New member, need assistance with my Malinois and car chasing. - Page 1

Hi,

My first time to a dog owner forum, interesting site.  Please be gentle if this was addressed earlier, but my search capabilities were not very useful. 

My 11 month female Malinois is generally a very good dog.  She has been socialized since she was brought home (7 weeks).  She has attended puppy classes, intermediate classes-twice, and is now enrolled in 'Brad Pattison' training.  The dog is good with kids, most other dogs and can heal well.  Her only issue (and ours) is moving vehicles, where she yelps and pulls as if to give chase.  I understand that the Malinois is a herding breed, but she I think over-reacts to a point that my wife and kids won't walk her on the street.  They end up taking the dog (in the van) to a nearby conservation area where she is allowed to run off lead.  I'm hoping that the Brad Pattison (not actual person but a certified trainer) course helps with this as the training is not in an indoor class, but downtown city streets.  So far after a few lessons, nothing has helped, hence by inquiry here. 

I tried the following: in a isolated area to have my wife drive the van out of sight and then drive slowly by me and the dog off leash.  While the dog showed interest, I called her and she returned by my side.  We did this several times with the same affect, in the end my wife parked the van, where the dog was able to run up and meet my wife getting out.  As I'm writing this I'm thinking that maybe this was an error.  We probably should have use a different car for this. 

Any suggestions to try to break my dogs affliction with moving vehicles?

I had a gsd bitch with the same issue, as a result of a very high prey drive. Living in a major city, this was unacceptable. It was critical to me to end it, as I lived a half blcok from a 4-lane major street in one direction and a well-travelled street a half block in the opposite direction. This led to lots of cars turning onto my street, moving past my house, and the bitch chasing them. After she chased a car into the 4-lane street, I had to take drastic action to eliminate a real danger to her health and life. ¶An e-collar was used to correct her each time she started after a car. It was heart-rending to watch and painful to the dog. But, it only took one session (Thank goodness!!) and she never chased a car again. To proof her, I took her to a major intersection where the county fairgrounds was located URING a major dog-show cluster. Cars andtrucks were zipping past her, as we waited at a walk-light. She quivered, she wanted to chase them so badly. But, the "aversion therapy" held and she made no move to chase. ¶I know it sounds awlful, but if you live in a major city, the car-chasing is life~threatening and appropriate for drastic action. Just make sure that you go to a trainer who is experienced and knowledgeable concerning e-collar training and behavior modification. Contact me via pm. If you are near my area, there are good trainers whose names I can give you.

Hello,

You have received excellent advice from Mystere. Besides working with a good trainer who can help you develop a reliable recall with the dog, use of a e- collar here is one of the few situations in which I would recommend its use without hesitation. However, you must know how to do it correctly or all you are doing is punishing the dog for something it may not understand. This situation is "life or death" and must be fixed immediately. Using cars other than your own is also strongly recommended. I also would be careful with the off-leash stuff at the conservation area. There is bound to be wildlife there. If the dog decides, even with excellent training, to chase an animal, you may or may not find her. NEVER SAY NEVER. Even afterwards, given a situation where you know the dog will be tempted, my strong advice is to use a leash. Dogs do unpredictable things. In this case, if you think the training has done the job and you are wrong a single time, you might end up with a dead dog. So use common sense too at all times. People who really care about their dogs think things through and realize that caution is the best approach to solving a problem, especially when it involves a loose dog with a strong prey drive.

Good luck.

Hi all,

Thank you for the advice.  Yes when walking with the dog in the city we always use the leash, (it's also a local bylaw requirement).  We just wish she would not pull and yelp to get to the car, because its both embarrassing and dangerous.  Ditto, when she is in the van, she'll go from window to window to see the cars go by! 

The conservation area has small animals, but being winter, not much activity at the moment.  But, I suppose one never knows what is around the corner.

Thanks,

Are you using a pinch collar on your street walks? When my kids walk our dog on the streets it makes a world of difference between them being dragged or them being in control.

Beetree,

When I walk the dog I use the prong collar (is this the same as a pinch collar?).  It does give me some control, but she doesn't like it.  She will/has snapped at me when I would snap the collar, almost breaking through my jeans.

Yes, same thing, a prong collar. Oh, boy though, I'm not a trainer or expert, but I think you are describing what is called "handler hard" or  "coming up on the leash". Others here can help you with that. And I'm sure they will.

ChrisZ you might want to send Phil Behun a message as he has Mals and would I am sure have some good suggestions.Not discrediting anyone that has already given you some....but he has the breed...infact breeds them and knows how to get into their heads.
FWIW
~L~

I agree with Hodie and the e collar.  My sister in law is a vet tech and has a good bit of training background with the larger more dominant breeds has a beautiful Rottie. HUGE boy with excellent bloodlines and is great in every way EXCEPT he loved to chase cars and try to attack the tires. He was so adament to get the car that he broke I don't even know how many pinch collars and choke collars leaving her holding the end of a lead with no dog.  Soooo she resorted to the only thing that worked; the e collar. And it did work. My sister in law only weighs 115 lbs so without that e collar she was a done deal if that dog saw a car. He still gets excited a bit when he sees a car go by but he doesn't react on it for fear he's gonna get the correction; even now that she doesn't even put the collar on him anymore. Try it. It might be your only hope.

It does sound as if you have rank, or handler aggression issues, as well. That also needs to be addressed ASAP.