# 7 mo vizsla Chasing Cars



## 1stVizsla (Jun 22, 2016)

Does anyone have any practical advice on how I can deter my 7mo girl from chasing cars?? She is extremely social and since a pup she has tended to run up to and after people looking for attention, now she's expanding it to cars.

It's Very scary. Although we live in a secluded neighborhood so she only has a chance very infrequently, I might as well be yelling into the wind.

She generally stops before she is out of sight (~70yds) but as the speed limit is 15mph in our hood she can almost pace the cars and doesn't give up. 

Aside from fencing her in I'm not sure how to deter this. She just seems to like to chase them, no barking, not overly excited just running. And this is after a very vigorous day of walks etc. so pent up energy/frustration isn't it. 

She just seems to be stimulated by them...maybe she'll out-grow this?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

It's not safe for her to be running loose. 
She needs to be in the house with you, in a fenced yard, or on a lead. Yes these dogs need some off lead time, but never near the street.


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## Canadian Expy (Feb 27, 2013)

Unfortunately, I doubt she will grow out of it. TR is right, she cannot be off lead at this point. The risk of serious injury, or death from this behavior is high. 

I had a foster who was an extreme car chaser. I had no idea, until I had her on a long lead at the farm, and a car went by on the road out front. I didn't know she had this behaviour, and before I could react, the leash was out of my hand, and she was in full chase across the field towards the road. Luckily, the leash got tangled in some shrubs along the edge of the pasture, otherwise she was gone. 

I spent the next 3 days at the farm with her on a long lead, working on "off" (leave it) with cars going by. I started out a good distance away from the road and as the car came near and she noticed it (watch ears and body language) I would say "off!" and if she made a move for the car I quickly gave the leash a fairly forceful pop back towards me, repeating as necessary. As we got to the point of me just saying off, and her not moving a muscle, we would move closer to the road and do the exercise again, working up to the point where we would be on the shoulder of the road with a car going by, and her not moving a muscle. Feel free to treat when she has successfully ignored/not reacted to the car as well. 

You will need to get a reliable response on her ignoring the cars, and having a solid recall to you before you can even think about having her off lead in an unfenced area. 

Others may have other suggestions that have worked for them, but the long lead work really pays off - especially for recall. 



Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

If moving cars are such a rarity in her life, you might consider going to more national/state/city parks where she will be on leash and going through parking lot after parking lot. You'll be able to correct her if she gets overly interested in any given car, but hopefully with more interesting smells, she'll ignore the cars. If you can't make it to more parks, you could try going to various pet stores. That might work on a smaller scale.

With that said, TR's cautions and advice have always served me well. Sounds like until you get on top of the issue, having her running loose is taking a big chance.


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## 1stVizsla (Jun 22, 2016)

Canadian exp... Thanks, that's very helpful, just what we need. I will try that behavior modification; working with her on a lead.

Fortunately she has only done it 3 times, all neighbor's cars. She lives in a neighborhood of few houses on 3-5 ac lots w 15 mph speed limit, so she hasn't had much opportunity but the 2-3 times she got away from me, the "zest" that she shows in chasing the cars caught me by surprise as I've never had a dog that did that.

Also good ideas about the pet stores/parks. We've done some parks/trails but she jumps on everyone she meets so that's another item we need to work on w/leash & choke chain.

I will try her on a long lead with my daughter driving away (she likes to give chase) and work it with her as you suggest.

Great tips all... Thank you very much!


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