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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 6, 2013 14:34:04 GMT
So, on Tuesday, my mam took the girls out for their morning walk. As she got to one of the bridges we cross, an off-road motorbike appeared (on the path  ). Ellie wanted to run through the underpass, but my mam managed to get control of her and walk her over the bridge and past the bike. Apparently the man had waited for them to get over the bridge and past him. But then he revved his engine and Ellie took off. Luckily, she ran up and over the field to our house, but had she gone the other way, she'd have been in the middle of a main road. She's never had any problems with bikes before (motor or push), other than being a bit wary of the noise of a motorbike. Now, she's taken to running back home whenever she spots a pushbike. Previously, I would call her to me to keep her out of the way of a bike, and she'd stand beside me with no issues. Luckily whenever she's run off so far, she hasn't been too far away from home and has been easily recovered. But there's obviously a massive chance that she'll try and run when we're a bit further away from home and I don't want to take the risk of losing her or worse. We've got an old bike out of the shed and it's stood in the garden, but she's not bothered about it at all so my idea of doing some counter conditioning and rewarding when she sniffs the bike has gone out of the window. The problem is only when the bike is moving. I have asked a friend to give me a hand when she gets her bike, but that's not going to happen until the end of the month. I'm going to get a long line to put on her on walks so that if she does take off, I can stop her from going too far. This morning a kid on a bike came towards us and I spotted him first, so managed to get hold of her while he passed. She did try to run but I stroked her and praised her for staying with me (not sure if this was the right thing to do since she physically couldn't get away from me). Is there anything else I can do to try and put her at ease? I've got a sounds CD so I can play sounds of motorbikes, but I don't know whether they're the right kind of bike (since road bikes sound different to off road bikes) and whether it'll work. I'd just like to try anything I can to make her feel happier about bikes being there. |
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Post by BorderTerrier on Jul 6, 2013 14:49:23 GMT
Do any family members have bikes?
If so, you could ask to use them for Ellie's rehabilitation.
'Get it' so the bike is stood on a flat surface with no noise nor movement. Introduce Ellie to this. Then progress onto the bike having noise for only a few seconds. Go back a step when Ellie reacts largely in a negative way to this. Then keep Ellie in a far distance and let her watch the bike move from rather a distance. Stroke her and comfort her when this is occurring. I think you understand how you would progress steps after now? I won't include any more detail because a family relative may not even HAVE a bike.
Or you could simply try and move her away and distract her with a tasty treat or a fun toy and praise and strokes from you when you see a bike approaching. Never let a bike come real close to her in this stage, and if one does, move back a stage with high spirits.
Determination is key here.
Best of luck.
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 6, 2013 15:23:30 GMT
No, there's only my uncle who has a bike, but he works shifts and we don't see him often. Plus, he has his own dog so he can't really help as he's a busy man.
I am planning to do the training pretty much as you would with a dog reactive dog i.e. let her see the bike from a distance and reward when she doesn't react, then gradually move closer. I'm just waiting on my friend getting her bike really.
Thanks BT.
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Post by CollieSlave on Jul 6, 2013 15:46:32 GMT
We had a life-long problem with our Nell over bikes! She was a rescue dog, completely unsocialized, who had grown up on a farm. She was first rehomed with a family with young children who chased her round the garden on their bikes: this established the fear of bikes from which Nell NEVER recovered, despite our very best efforts, trying all manner of techniques. Nell would bark violently at any bike she saw - even in the distance. NOTHING worked to cure her of this. One technique was to go for a walk and for my wife to appear on HER bike and gradually approach until Nell reacted, and then to try to reduce the distance between Nell and the bike. NO GOOD! Nell did NOT react in ANY way to my wife approaching on her bike, from whatever distance! Nell was quite happy for my wife to cycle right up to her without reacting. This was always a puzzle to us as my wife approached from a considerable distance when we would have thought Nell would not be able to recognize her. Anyway, as I say, we never cured Nell of this phobia.
Hope you have better luck, Orpheus!!!
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 6, 2013 15:57:32 GMT
Poor Nell!
As far as I know, Ellie has never had any negative experiences with bikes (unlike Pepper who was practically run over by one as a puppy), and the negative experience she has had was with a motorbike, so we're not sure why she's now reacting to push bikes as well.
I wonder if Nell could smell that it was your wife, maybe? It could have been the same sense that they have when their owner's car approaches. My two know when my car pulls up outside the house and start crying until I walk in the gate!
Thanks CollieSlave! I hope she'll recover from this little setback too.
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Post by BorderTerrier on Jul 7, 2013 7:44:47 GMT
No, there's only my uncle who has a bike, but he works shifts and we don't see him often. Plus, he has his own dog so he can't really help as he's a busy man. I am planning to do the training pretty much as you would with a dog reactive dog i.e. let her see the bike from a distance and reward when she doesn't react, then gradually move closer. I'm just waiting on my friend getting her bike really. Thanks BT. OK Orpheous, no problem, and best of luck  |
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 7, 2013 14:23:17 GMT
We saw two bikes today. One came past (a short distance away) at such a speed that all Ellie had time to do was jump and look round. The other was a boy wheeling his bike down some steps and then slowly riding past us. I had hold of Ellie and kept her calm. When I let her go, she followed the boy, but wasn't chasing him. Progress, maybe? There were some lads on bikes as we neared the end of our walk too, but she didn't react at all to those, which is definite progress when thinking of her reaction to bikes when she's been out with my mam.
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Post by BorderTerrier on Jul 7, 2013 17:21:53 GMT
We saw two bikes today. One came past (a short distance away) at such a speed that all Ellie had time to do was jump and look round. The other was a boy wheeling his bike down some steps and then slowly riding past us. I had hold of Ellie and kept her calm. When I let her go, she followed the boy, but wasn't chasing him. Progress, maybe? There were some lads on bikes as we neared the end of our walk too, but she didn't react at all to those, which is definite progress when thinking of her reaction to bikes when she's been out with my mam. Sounds like progress, great job |
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Post by charlottte on Jul 7, 2013 19:43:01 GMT
Poor girl  Counter conditioning sounds good However I'd just start by having it behind a wall etc a distance away then get a family member to wheel it out. As soon as the bike comes into view, FEED FEED FEED until it goes out of sight, then stop feeding. Do that a few times then decrease distance. Don't rush it though as the more times he reacts to a bike, the more ingrained it would get. However, she sounds like she's making progress The motorbike obviously just took badly to the noise. We had a similar problem with buddy and a boy down the woods. He was revving it intentionally when he saw that buddy was frightened and I was running around after him. One of the boys mates shouted at him to pack it in and pushed him really hard haha. Karma! |
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 7, 2013 19:52:20 GMT
I know, she's already a bit nervy anyway.
Well, that's the thing, we just stood it in the garden before she'd been let out of her cage so she didn't see it at first. When we let her in the garden, she went straight to it and sniffed it. She couldn't care less about it being stood there. The only time she was a bit wary was when her ball went underneath it, but she acts the same when the ball goes under anything. My dad thinks that riding the bike might help, but I think it'll be a similar situation to the one Collie Slave described. I'm going to get a friend to come and meet us one day on her bike (when she gets it) because Ellie won't expect it and hopefully that'll help.
Yeah, I think it must have been because it was so close and it'll have been stupidly loud (even moreso for her of course). There's always idiots on off road bikes round here, but the police are trying to crack down on them and have seized (and crushed) bikes in the recent past.
Ugh I hate people like that.
Glad his friend was more sensible!!
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Post by migsy on Jul 7, 2013 21:49:39 GMT
Such a shame,poor dog.People don't realise animals are soon spooked by sudden loud noises,and that few seconds is all it takes to land the animals owner with a massive problem trying to cure the fear it's been landed with.So very very frustrating.Good luck,and hope it is soon solved Orpheous.
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 7, 2013 22:02:25 GMT
No, and they often don't care either.
It's very frustrating. Earlier tonight, I could hear the unmistakeable sound of one of these stupid bikes (or possibly a scooter I suppose) going up and down somewhere in the distance. It could well have been on the road, which of course, is illegal. It was going on for ages as well, which was the more annoying thing but it was pointless me calling 101 or anything because I didn't know where exactly it was!
Thanks Migsy. I hope so too.
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Post by BorderTerrier on Jul 16, 2013 17:40:44 GMT
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Post by orpheous87 on Jul 16, 2013 19:06:07 GMT
I meant to post an update the other day, so thanks for reminding me BT!
On Sunday, after we'd left the field and were on our way back, a man came past us on his bike. Ellie wouldn't come to me when I asked her to, but she didn't bolt either. All she did was walk towards the bike (but wide) and then turned to follow it, but she wasn't chasing it. She did all of this at walking pace. So cue lots of praise!
We carried on towards home and further along the path, another man on a bike came up behind us, but luckily rang his bell in plenty of time for us to move. Again, Ellie stayed out of the way, and just followed the bike at a walking pace (we were going the same way anyway).
So, while I don't think the problem is fixed as such (neither of these bikes were going particularly fast), I don't think it's as bad as I first thought! She's still visibly nervous when coming to the place where the original incident happened, but she does seem to be recovering from the shock now. However, I am not looking forward to meeting another motorbike as I think that might be a totally different story - luckily they give enough warning for me to put her back on the lead if necessary.
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Post by charlottte on Jul 16, 2013 19:51:20 GMT
Oh glad to hear she's doing we'll  I suppose the good thing about motorbikes is that they make enough noise so you can recall her back and get her on the lead. Fingers crossed |
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). Ellie wanted to run through the underpass, but my mam managed to get control of her and walk her over the bridge and past the bike. Apparently the man had waited for them to get over the bridge and past him. But then he revved his engine and Ellie took off. Luckily, she ran up and over the field to our house, but had she gone the other way, she'd have been in the middle of a main road. 
