car chasing...

O dear bubbles, that's not so good. My collie Dotty is nearly four and she's an absolutely brilliant car chaser if I let her. Try and nip this in the bud as soon as you can. For me I believe that (well for Dotty anyway) it's a fear of cars and it's self rewarding so very hard to break the habit. She barks and lunges at the car, it's driving off anyway but to her she's succeeded in scaring it away hence it becomes self rewarding. She is okay with slow cars or at a distance. I spend sooo much time with her walking the streets and trying to desensitise her to it and she is slowly getting better, even my other half can see improvement in her.

How old is Bert now? How long has he been doing it? If you are on a wider pavement is he still as bad, or is he better with slower moving cars, worse with big trucks/buses etc? Couple of years ago we got in a professional for this (and bike chasing). He said it's all about desensitising, finding a distance where she's okay, playing, treating etc (use really high value treats) then moving slightly closer. If she reacts at closer distance then to move back again. There's a couple of parks near to us next to a road but with railings so she can see the cars but not reach them. I go here a lot and find that special distance then play with her etc. even distract her with simple commands, sit paw etc and reward. She'll never be perfect and she gets herself so stressed out sometimes but I try to minimise as much as I can. I know sometimes it's impossible though and some pavements will be quite narrow. Dotty sometimes carries a small soft toy with her though this is getting less as she gets a bit better but I always have a soggy toy in my pocket. I know what she reacts to so before it reaches us I'll ask her to sit, give paw, then give her the toy. More often than not she'll direct her barking at mouthing the toy instead of lunging at the car. Then once it's gone I'll ask her to drop it, stick it back in my pocket and carry on the walk. The good thing with the toy as well is that if her mouth is stuffed with a toy then she can't accidently latch onto a poor passer bys leg as they walk past. She did to me a couple of times when she was much younger ouch.

Sorry for the long reply but hope this helps you in some way. Try and get it out of him ASAP, May be harder for you as I know you have your other dog (sorry forgotten his name  ) to walk, play and train too. Keep in touch and let us know if you find something that works for you  

Aha,the old car chasing routine,I know it well,(...erm not me,my late Sam the Border Collie,it would make his day!) Great article C.S. I agreed with it all. Sam was a whirling dervish on the lead,I had to walk well away from the kerb to stop car drivers getting the fright of their lives,some still swerved probably with surprise.We ended up living with it until he either got bored with the sport,or just grew out of it.I gave up trying to put a stop to it in the end after trying everything suggested,I used to just hang on tight,sigh,and say "you silly sod of a dog Sam." Strangely he was fantastic off lead, and didn't attempt any chasing at all,not even when the cats from the village post office ran past his nose,yet he would have been furious and given chase had they been in the garden.It still makes me chuckle when I see a young B.C. (I have only even seen the young B.C.s )doing the crouching and whirling dervish routine when driving or walking.I know the poor owner of the dog is probably cringing inside with embarrassment and frustration, as I used to feel,hee hee.

Its hard to say how long he has done it but recently its constant. Every car/van/bus/motor bike/bicycle/tractor that goes past he jumps at it and tries to chase it. I've started to aim for the paths that have grass before the road as I got a fright recently where he was so close to the car. Think I will try the distraction with a toy and/or a command. Both boys have been doing great with walking but think I will have to go back to basics & walk them alone again

Hmmm I think Dotty was about that age or maybe just slightly younger when it started to become a real issue. Your post Migsy made me laugh, I'd have loved to have met Sam, he sounds just lovely and a proper collie lol. There's only been once or twice when I've been out driving and I've seen other young collies lying at the side of the road waiting to lunge, totally empathise with the owner. On the other hand I'm really envious when I see all these collies playing off leash in parks next to main roads chasing the ball, some days I'd do anything for a nice calm quiet dog....ah sigh....(wouldn't change you for the world Dotty, ok...maybe just a little ) 

Have you got somewhere you can take Bert so you can play etc with the cars being at a distance? This might be the beginning of trying to solve it. I think I'm also right in saying you use a harness with Bert, seen it in his pics. Definately a must so he doesn't damage his neck/spine if he's lunging suddenly. The article that CS linked to is great too. Remember the more he does it the more engrained it becomes and the harder it will be to get out of him. 

I also know a couple of jack Russell's who chase bikes/runners in the park but for some reason the owners think it's okay cos it's a small dog, definately not okay in my book   

Do you say anything to him when he looks at you bubbles87 ?

If you are saying no after hes finished the event then maybe do not say anything at all ? He may be taking that one word as a praise, i.e you are re enforcing the action as ok ? Might be a pain in the bum but if you see a vehicle coming towards you then stop the walk and put yourself between dog and road and just stand there, say nothing. Then when its passed just ask him to walk on, if he doesn't create whilst you are stood still, then reward him lots of praise. Beau used to be very nervous of traffic.