my dog loves to point.. cars!

[JoeFriday]

I live on a fairly busy residential street in the largest city in Wisconsin. Cars aren't going by every second of the day, but I'd say they drive by about once every 15 seconds on average during the day. Whenever I take Kimber out for a walk, as each car passes, she stops and goes into what looks like a point as she watches each car go by. Her fascination with them is starting to worry me. She's fine once we're on a less busy street, and she's only 16 weeks old, but still.

Anybody else have this experience? What can I do about it?

[gittrdonebritts]

She is a pup she is going to point goofy stuff just don't let her start chasing then you'll have problems

[GUNDOGS]

I had an EP mix not to long ago that was 8 months old (a rescue) and was kinda obsessive with passing cars and what i did was when we were walking and he payed attention to the cars i just gave the lead a slight jerk and refocused him back on me and back on our walk with a small treat at times rewarding him when he ignored the cars..i only had him here a few weeks but i made sure to leave him on the lead and told the new owners to do the same when walking...i talked to them not long ago and they still at times have to give the lead a small jerk to get him refocused but hes doing much better now than when he first started on walks...good luck...ruth

[shags]

What she said Except I'd get the pup's attention before it gets focused on the vehicle, using a little pop on the lead and maybe picking up my pace a bit. Use the sound of the approaching car to gauge the timing.

[JoeFriday]

thanks for the advice. It's kinda hard to get the pup's attention before the car since she sees and hears them at the same time I do. But I've been consistently redirecting her attention back to walking every time. It just seems that after a couple weeks we're only slightly better than when we started. Originally she would freeze in her tracks or lunge after the car. Now she goes into 'stalk mode' and slows way down, but at least she doesn't try to catch the cars. I might try redirecting her with hot dog slices to see if I can get her to be completely unaware of the cars.

[birddogger]

She is a pup she is going to point goofy stuff just don't let her start chasing then you'll have problems

I agree with this and she will probably get over it. I wouldn't be too concerned about it, just keep working with her.

Charlie

[twofeathers]

If you would like to keep that dog SERIOUSLY nip that in the butt. Can speak from experiance.

[RoostersMom]

Try teaching the dog the "watch me" command. That is when he focuses on your face (eyes). You need a very high value treat (liver, chicken, summer sausage) and just reward the dog when it looks into your face. I have found this command to be very helpful in situations like yours and also when dogs get too focused on other dogs or bikes or strangers passing by.

[JoeFriday]

we went for a short walk today and got serious about 'heel' obedience. That seemed to help quite a bit. But goes along with what RoostersMom suggests... getting the dog to focus on something else. I'm going to teach the 'watch me' command as you suggest.

[JoeFriday]

just a quick update..

I haven't had to pull out the treats to divert her attention. Doing some serious heel training has really had a big impact on her. Within a couple walks she has learned what heel means and knows she is supposed to stay beside me. Of course, actually doing it all the time is a different matter, but I'm impressed with how she's doing in such a short amount of time.

as for the cars.. they still get noticed, but a light jerk on the lead brings her attention back to walking and she doesn't break her stride at all now. We have a little ways to go before she doesn't notice the cars at all, but I'm not worried about it anymore. I think with a little time she'll forget her fascination with them.

[birddogger]

I think you are right, just keep working on it and good luck.

Charlie

[ezzy333]

Probably won't be a lot of cars out in the upland fields or the Chukar areas.

Ezzy