Afraid of vehicles passing by/engine start-up
OK, I'm hoping to get a little advice on training ideas for Meitou. Up until recently he has been fine about cars (or any vehicle), usually. Sometimes he would ignore; sometimes stop and stare; sometimes try to hide; sometimes he would want to chase. But as I said, normally he was fine. I would make him stop as they passed and he'd just chill until they passed. As of Thursday morning he's been acting rather freaked out. If vehicles pass by he'll whine and jump at the end of his leash and pull in an attempt to get away. He gets leery just seeing or hearing vehicles from a distance.
Now, he has had a couple upsetting experiences recently as well and I'm wondering if those might be what has caused his sudden fear of automobiles. Tuesday morning when I was out walking (around 5:30 AM) I took a short side road Meitou hadn't been on before and everything was fine up until we got close to a gentleman who had one car running while he was putting air in the tires of a van. At least, I think he was putting air in tires. There were loud quick hissing sounds and I've just assumed he was putting air in the tires. I'm not exactly car savvy though, so I could be exceedingly wrong. Either way, Meitou flipped out and tried to run the other way. I tried to walk him back the way we came up he was pulling like a maniac so I stopped. In the end I carried him past the scary cars (on the other side of the street) and once we got a few houses down he had calmed down and while the rest of the walk wasn't as easy (he tried to pull a little more than the first half) everything was fine. Wednesday morning he was fine and didn't act odd at all until we were nearly home when two neighbors started their cars at the same time right as we were passing their houses. Meitou didn't freak out as badly, except when one lovely neighbor decided to rev his or her engine a few times. Once the two vehicles were moving, Meitou seemed fine and we got home without much issue.
And then came Thursday. The walk started fine even though he kept wanting to stare are the corner of one street (which is a totally separate issue I may ask about later), until we got maybe one or two streets away from home. And as soon as he say his first moving vehicle, he started to FLIP OUT. I was also trying to get him to take a new path (different from the first scary place!) and he wouldn't have it. And more vehicles kept coming and he just got worse and worse. Once the stream of vehicles heading out had cleared up and I had partially carry him for a while. Once I put him down he really didn't want to settle back into a normal routine and it took a long time to get home since I had to stop and "be a tree" and so on to get him to walk nicely on a leash.
Normally I take string cheese as his training treat on walks because he pays more attention to it that regular treats and he'll usually take it (the cheese), but when he gets too worked up or interested in other things (crows, cats, etc) he won't take treats. Normally that's fine because he would still walk well. With the car issue going on now, he definitely has no interest in treats, or whichever toy I bring.
The last couple times I've taken him out to walk I have kept it super short (not off our street) and I've taken meat with me (a variety of meat), and so far he's taken the meat willingly. If he sees a car, he gets tons of meat. So I've been trying to make vehicles seem like SUPER YAY with yummy meat, and while he can handle a few vehicles passing I'm not sure he can handle a lot, and I didn't want to have it been overkill. I've also been thinking I could get family to help out and we can have him around our own cars, and give him treats and we turn them on and off and eventually work up to them driving by. Does that seem like a good idea? I'm hoping it wouldn't turn him off our own cars, as so far he has still been fine getting in them and going for rides (though not his favorite thing).
Would anyone recommend going to parks/farmer's markets near trafficked roads to get him exposure to moving vehicles in places that aren't the neighborhood?
Anyway, any ideas for things I could do would be appreciated.
Now, he has had a couple upsetting experiences recently as well and I'm wondering if those might be what has caused his sudden fear of automobiles. Tuesday morning when I was out walking (around 5:30 AM) I took a short side road Meitou hadn't been on before and everything was fine up until we got close to a gentleman who had one car running while he was putting air in the tires of a van. At least, I think he was putting air in tires. There were loud quick hissing sounds and I've just assumed he was putting air in the tires. I'm not exactly car savvy though, so I could be exceedingly wrong. Either way, Meitou flipped out and tried to run the other way. I tried to walk him back the way we came up he was pulling like a maniac so I stopped. In the end I carried him past the scary cars (on the other side of the street) and once we got a few houses down he had calmed down and while the rest of the walk wasn't as easy (he tried to pull a little more than the first half) everything was fine. Wednesday morning he was fine and didn't act odd at all until we were nearly home when two neighbors started their cars at the same time right as we were passing their houses. Meitou didn't freak out as badly, except when one lovely neighbor decided to rev his or her engine a few times. Once the two vehicles were moving, Meitou seemed fine and we got home without much issue.
And then came Thursday. The walk started fine even though he kept wanting to stare are the corner of one street (which is a totally separate issue I may ask about later), until we got maybe one or two streets away from home. And as soon as he say his first moving vehicle, he started to FLIP OUT. I was also trying to get him to take a new path (different from the first scary place!) and he wouldn't have it. And more vehicles kept coming and he just got worse and worse. Once the stream of vehicles heading out had cleared up and I had partially carry him for a while. Once I put him down he really didn't want to settle back into a normal routine and it took a long time to get home since I had to stop and "be a tree" and so on to get him to walk nicely on a leash.
Normally I take string cheese as his training treat on walks because he pays more attention to it that regular treats and he'll usually take it (the cheese), but when he gets too worked up or interested in other things (crows, cats, etc) he won't take treats. Normally that's fine because he would still walk well. With the car issue going on now, he definitely has no interest in treats, or whichever toy I bring.
The last couple times I've taken him out to walk I have kept it super short (not off our street) and I've taken meat with me (a variety of meat), and so far he's taken the meat willingly. If he sees a car, he gets tons of meat. So I've been trying to make vehicles seem like SUPER YAY with yummy meat, and while he can handle a few vehicles passing I'm not sure he can handle a lot, and I didn't want to have it been overkill. I've also been thinking I could get family to help out and we can have him around our own cars, and give him treats and we turn them on and off and eventually work up to them driving by. Does that seem like a good idea? I'm hoping it wouldn't turn him off our own cars, as so far he has still been fine getting in them and going for rides (though not his favorite thing).
Would anyone recommend going to parks/farmer's markets near trafficked roads to get him exposure to moving vehicles in places that aren't the neighborhood?
Anyway, any ideas for things I could do would be appreciated.
Comments
However, Sunday afternoon and this afternoon (Monday), I took him out with some family members and Amy, my border collie. He acted completely fine and nothing really bothered him. Previously I haven't walked them together much because normally I walk on my own and I haven't felt like I could handle walking both while trying to train Meitou to walk pleasantly on leash. But I think I may just have to work out a way I can walk them both at the same time. I'm already trying to figure out the best way to work it.