Barking at moving vehicles, but not while riding in one
My Zoey is not a chronic barker and lurcher/leash puller. She is very house trained too and never shows signs of aggression towards people. However, she will bark and lurch uncontrollably at any moving vehicle. This also occurs when she's in the house, or in the yard and not only during walks. She doesn't bark at moving vehicles if she's riding in the car or if we pet her. She doesn't bark at parked vehicles. She is an excellent passenger in the car. I've tried everything those Monks and others recommend, but nothing seems to work. Is fear at the core of her issue? Is it excitement? Is it the noise ? Someone in another topic said it could be Alpha traits or frustration. I don't know how this might fit. I am not sure what it is but does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks |
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| First, welcome to the forum! How old is Zoey? Don't forget that we LOVE pictures!
Sounds like a herding issue to me. Drezzie used to do that, too. We had to physically restrain her whenever any car left our driveway. One time she got out in the street and was chasing my in-laws down the street! She also loves riding in the car. She would never bark at passing cars, but just let a truck or a bigger van go by, and she would lunge at the windows barking. Never could figure that one out. I have no cure. Like I said, we just had to physically restrain her. She finally figured it was no use, but it wasn't because of anything special we did. Good luck! Hopefully someone else on the forum can give you advice. Chris |
| Is Zoey territorial?
Mine bark at everything that comes close to the yard fence, thye look like the meanest dogs on earth, they protect their yard a lot. Open the gate, and what happens? They run to greet and play with the person they tried to eat a few seconds ago. The dogs I've met that bark at cars are alphas and/or territorial. They want the car to go away from their territory, and since the car goes away, that reinforces their attitude. Try calming down or distracting Zoey when a car passes by and reward quiteness with a treat or petting, I think that may help you with the problem. |
| We have the same problem but not with cars-- it's the vacuum cleaner. Clyde gets violently angry and attacks it, which is not as easy to deflect now that he's almost 90 pounds. He's a well-behaved, lovable angel in all other situations except this. It's way beyond just funny barking too. He's really upset by it and has to attack it. We tried everything to get him relaxed around it and nothing works. If we try to hold him down and just pet him to calm him down, he gets so upset, as soon as he's loose, he pees-- immediately. It's really a pain and the vacuum cleaner has seen better days too-- it's covered in teeth marks and scratches now!
I realize this does not help you at all but if you come up with a solution, do post it and perhaps I can apply it to Clyde and vacuum cleaner! |
| Lennon has the same issues with brooms and vaccum cleaners as soon as they approach his den (He likes to hang out in a corner that's protected by a sofa and the TV furniture, it's like a cave), he's so protective of the place that he gets grouchy and grolws when you are cleaning that place.
The only solution we've found is to ask him to leave his den while we clean (Reluctantly, he does) so the cleaning can continue. The other is to dismantle his den so he has nothing to protect... But he likes to sleep there and stays there quietly whne we ask him to be quiet! |
Drezzie's Mom wrote: First, welcome to the forum! How old is Zoey? ......The dogs I've met that bark at cars are alphas and/or territorial. They want the car to go away from their territory, and since the car goes away, that reinforces their attitude. Try calming down or distracting Zoey when a car passes by and reward quiteness with a treat or petting, I think that may help you with the problem.
Thanks. She's 11 months. She barks at cars/trucks no matter where she is; in the house, in the yard, on walks, even if we take her 100 miles away to a relatives house she will still bark/lunge at cars. Can they be that territorial? she doesn't bark like a nut at people. She doesn't even really bark at other dogs, unless that dog starts barking like a nut. |
I don't think it's territorial. Dancer does that to one of our heat vents in the kitchen when it comes on. She just started this a couple weeks ago, and she is almost 2 years old. I think she was laying on the vent when it came on for the first time this year, it scared her and now she hates it. I am guessing at some point a moving vehicle scared her, for some doggy-mind reason you will probably never understand. If you have any luck let us know please!  |
| Monty barks at the vaccum cleaner too! even if hes downstairs at the vaccums put on upstairs!.
he stops as soon as the vaccum stops though. I thought it was just Monty being Monty, but sounds like its common. We have got into the habit of putting him in the garden when we vaccum, and the same this morning when hubby mowed the lawn, Monty had to come in the house. He was better though than last time ..., hubby mowed half and Monty barked throughout. But then hubby came in and made a huge fuss of him, and then whilst hubby went to mow the second half, i sat with Monty (well , Monty lounged all over me  ) at the window and watched hubby, and hardly barked at all.
I make it sound like Monty barks at everything  , I have just started a thread about him barking at fireworks, ..... he doesnt bark all the time, mostly, hes a quiet soppy dog,..... but when he barks, he BARKS!! and you know about it !! |
| When walking the little devil, put her in a sit/stay as a car approaches and make her remain calm until it passes. Obviously stay away from busy streets at first. Cookie bit afterwards is fine, but just a bit. Eventually wean her down to praise reward.
Next step is to walk and if a car comes and she starts looking or tensing, jerk the lead and give the heel command, but continue walking. If uncontrolable, put her in sit/stay (yes, I've had to sit on a dog.....Sam tolerated cars, it was big trucks that drove him crazy--especially smelling garbage or dead animal trucks). Remember dogs see differently than we do and are far more motion sensitive. Combine that with a herding breed and an wound tight dog and you've got a little fire cracker on your hands. |
| Yep my Lola did it too, I think it was a herding thing in her case. But what SheepieBoss said is what worked for me. I live near a busy street and when we walked there she used to go nuts. So I would start to approach the street, make her sit and stay, praise her and reassure her. Then we would move up a couple more feet and repeat. If she started to lunge or bark, we would back up to a place where she relaxed and try again. It took about a week or 2 to get her to stop. But she doesn't lunge anymore at cars. Hang in there.
Sue |
| That's exactly it. You always need to be working below threshold. ONce the dog has started "reacting" it is too close, so you need to move back to a comfortable distance. Once the dog is calm for a while, at a certain distacne you can advance again, but just in small increments, and ALWAYS below threshold so rewards can always be given. Tons of tiny yummy treats. |
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