Terrified of walks

[Sasja2013]

When I first got Sasja in June I noticed she was afraid of cars or anything that went by us. I thought maybe if I trained her to sit for vehicles that went by our problem would be resolved. By August that turned into her sitting at the end of the driveway refusing to walk. She is not food motivated so it took a lot of coaxing and many micro walks before she would begin to do our normal couple miles. I have tried playing and training for an hour plus before we go on the walk thinking she would be too tired to care, I was wrong. We live in the suburbs so there is a fair amount of traffic and it’s really unavoidable. I have tried walking early in the morning, afternoon and after dark thinking traffic will be minimal if any. No matter the time the result is the same. Once we are back in the yard she goes back to normal and is willing to walk perfectly. I have also tried letting her walk in the yards while I’m on the road but again the same thing happened. We have used two different types of harnesses and the one I’m using now is a PetSafe “Easy Walk” harness, nothing easy about our walks. This past weekend I tried to walk her with my sister’s dog thinking she would be more interested in him but once again I was mistaken. I really am out of ideas and could use some help.

[LyonsFamily]

This is hard to evaluate without seeing the dog and how you're approaching the new situation. I would look for trainers that do private lessons in your area to get some in person help. I do have a few suggestions/questions to address the problem though.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that you're using the no pull/Easy Walk harness. Is there a reason for doing this? There may be some sort of hesitation there due to the way those devices work. An easy walk makes it uncomfortable for a dog to pull or exert any forward force against the leash. If you have a dog that is refusing to move forward on a walk, I would be using anything to encourage the dog into forward movement, not away from it.

Can you loose leash walk in your yard? What does that look like? Is Sasja happy, nervous, scared, looking around, etc? Have you worked this as an obedience skill that has a cue? Can you take her in the car and drive to a school yard or park that doesn't include any streets or cars with any success?

How did you approach the cars and condition her to sit? See may be picking up on your uneasiness and the sit command is cueing the behavior she's nervous about (cars moving), so that just becomes an even more uncomfortable situation. What play activities does she like? Have you built up her tug/toy drive? Elli is a tug nut and when she's nervous about a new situation, that's the main way we work through it.

Another question to ask is if you have an invisible fence.

[Dutchringgirl]

Stephanie has an excellent response.

When I got Sadie, loud noises and trucks going by scared the booogers out of her. So I would take her for rides in the car and let her hear the noises of the world. She would duck and jump but the more she heard them and saw that they didnt hurt her, the better she got. Also, how are you reacting when she reacts? The quieter you are the better you will help her.

Do you have someplace in town you can go and just sit with her so she can hear and see the world? I would take Sadie and Thalie to town and sit on the green and just let Sadie look and experience things. I would sit very quietly and not say a word and made sure my body language was positive. Thalie, of course, sat there in amazement that Sadie was afraid of anything LOL. I would suggest a flat collar or a regular harness as not to cause any discomfort or worry for her.

[Sasja2013]

There are two reasons for the no pull harness, first being when she gets scared she tries to run. Second, she would love to chase rabbits, squirrel, birds, etc. She grew out of the normal harness we had for her and the trainer suggested the no pull. By no means am I saying it’s all I will use but it gives a sense of security knowing she can’t slip out and bolt. She walks perfect in the yard if I have the harness and leash on but once the house is out of sight she becomes skittish, constantly looking over her shoulder and flinching at any noise. This changes if she sees a rabbit though and she goes into hunt mode (only lasting a few seconds as I redirect her). She does have a “watch” command that works well in the yard but all bets are off once we leave. I haven’t tried taking her to the park to try seeing how she reacts that. I will soon though and see how it goes. The approach to the sit command with the cars was more for her safety than anything. I feel I’m pretty straight faced/confidant on the walks but she doesn’t pick up on that. She loves tug games so tonight I took her to a very busy road and we sat in a parking lot for about 5 minutes. I glanced at the responses beforehand so as we were sitting there and she clearly wanted out as she was attempting to army crawl away she found a large stick. Clearly she wanted to play so I picked it up and we began playing/doing some sit/down commands. It immediately brought her into the familiar mood that she has at home. It was wonderful so I used the stick to lure her home (walking by cars and everything) without her freaking out. Also, we do not have an electric fence just a large fenced backyard.

[johninny]

ditto all above.
walks, as everything else, have to be fun. make strange noises and tickle her at random and frequent points so that she gets that these walks result in quality time with her person. silliness on my part always seems to help. how suburban is it? - is there a hamburger that she can buy and snack on during the walk? you said not food motivated, but a warm juicy hamburger appearing completely out of-the-blue wins over pretty much any dog. or have the walk result in, lead to, coincide with something else she would value highly. [ Saki wanted to run like hell EVERY time a car came down the street. he seemed hopeless, but i got silly happy when traffic appeared - my way of declaring no danger - or i would simply say, it's ok, let's go. now he pretty much ignors it all.]

[Stacy_R]

but i got silly happy when traffic appeared - my way of declaring no danger - or i would simply say, it's ok, let's go. now he pretty much ignors it all.

I have to used this "silly happy" technique with Baby Ruth and thunder. In a super happy, higher-than-normal pitch of voice I say: "BIG noise!" and hand her a cookie. It works.

[Sugars Mom]

Yes, anything you can do to get her to focus on something else (positive) to distract her from what ever is scaring her will help. So if sticks work, great! It may be some trial and error on what will work, and it may be different at different times, but keep at it. You got some good suggestions so far. And you know its not something that will happen overnight, so hang in there We are all rooting for you guys!

[Dutchringgirl]

Thats great that the stick was a good distraction, keep that up. My girls LOVE sticks. Keep that up !

[LyonsFamily]

The stick sounds like a great thing. You can also get fleece or fur tugs to add to the leash if she likes rabbits. This would encourage her to incorporate the leash as a fun game while you walk and focus on playing with that and staying with you.

I only asked the invisible fence question because a lot of dogs get really nervous about leaving the yard after being confined with a fence. My in laws have to carry their 40lb dog the first block because it's so afraid of the invisible threshold at the end of the driveway. At least that can be ruled out.

I would go back to the basics and teach a loose lead walk without the harness starting in the yard. Work the attention game and slowly build up the distractions in the yard. A martingale collar will also give you the security of the dog not being able to slip out with less restrictive problems on the body. Obviously use whatever luring or games it takes to get the dog used to the street if you need the walk for exercise, but making cars just one more distraction for a taught and proofed loose leash walking command will make it easier as you go.

[Sasja2013]

This morning Sasja’s trainer came by to do an assessment of her fear. We walked to the place where Sasja’s fear was the greatest, the parking lot I spoke of, to show her at her worst. We brought a stick, tug toy, mozzarella cheese and other assorted high value treats. The only treat that worked was the cheese. All others were spit out or ignored. We were able to sit in this spot for 15+ minutes loading her up with cheese and using the toys as distraction as cars approached and then went by. By the end she was showing interest in the cars as they drove by rather than trying to slink away. The plan from here is to go to this spot daily, load her up with cheese and get her accustomed to the noise of trucks/all sorts of loud noises. When she begins to get comfortable I will start to work on commands she knows and expect her to ignore vehicle distraction. Obviously this will not happen overnight and I will keep updating. Thank you for all the great tips!
P.S. the goal is to cross to the other side of the road we will be sitting at (4 lanes) to get her a burger!

[johninny]

yea! for cheese and burgers.

[Dutchringgirl]

This sounds wonderful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sugars Mom]

Sounds promising

[Schlussdibusti]

Cheese, yeah !

But you might consider switching to Gouda, after all it's a DUTCH shepherd! - Just kidding