Rabbits... Ruby's new enemy!
When it was just on-leash I wasn't too terribly worried about it. But now, driving out of my neighborhood, she goes CRAZY in the back of the car because of all the rabbits. Slamming up against the doors and back window, running over my other dog, trying to jump into the front seat... I don't know what I should do! Please help! Caroline Ruby & Dudley |
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| He sounds like he needs to be in a seatbelt or container...sounds danterous to the driver. |
| It's the movement that is exciting her. Seat belt her. She'll get over it when she's about 7 or 8. Took Simone at least that long. More rides, more distractions. She's a sight dog, turned on by movement. |
| car harness and some sort of blind like the baby sun blinds just to distort vision? sorry not much help. Summer has it in for the doves in the garden at the moment! |
| Yes, she should be seatbelted in, you don't want her to accidentally cause a wreck. |
Where the heck do you live that you are overrun by rabbits???  I second the "seatbelt" motion. It will keep her contained in her space, and prevent her from stomping over your other dog. You might want to try to desensitize her to bunnies. It might be pretty tough, since she is so reactive, but if you can nip it in the bud before she gets over-the-top, out-of-her mind excited, you might be able to redirect her attention to something positive. The only way it can be done in a moving vehicle is if someone other than the driver is working with her. I might try it with her on-leash instead, as you've said that the issue started there. Basically, you have to find the one thing in the world that she will like better than the bunny, whether it be a special, nummy treat, or a toy. Then you have to watch her very closely, for signs that she is alert to the bunnies' presence, like staring intently, puffing herself up, or tensing and focusing. When you start to see the ramp up of excitement, give her a command, one you know that she is familiar with and good at. Reward, reward, reward when she takes her focus off the bunny and puts it on you, even for a second. Hopefully you can build on that. This is how we redirected Oscar's terrible reactivity around cars. It was a slow process, but with time and consistency, we now have peaceful walks. I trained Oscar to go up on the grass and "sit-stay" when we saw a car, by having him focus on me and the treats. Now, when he sees a car, he automatically goes up on the grass and puts himself in a sit-stay.  If you can deal with this on-leash, you might be able to translate that to the car. Laurie and Oscar |
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