# Strong Interest In Moving Cars



## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I can't figure this out- Rather than just ignoring moving cars on a busy street Dharma will go after them until she gets to the end of her leash. Or she will stop and look at them. It is really annoying on walks and I do not have a clue where this behaviour evolved from. I have really been working at desensitizing her and constantly exposing her to the traffic and noises of our neighborhood. she will not focus on me and stay calm.
I try to get her to sit or lie down and just watch the cars etc go by. It is coming slowly and she is getting better. I have to keep telling her that she is a good girl and reward her when we do this. I also keep calm and don't get upset with her for this behavior. But why cars?


----------



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

My Penny had the opposite problem. She was a stray before I got her and she was hit by a car, so she was terrified of them. Whenever I would walk her and a car went by, she would try to run into the bushes to get away from it. It took quite a bit of work, but now she will walk down the street and not really react to cars that go by (unless it's a really loud car, then she's a little worried). Keep working with her and eventually she'll leave them alone.


----------



## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Sometimes Dharma will try to walk on the other side of me and get away from the cars or she will walk right up the back of my legs to try and get away. I get a real mixed reaction to passing vehicles. Training... training.... training.... Patience Marcia it will come.( Dharma is only as good as I can make her).


----------



## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Think about this please, Dharma is 13-14 weeks old, walking or for that matter obedience shouldn't be a rigid thing at this age. 

Instead of stopping, try moving ahead but with purpose. Your goal is to walk the dog; it will follow you. Keep looking at her and keep stopping at EVERYTHING she focused on and you empower her. In other words, your actions ask her to stop and make decisions in an unfamiliar environment - clearly she is not qualified to handle yet. 
My advice, keep moving forward with purpose and dog will follow your lead. Doing this repeatedly, will teach her to ignore the traffic. 
If at this point, moving forward with purpose yields a dog that is dragged around by the neck because it cannot process and is overwhelmed.... I would limit the steet walking to a shorter period and head toward an open field (because that environment is more familiar than cars and traffic, for now). 




This leads me to the next obvioious topic...

Pulling is actually a natural reaction to us, we pull on them first. If we were dogs and kept up with their interests and needs, there would be no pulling on leash. 

In the first picture I have them coupled on a very short lead, yet they don't work against each other, because they somehow understand each other. 

In the second picture, I posted before, it is interesting to note they pull against me (not against each other), because I allow tension on the lead. I do this on purpose whenever they have a harness on as this form of exercise yields a good workout for me as well.


----------

