Why do dogs love to chase cars, bicycles, joggers..
Dogs love to chase moving objects such as ball,Frisbee, lizard, squirrels etc And some dogs love to chase joggers, bicycle, cars... something that might put them into dangerous situation. What can you do about them?
Our dog is, as you already know, Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Palette is herding breed who loves to herd toys, treats. She used to nip my heel as puppy. Herding and nipping are not problems anymore, but she loves chasing ball, Frisbee, lizard, squirrels.. She showed interests in chasing after cars,bicycles as puppy a little but not much interests in chasing cars, bicycles etc now.
We go for walk daily, and since she was a puppy, I called her to grassy area (side of the road ) and stay still every time we saw a car. Then, I gave her bits of treats every time we walked to side and stay still and car passed by. For 4 years, we had been doing this and, she does pretty good when she sees the cars. Letting her recognize the presence of the cars and stay still on side of the car is something that does good for her safety and, to me, it is important to let her understand that she should not jump out in front of the cars and important training aspect,but for her, it can be fun game. Every time car passes by, she looks up to me with smile as if she were proud herself for her "stay still on side" game. Sometimes, she notice the car before I notice and she pulls me to side. When that happen,I give her extra petting and praise.
Another thing I taught her was "wait" command. Wait for door open,wait for step out from door, wait to dig in to her meal .. Teaching her to wait for entrance door open, and step out from door without dashing out was also one of the important things I taught her that involve cars and her safety.
Here is how I taught her.
Very first thing I taught her was "sit" and, I let her sit before everything she loves. Sit to get leash connected to her collar for walk ( Later, I taught her "turn around " command and she sits facing out to get her leash connected to her collar.Now, she sits facing out without me telling her to do so. ), sit quiet before I throw balls or Frisbee or maybe play tug, sit before brushed, sit before being pet, sit before meal, sit before door open etc..
Then, I let her sit in front of the door, slowly opened door. If she starts standing up, I said "Try again", and just closed door and slowly open door again. By repeating this over and over,she got ideas that as long as her butt is on floor,door open wide. And after being able to let her stays sit till door widely opened, I stepped out from entrance, and let her learn to step out without dashing out.
As for joggers, bicycles etc, I called her name, grabbed her attention and let her focus on me, not moving object and she got nice click of clicker and bits of treats. Once she became reliable and she turned her face on me whenever I called her, I randomly gave her treats or praise and eventually treats were faded away and she ignored joggers (she was not so much interests in chasing them,but rather, she did not like to be passed by them).
Dogs do things that were rewarded or things worked for them. With behavior like this that might put them into dangerous situation especially, better not to encourage them to chase cars etc.
When we go for walk, when closer to home and turn to straight road, I race with Palette. She runs very fast and occasionally, slow down after checking up on me. She hangs her tongue out and with biggest smile on her face, she races with me and enjoy running with me. At home,she gets to play ball, find it game, Frisbee... I think it is important to give your dogs opportunity to use their instincts in play with you or activities they do.
And, maybe teaching them good reliable recall " come" can also be a life saver.
To teach " come", simply run to opposite direction from your dogs. Dogs naturally love to chase. They would most likely chase after you. So, when they come to you, give them nice treats and big praise. IF just you running away from your dog was not enough to encourage them to chase after you, maybe you can squeak toys and let them get excited for the toys before you taking off, and finally run away from your dogs squeaking your dogs favorite toys. When they come to you, give them good praise.
When "come" command is under practice, never call your dogs to tell them negative things. Always call them when something good is coming. When they know that their name is called by you, always good thing happens, they sure would come trot to you in a second.
Also, have you had experience that your dogs stole family member's socks and run away from you? When dogs got something that should not be in their mouth, never try chase after them.It becomes fun game for them. Just ignore, and since stealing thing did not get your attention,they would get bored and abandon the items.
Some website suggests to use electric shock collars or water balloon or water spray bottle to stop the chasing behavior, or any unwanted behavior for human for that matter, but I do not agree with those method. By using electric collars or water spray, it maybe quick to stop whatever behaviors that were under way. Dogs stop doing things just because something bad happens. Dogs stop doing things from fear. It is possible that those fear created by such tools could effect bond with your dogs or maybe create another behavior problems. Would that be worth it?
I am not a dog trainer, but dog training is not quick work. You need to commit yourself, and be consistent, be patient, and be calm. Achieving the training goal can take long. You need to understand your dogs and review yourself too.
When there are ways to teach them what to do positively, why need to take aversive method to achieve the goal? Also, we need to understand many of the behavior problems can be natural dog behaviors: barking,chewing,digging, chasing etc etc. We are the one that need to help them adapt to our life style.
Our dog is, as you already know, Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Palette is herding breed who loves to herd toys, treats. She used to nip my heel as puppy. Herding and nipping are not problems anymore, but she loves chasing ball, Frisbee, lizard, squirrels.. She showed interests in chasing after cars,bicycles as puppy a little but not much interests in chasing cars, bicycles etc now.
We go for walk daily, and since she was a puppy, I called her to grassy area (side of the road ) and stay still every time we saw a car. Then, I gave her bits of treats every time we walked to side and stay still and car passed by. For 4 years, we had been doing this and, she does pretty good when she sees the cars. Letting her recognize the presence of the cars and stay still on side of the car is something that does good for her safety and, to me, it is important to let her understand that she should not jump out in front of the cars and important training aspect,but for her, it can be fun game. Every time car passes by, she looks up to me with smile as if she were proud herself for her "stay still on side" game. Sometimes, she notice the car before I notice and she pulls me to side. When that happen,I give her extra petting and praise.
Another thing I taught her was "wait" command. Wait for door open,wait for step out from door, wait to dig in to her meal .. Teaching her to wait for entrance door open, and step out from door without dashing out was also one of the important things I taught her that involve cars and her safety.
Here is how I taught her.
Very first thing I taught her was "sit" and, I let her sit before everything she loves. Sit to get leash connected to her collar for walk ( Later, I taught her "turn around " command and she sits facing out to get her leash connected to her collar.Now, she sits facing out without me telling her to do so. ), sit quiet before I throw balls or Frisbee or maybe play tug, sit before brushed, sit before being pet, sit before meal, sit before door open etc..
Then, I let her sit in front of the door, slowly opened door. If she starts standing up, I said "Try again", and just closed door and slowly open door again. By repeating this over and over,she got ideas that as long as her butt is on floor,door open wide. And after being able to let her stays sit till door widely opened, I stepped out from entrance, and let her learn to step out without dashing out.
As for joggers, bicycles etc, I called her name, grabbed her attention and let her focus on me, not moving object and she got nice click of clicker and bits of treats. Once she became reliable and she turned her face on me whenever I called her, I randomly gave her treats or praise and eventually treats were faded away and she ignored joggers (she was not so much interests in chasing them,but rather, she did not like to be passed by them).
Dogs do things that were rewarded or things worked for them. With behavior like this that might put them into dangerous situation especially, better not to encourage them to chase cars etc.
When we go for walk, when closer to home and turn to straight road, I race with Palette. She runs very fast and occasionally, slow down after checking up on me. She hangs her tongue out and with biggest smile on her face, she races with me and enjoy running with me. At home,she gets to play ball, find it game, Frisbee... I think it is important to give your dogs opportunity to use their instincts in play with you or activities they do.
And, maybe teaching them good reliable recall " come" can also be a life saver.
To teach " come", simply run to opposite direction from your dogs. Dogs naturally love to chase. They would most likely chase after you. So, when they come to you, give them nice treats and big praise. IF just you running away from your dog was not enough to encourage them to chase after you, maybe you can squeak toys and let them get excited for the toys before you taking off, and finally run away from your dogs squeaking your dogs favorite toys. When they come to you, give them good praise.
When "come" command is under practice, never call your dogs to tell them negative things. Always call them when something good is coming. When they know that their name is called by you, always good thing happens, they sure would come trot to you in a second.
Also, have you had experience that your dogs stole family member's socks and run away from you? When dogs got something that should not be in their mouth, never try chase after them.It becomes fun game for them. Just ignore, and since stealing thing did not get your attention,they would get bored and abandon the items.
Some website suggests to use electric shock collars or water balloon or water spray bottle to stop the chasing behavior, or any unwanted behavior for human for that matter, but I do not agree with those method. By using electric collars or water spray, it maybe quick to stop whatever behaviors that were under way. Dogs stop doing things just because something bad happens. Dogs stop doing things from fear. It is possible that those fear created by such tools could effect bond with your dogs or maybe create another behavior problems. Would that be worth it?
I am not a dog trainer, but dog training is not quick work. You need to commit yourself, and be consistent, be patient, and be calm. Achieving the training goal can take long. You need to understand your dogs and review yourself too.
When there are ways to teach them what to do positively, why need to take aversive method to achieve the goal? Also, we need to understand many of the behavior problems can be natural dog behaviors: barking,chewing,digging, chasing etc etc. We are the one that need to help them adapt to our life style.
Posted by yassy at 11/8/2009 8:00 AM 
Categories: Why ( dogs )
Tags: training dogs why dogs love to chase cars
Categories: Why ( dogs )
Tags: training dogs why dogs love to chase cars
A very good blog with a lot of great ideas! I've had and trained dogs, as you know already for many years, but I hadn't really thought about a "Wait" command as opposed to the "Stay" command. That is a very good idea.
Also, going to the side of the street when a car appears is a FANTASTIC idea for safety sake. I know that they teach something like that to guide dogs, but it would be a very good thing to teach to a pet as well. THAT one, I will definately add to my training!!! Thanks for the idea!
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I'm happy to know you enjoyed reading this entry.
When Palette was in puppy training class,since I was first dog owner,I had so many questions to her regarding training or dog care. I have asked her difference between "Stay" and "Wait". What I learned from her was like this.
stay: stay still at one point,never move until dogs are released AND stay still time is longer than "wait" command
wait: stay still for a short time until dogs are released from command
So,in short, imagine you bring food to dogs. Dogs get excited for yummy smell. You will wait till dogs get sit posture and look up to you. You slowly lower the food bowl and IF dogs moved to stand up to get to the food,you will quickly stand up straight,food goes high up, and start over. Then, if food gets put on floor and dogs sit still, you say "Wait" and after a second or two,you release from command and they get to dig in the food.
Also,from dog training TV show, which I forgot the title but it was filmed in Monk monastery and, Monk was the trainer on the show. To teach solid "Stay", he first taught dog to stay short time and then make the stay time longer longer and finally, he let the dog stay still and he started talking to dogs in high pitched exciting fun tone of voice or start running around or start throwing balls etc.. Basically,he was adding distraction to dogs and each time dogs were tempted by movement of balls or monk trainer jumping around dog, he taught dog to stay and tried one level down distraction again to start over.I thought it was good idea and I did with Palette too.
I think training dogs in fun way is fun for you and your dogs. Teaching your dog to wait when you are picking up their poop is also good idea because you do not want to get yanked by your dogs while you are trying to pick up the poop. Palette waits right next to me when I pick her poop up and when I stand up to continue our walk,she knows I am done my part of business and continue enjoying walk with me.
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