[Analogdog]

I have an approximately 2 year old whippet/cattle dog mix who we got from a shelter about 6 months ago. She is currently on Prozac which has provided little change. Flower Essences have given amazing change calming her down immensely.

She gets very upset when we leave, and is very excited when we return, much like separation anxiety, but there are no messes made when we are gone. We hear there is some barking, but often not.

She is very stressed with garbage trucks, enough so, I get her out of town on garbage day. She does not like trucks much, and finds cars offensive. There will be fits of racking about barking if she sees or hears one.

She often gets in an uproar over things I and our other dog cannot see or hear. She is just racing around in the front of the house barking her fool head off. She also likes to lunge at and chase cars and trucks. I recently saw her chase a train at a dog park along the track.

I am trying to tease this apart and work on it, as it is driving the family crazy. I am trying to figure out what I can train, what I need more flower essences for, and what I need to desensitize.

 

[doxiemommy]

There is a sticky at the top of one of the forum pages, something like "Desensitizing dogs to inanimate objects". Not sure if that's the exact title. Anyway, you might check it out, it may have some helpful info for you.

 

[Analogdog]

i am quite curious about how to treat the concern that she expresses where neither I nor our other dog can perceive. If she were afraid of something she could be desensitized or trained not to respond, but with nothing, it makes it hard to decided what to do.

Her fear of cars and trucks is a real mess. She fears Garbage Trucks immensely, other big trucks and buses are a big issue, diesel pickups are a serious problem, and passenger cars are trouble. She likes to chase them too. I suspect that chasing is a training issue. I really hope this is not a desensitization issue, as its sounds like a lot of work given all the types of vehicles and places they affect her.

Will the command Settle or something similar be of any use with this suite of problems? Or is this really about getting the fear out of her system?

 

[Nev Allen]

You are ghoing to have to desensitize her to her "fear" of all vehicles. It need not take too long as long as yolu are consistent.

Start with her on lead in your yard and have high value rewards in a moon/bum bag and if she is quite tell her "quiet, good girl" and reward. If she can be quite like this, take the lead off and repeat the reward payment for being quiet.

Do you have a gate where you can stand with her and she can see through the gate. Repeat the reward payments until she can sit off leash and be quiet.

Now onto the pavement and wash and repeat.

Every time you move to a new place, start at the begining again.

Not knowing your dog or how much time you have but I would guess if you are consistent and did this several times a day, you should have some success showing inside a week.

 

[spotted nikes]

Find the "Look at that"/Look at me threads on here on the training forum. You might have more success teaching her that, rather than trying to desensitize her to the noisy stuff.

The running after/herding behavior is common with cattle dogs. The need to chase/herd.