# Anxiety with cars PLEASE READ sos



## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

Hey! My vizsla is a 14 month male. I got him to have as a running buddy and as a family dog. I have 4 young kiddos and he adores them. Training him has been great. He is very smart- and honestly a perfect dog when inside. He loves my kids so much and my daughter refuses to nap unless he is under her crib, and he takes on the job with joy. It is so sweet. So I feel bad complaining but hear me out- he is very anxious when outside (unless we are in the country). He is afraid of loud sounds so a car will send him over the edge. We live in Dallas so cars are everywhere. Since we got him at 8 weeks I have been walking him outside and doing off leash stuff with him. When he is off leash he is usually fine. Around 7 months I started running 1 mile with him on leash and the rest off. He would get anxious but it’s only gotten worse. We now do 3-4 ish miles on leash and about 3 off leash. The second i pull the leash out he is so excited. Running in circles, tail wagging, excited when we start too. But as soon as the first car drives by, tail is down and he is shaking (but still trotting next to me). If a trash truck drives by, game over and I have to take him home. If I am near an area where we can run off leash, sometimes he can recover, because once the leash is off and he can sprint and hunt, he’s distracted and after about 2 minutes of this- happy. i don’t think he has leash anxiety- bc he’s happy on a Sunday morning on leash around 5am because no cars are out.
Today, he wouldn’t even walk to our grass in the backyard to pee without someone going with him because he heard a car. I am really struggling. Our point in getting a dog, and a vizsla specifically was for protection while running.
He gets plenty of exercise. Minimum of 90 minutes per day. I stopped crating him when we left the house because I trust him fully but I learned when he IS crated it helps his anxiety, so we crate him again, but not because he has done anything wrong. 
i home school so we are home with him 90% of the time. He is very loved and taken care of. He isn’t anxious around people, other dogs or anything else besides loud noises from vehicles. 

I feel at a loss and really don’t want to medicate him-maybe I’m wrong to think that.
The only other issue (which isn’t really an issue) is he is TINY. Short, small, and 34 lbs. got all the testing done at vet and he is perfectly healthy. 
would love any and all advice. Thanks vizsla community.
-Becca.


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## BellaVT (12 mo ago)

We haven't experienced this particular problem, so I can't offer specific advice, but it seems likely you'll be able to get through it and eventually end up with a dog that tolerates loud vehicles. There's a concept of a "second fear stage" for puppies, and you are probably in it: Puppy Fear Periods: Why Is My Puppy Suddenly Afraid? – American Kennel Club

The usual advice is take the fear seriously and give them room and encouragement to work through it. Maybe this means treats when a truck is encountered? Maybe it means playing recorded noises of vehicles before meal time? With luck, the walk and run itself are a good "treat" and in the next few months you'll be back to talking walks without as much fear. 



> I stopped crating him when we left the house because I trust him fully but I learned when he IS crated it helps his anxiety, so we crate him again, but not because he has done anything wrong.


This is a good thing. The crate should be a safe space that the dog can retreat to and be calm, and not be used as a punishment. A timeout to reset, maybe, but if you use it for punishment you lose a lot of the advantage.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

We went through this with garbage trucks with Ellie. Even just the garbage truck in the neighborhood blocks away would get her into the "i'm afraid of the world stage". We would just power through and be respectful of her fear and not try to force her up to the truck , but at the same time we would try to confidentially walk on the other side of the street giving her encouragement. Sometimes I'd stop with her with the truck far away and let her watch it from a distance for a few minutes, then walk the opposite direction away. It seems they need careful exposure without a lot of forcing commands, etc at them. Just be confident and not afraid yourself and they pick up on that energy. Some treats never hurt if they work, but in that mode Ellie didn't even want them. Nowadays she stays aware of the trucks , but doesn't get into the tail-tucking afraid of the world mode any longer.


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## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

BellaVT said:


> We haven't experienced this particular problem, so I can't offer specific advice, but it seems likely you'll be able to get through it and eventually end up with a dog that tolerates loud vehicles. There's a concept of a "second fear stage" for puppies, and you are probably in it: Puppy Fear Periods: Why Is My Puppy Suddenly Afraid? – American Kennel Club The usual advice is take the fear seriously and give them room and encouragement to work through it. Maybe this means treats when a truck is encountered? Maybe it means playing recorded noises of vehicles before meal time? With luck, the walk and run itself are a good "treat" and in the next few months you'll be back to talking walks without as much fear. This is a good thing. The crate should be a safe space that the dog can retreat to and be calm, and not be used as a punishment. A timeout to reset, maybe, but if you use it for punishment you lose a lot of the advantage.


 this is all helpful and I will look into the second stage of fear. With treats and meals, he isn't food motivated at ALL. we only feed him once a day (when he is really hungry or else he wont eat). And he he never been interested in treats- and I have tried over 100. The one thing he will eat, maybe 40% of the time is meat. so weird. I even tried raw food and he would eat maybe 1/4. but yes I agree if he loved food I would bring treats on the run!


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## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

Dan_A said:


> We went through this with garbage trucks with Ellie. Even just the garbage truck in the neighborhood blocks away would get her into the "i'm afraid of the world stage". We would just power through and be respectful of her fear and not try to force her up to the truck , but at the same time we would try to confidentially walk on the other side of the street giving her encouragement. Sometimes I'd stop with her with the truck far away and let her watch it from a distance for a few minutes, then walk the opposite direction away. It seems they need careful exposure without a lot of forcing commands, etc at them. Just be confident and not afraid yourself and they pick up on that energy. Some treats never hurt if they work, but in that mode Ellie didn't even want them. Nowadays she stays aware of the trucks , but doesn't get into the tail-tucking afraid of the world mode any longer.


How old was Ellie when she was no longer tucking her tail?


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## PhilipL (Sep 28, 2018)

I had the exact same issue as Dan with refuse/bin lorries here in the UK or any vehicle that is very large and is also noisy. Rafa my 4 year old male Vizsla will cower and try to slip his lead. Using the same tactics as Dan my Rafa has improved quite a lot and will happily walk past them now so long as they aren't moving too quickly or if they are I make sure I'm between him and the truck and reasure him with lots of 'good boy' and my hand resting on his head, this helps but he still is wary of them, but so much better now than he was.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

beccamomoffour said:


> How old was Ellie when she was no longer tucking her tail?


About 1.5 years or so. She’s still wary but doesn’t shut down. I still call her a whimp as she’ll freak out over most any unusual loud sound. Once she gets it in her head there’s no shaking it unless we change location.


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