Labrador scared of cars

[Monkeythree]

I have just re-homed a Labrador. Picked him up on Saturday and he is great. In good condition, very obedient and good natured. Approx 3-4 years old.

He walks very well on the lead when he is in the park or anywhere away from the road but when he is on the pavement he is very nervous, especially when cars come past and he pulls like hell on the lead as if he just wants to get away from the road ASAP.

Because I don't have a lot of history about him, I have no idea if he might have had a trauma in the past or perhaps was just never exposed to the sights and sounds of cars when he was a puppy.

My therapy at the moment is to just gently break him in with a little bit of exposure each day and lots of reassurance each time a car comes past. Is there anything else I can do to reduce his distress? Avoiding cars for the rest of life isn't practical so I would like to at least improve his nervousness. Distracting him with his ball seems to help.

BTW he is fine with jumping in the boot of my car and doesn't appear distressed when travelling in the car. It's just cars passing him when he's walking he doesn't like.

Any sugestions welcome and appreciated.

[BlackCup]

Our previous dog was like that, petrified- he was a rescue. Our puppy (now 3) was always like it even from gently introducing her so maybe it's just they don't like the loud noise. I would watch some youtube vids on it, that dog training Mexican guy is brilliant. Reassuring the dog can sometimes panic them too as they know something's different and they can sense the stress coming down the lead apparently. They're very sensitive!

I'm sure you'll get it sorted with perseverance.

Matt

[Jasandjules]

Does he have a fav treat? If so, use this to distract him when a car goes past - if he doesn't react to it then he gets the treat.

I would not reassure him as that means he will think there IS something wrong....

[bexVN]

Interestingly I used to think the same but a behaviourist told me this is not always wrong esp in these type of situations (I needed advice after Jimmy lost confidence with dogs after a nasty incident) it is good to reassure in this situation it just depends how. Reassure In a calm assertive way, show that you're not bothered, give him confidence. Molly coddling type of fuss would be too much though

An ADAPTIL collar may help.

[Sexual Chocolate]

My lab had a problem with tractors, barks at them constantly and gets aggressive towards them. We cured this by getting him close to a tractor that was not running and let him have a sniff about it. We then stood back while the tractor was started and got him close to it again. After a few goes at this the tractor was slowly crawling along as we walked beside it. It took a few days to get him up to this but now he is fine with them. You could try something similar. Just say some word like "easy" or "Calm" but don't be all silly about it just say it in your normal voice

Edited by Sexual Chocolate on Wednesday 4th December 12:31

[boobles]

Our Retreiver hates cars & especially trucks. Not sure if it's noise related but he panicks everytime something drives past him whilst out on walks.

[otolith]

Our GSD puppy had an unnerving habit of lunging after passing cars, but he seems to have stopped doing it now.

[Monkeythree]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to drop the reasssurng bit for a few days and see if just gradually increasing his exposure will work. I had him out today and he was quite distracted by me holding the ball which seemed to help,

Cheers,
M3

[Jasandjules]

Monkeythree said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to drop the reasssurng bit for a few days and see if just gradually increasing his exposure will work. I had him out today and he was quite distracted by me holding the ball which seemed to help,

Cheers,
M3

Try a treat as well if he is food driven. It does depend on the personality of the pooch. One of ours would have surgery as long as you kept feeding her. One cares nothing for food so needs a different approach.

But if food driven, something like liver cake held in front of his nose when the car goes past and if he doesn't shy away, give the treat.....

[Nimby]

Our dog was hit by a car and broke a leg a year ago. She was understandably terrified of traffic for a few months after that but has slowly got used to it and now is fine - just a little cautious but that's no bad thing.