimulated he could calm back down if I removed the traffic. I would watch for him jerking about too much to get closer to the road and his attention to me was fading.

Several weeks later he seems fine now. He still will stop occasionally and watch a car pass but mostly is quite accepting of them. I still watch him like a hawk just in-case something spooks him. Afraid he has never had much of a reaction to bikes but I am sure the same principles will apply. Just be patient and work with your dog to get used to bikes a little at a time.

Hope I haven't rambled on too much.

 

Brian

 

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My puppy is nearly 6 months and it's something we're also working on. We started off finding the point he could lay and watch without reacting and every day creeping a bit closer. We can be quite close now without a lunge. Sometimes his body will stiffen as though he's going to but then he chooses not to and relaxes again, it looks like he is trying very hard to fight the urge. We can be even closer if I've got him very focussed on doing tricks, I can almost see his brain ticking as I give him a command and he glances at the car then looks back at me to do the trick and take the treat and glances back at the car again.

It seems I only need to teach him how to do something a couple of times and he gets it, but teaching him to not do something takes a lot more work.

 

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5 hours ago, Daphne Swick said:

She also will only walk with a back clip harness. When trying to walk her on a front clip she grabs onto her leash and hopes along on her hind legs.

Out of interest, what is the importance of walking on a front clip?

We rarely use the harness now because he leans into it and walks on his back legs, he still wears it but the lead is clipped to his collar.

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If a puppy pulls me, I stop abruptly and go in the other direction. And again, and again. sometimes the walk is  actually going around in circles.  But as soon as the puppy takes one or two steps without pulling, we go forward. They figure  out eventually that if they want to get anywhere they can't pull. Your puppy is young, so it will take time. Just be patient. I also recommend the control unleashed puppy book. 

Good luck and welcome to the Boards. 

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5 minutes ago, Daphne Swick said:

We were told by our trainer that it gives her more control over us if she is clipped in the back and it gives her more strength as she pulls us. If I clip her in the front she looks like a kangaroo hopping on her back legs. I will be very interested in what the trainer tries when we see her tomorrow

Ah okay. I tried clipping on the front because I read somewhere that they pull less but all that happened was that as he pulled the whole harness started twisting round. At our puppy class they suggested using the collar for practicing loose lead walking with the aim that eventually all walking will be loose lead walking but the harness for if you need to take them out on the lead but don't have time for training at that moment, because they'll hurt themselves less if pulling on the harness.

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Collars make me nervous. I'm always afraid that they will get out of them. Yeah I know it's silly and that most dogs wear them just fine. Our old BC mix used a harness so it didn't choke him when he walked. And although he had three or four walks a day he was never a very compliant walker. But I still loved taking him out every day and look forward to feeling that way with the pup. 

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7 minutes ago, Daphne Swick said:

Collars make me nervous. I'm always afraid that they will get out of them.

Yes! I knew a dog who was always slipping it's collar and it makes me nervous too. I've been thinking about it recently and thinking what I'd really like is a lead with a double clip, one for the collar and one for the harness. I'm trying to avoid putting our puppy into situations where he's likely to be too crazy but if I think something might set him off I'll slip a hand into his harness too, which is why he still wears it. And it's how he's attached in the car too.

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2 hours ago, jami74 said:

We started off finding the point he could lay and watch without reacting and every day creeping a bit closer.

This!!

2 hours ago, jami74 said:

Sometimes his body will stiffen as though he's going to but then he chooses not to and relaxes again, it looks like he is trying very hard to fight the urge.

I hope you're reinforcing profusely when this happens! It's exactly what you want to see.

2 hours ago, jami74 said:

...teaching him to not do something takes a lot more work.

Yep. Especially when the something he wants to do is self rewarding, which it usually is. This is why you have to be so persistent and do everything you can to prevent it happening in the first place.

Nice work, Jami. :D

 

 

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1 hour ago, Daphne Swick said:

Collars make me nervous. I'm always afraid that they will get out of them.

It honestly depends on the dog. My lurcher can back right out of an Easy Walk harness in the blink of an eye. And it's fitted properly, snug.

Properly fitted martingale collars prevent dogs from slipping out of them.

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