Does Your Dog Do This In The Car?Just after the last issue of the Dog Training Blueprint newsletter went out I received this email from a subscriber called Janet - "Hello Andrew, I hope you can give some advice on my dog's problem. Misty is an eight month old Border Collie bitch. She has a beautiful temperament and is going to obedience classes as well as being shown. She is very bright, alert and energetic as most Border Collies are and is also very intelligent and quick to learn. She has been accustomed to travelling in the car since I got her at eight weeks of age and comes almost everywhere with me in the car. As a puppy she was perfect in the car - she would just curl up and go to sleep (She always travels in a cage in the back of the car) However recently she has started barking hysterically as soon as she goes into the car although she usually quietens down within about 10 mins. I have done everything I can think of to stop her barking. I have squirting water at her with a water pistol, scolded her, tied her up in the cage, shaken her cage, used training discs to distract her, used a whistle to distract her, given her a bone to distract her, turned the radio up every time she barks etc etc. The problem is that I am very restricted as to what I can do as I am the driver and this barking is very distracting. Any ideas?" |
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Over the years I've come across a number of dogs that bark hysterically in the car. Usually, though not always, it's caused by the excitement of knowing that car journeys often end in a fun walk. Unfortunately it can quickly become an ingrained response to getting into the car. In cases like this the dog will bark hysterically every time it gets into the car, no matter whether you plan on taking it for a walk at the other end or not. As well as being deafening it's also extremely distracting and potentially dangerous. If your dog shows the slightest tendency to do the same thing I urge you to sort it out before it becomes a problem. Here's what I suggested to Janet - "Hi Janet, Thanks for your mail. Car related problems when you are the only person in the car can be incredibly difficult to resolve because of the safety issue. Obviously if you're driving you can't keep turning round and reaching behind you at the same time. So you have to try and resolve the problem while you're _not_ driving. Did you read the most recent issue of my newsletter in which I gave Kathryn some suggestions to calm down her young doberman at the start of walks? If you did you'll remember the third suggestion I made involved getting the dog used to having the lead put on inside the house, then going for walks around the house. Only once she was calm and happy with that could she proceed to taking a quick step outside then going straight back in. Then she could gradually progress from there. What I'm going to suggest you do is really just a variation of the same theme. (Incidentally, if you didn't read it and would like a copy just let me know and I'll forward it on to you.) Take Misty out to the car and go armed with some sort of distraction. Little chunks of cheese or other food, a favourite toy or something else you know she's interested in. What you are aiming initially for is to be able to get her into the car - which must remain stationary - and for her to stay calm and quiet while the car is still. So you need to practice this when you're not going anywhere. Ideally I want you to practice it as many times a day as you can - eight to ten times a day would be great if you can manage that much, but if that's not practical for you just do as much as you can manage. At an absolute minimum make sure you practice once a day. Just before you get to the car distract her with a piece of cheese (or whatever distraction it is that you've chosen). Immediately, while she's still preoccupied and surprised with the distraction, tell her to get into the car. As soon as she's inside, and before she has a chance to start barking, give her another piece of cheese (or whatever). If she's already started barking before you've had a chance to give it, order her straight out of the car in a rather cross tone of voice, go straight back indoors and completely ignore her. Try again in another hour or so. Once you've successfully got as far as getting her into the car without her barking, I want you to stay close beside her. Some of the time the cage door can be open, some of the time it can be shut. Keep giving her occassional bits of cheese, and keep praising her quietly for keeping quiet. If at any time she barks, immediately order her out of the car in a cross tone of voice as before and go straight back indoors and ignore her. In these initial stages just aim to have her quietly inside the stationary car for no more than a couple of minutes. At the end of that time, assuming she's kept quiet the whole time, make a big fuss of her, call her out of the car and do something really fun with her. If she's got a favourite game play it with her. The idea is for her to associate keeping quiet in the car with being rewarded with the best possible reward in the world, whereas making a noise in the car always ends in Mum being cross and ignoring her. If the noise from her usually abates after about ten minutes I want you to gradually increase the length of time that she has to stay quietly in the car for until you've got up to about fifteen minutes. It's vital you realise that at this stage you still haven't driven anywhere. All the time you're practising this it's with the car stationary and with the engine turned off. Each time you do this the same principles apply - the very second she barks she's ordered out in a cross tone of voice, taken indoors and ignored. Every time she completes the exercise correctly you make a big fuss of her then do something that's great fun for her. Make the step ups in duration gentle. So once she's ok for two minutes, try the next time for say two minutes twenty seconds. Then try three minutes, then three minutes forty-five seconds, then 4min 45 sec, then 6 min etc. Just use your commonsense about the incremental increases. Maybe those increases I've suggested will be too big for her, maybe you can step it up a lot quicker. It all depends on the individual dog and how well she's progressing - only you will know that. While these increases are taking place I want you to vary what you're doing. Sometimes you can be very close to her at the back of the car. Sometimes you can be walking around in the vicinity of the car. Sometimes you can disappear for a short while, maybe indoors, or round a corner somewhere. Sometimes you can sit out on a deckchair in full view of her but not necessarily close by. Other times you can have your deckchair right beside the car. And sometimes you can be sitting in the car. But beware - the very first time you sit in the car is when she's most likely to start barking as she'll probably assume you're about to go for a drive. So initially just open the drivers door and immediately close it again without getting in. If she's happy with that you can then open it, briefly sit down for a second or two then get straight out again. Gradually you can progress to the stage where you can put her into the car, then get straight into the drivers seat, shut the door and stay sitting in the car for a full fifteen minutes. Don't forget, you're still going nowhere. The car's stationary and the engine's not switched on. Take a book or some paperwork into the car with you so you're not wasting hours of your time every day just sitting in the car! Although this sounds like an incredibly laborious and long winded way of going about things, you should find that once Misty's cottoned onto what's going on you'll be able to progress through these latter stages fairly rapidly. As you say, she's a bright dog and is quick to learn. So long as you play your part properly - which is to ALWAYS crossly get her out of the car and then ignore her if she barks, and ALWAYS make a big fuss of her when she gets it right - she'll soon understand what's expected of her. Once you're at the sitting in the car for fifteen minutes stage, the next step is to turn the engine on. I suggest you sit in as normal and read for about 14 minutes. Then put your book down, start the engine and watch her reaction in the rear view mirror. Don't drive anywhere, just watch her. If she's staying calm be sure to gently praise her. Leave the engine running for thirty seconds to a minute, turn it off then go and get her out and make a big fuss of her. If at any point when the engine was running she made a noise you must immediately scold her at the same time as turning the engine off, going straight round to her and ordering her out in a very cross tone of voice etc. Gradually begin turning the engine on sooner and sooner after you get into the car, and let it run for longer. You need to play it by ear as to how fast you can progress at this stage, but I would imagine you ought very quickly - within a few days - to be at the stage where you put her in, get in yourself and immediately turn on the engine. And at some point during these few days as soon as you feel reasonably confident that she's ready for it, I want you (at last!!) to actually drive the car. But not the way you're probably thinking. All I want you to do is drive a few yards - literally. As before stop and get her out, either praising her up or being cross and ignoring her depending on whether she made a noise or not. Now you need to gradually increase the distance you drive for. From an initial three yards you can step up to ten. Then twenty, then fifty, then 200 then round the block and so on. When I say that I don't mean these distances are all done at one sitting. I mean you drive ten yards, stop and get her out of the car and the lesson is over. Next time you do the lesson you go fifty yards then stop, get her out of the car and the lesson's over and so on. So over the course of another ten to fifteen lessons you might have built up to the stage that you're now able to drive for three or four minutes before the lesson's over. If at any time she barks you must rant and rave at her in a really angry tone as you drive straight back home and immediately get her out in a very cross tone of voice and promptly ignore her. These suggested increments are only meant to illustrate the principle. Only you will be able to judge how well she's progressing and only you know her character well enough to be able to judge accurately how much to stretch her each time. Once you can drive 3-4 minutes without a problem you should find you can very quickly step it up to 6 then 8 then 11 or 12 then 15 then 20 and hey presto! You have a quiet dog! If it's at all possible I want you to completely stop taking her anywhere in the car with you until you've gone through the readjustment process I've just described. That's because it's absolutely vital whenever you're trying to teach any form of behaviour that you're 100% consistent about what you will and won't allow. So if on the one hand you're putting all this time and effort into teaching her not to bark in the car, but at the same time you're taking her with you when you drive and she's barking hysterically for ten minutes, you're simply undoing all the good work you've put in by allowing her to continue with the undesirable behaviour. She will be getting completely conflicting messages from you which will confuse her and make your job infinitely harder. The reason I'm suggesting you put so much time and effort into doing this properly is that- as you've discovered already - it's virtually impossible to solve while you're driving along. Therefore you absolutely MUST get her 100% disciplined about the car in the controlled manner I've described before venturing out into the 'uncontrolled' situation of you going for a 'proper' drive. If Misty's only eight months old now don't forget that she's going to be with you for probably the next ten to fifteen years. That's a mighty long time to have to put up with the sort of behaviour she's currently displaying. If you can put in the time and effort required here and now you ought to be able to sort this out once and for all inside two months at the very most. But being a quick learner, my guess is that Misty will have it sussed far quicker than that so long as you do the job properly. I'd go so far as to say that if this was my dog I would expect to have it completely solved within 2 - 3 weeks. Best of luck, and please keep me posted on how you're getting on.... Regards, Andrew" Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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