Dutch Shepherd Forum

Any advice for desensitizing an 81/2 month old pup to bikes in the neighborhood? Our dog Callie wants to run after every bike she sees. I try to bring her out on a leash for short periods around the kids when they are on the bikes, but it is hard work for me to hold her still. We have 3 young boys with bikes and skateboards, and most of the neighborhood is on something with wheels. It is just unacceptable that Callie not grow accustomed to the bikes, but I am a 120 pound woman with not a lot of strength and don't know how much longer I can take the pulling when I am trying to hold her with bikes in the driveway. By the way, my first preference even though it may be tough to do, is to not rely on special collars to get her to listen to me and leave the bikes alone.

Start with basic obedience training at a distance and gradually work your way closer.

That is WAY over simplification... get in touch with a good dog trainer in your area to help out.

Got it, thanks! We have been to basic training and I will contact our trainer. In the meantime I think I know what you mean

I hear ya on not wanting to rely on special collars, but I have to say personally, being 115 lbs with this type of dog, I like pinch collars. I never yank on it. She knows just by having it on what she can and cant do. It saves my elbows, shoulders and back from getting messed up. Not saying that they are the end all, nothing works better than proper training, but.... just saying.

I have a slip collar now, but we used a flat collar and regular leash in obedience class. If they learn on a pinch collar, gentle lead, or other, will they still obey when they are wearing a flat collar? My back is already in trouble so am tempted to try something else, but my trainer said that she had to teach her therapy dog all over again to respond to a flat collar after using a gentle leader. Eventually I would like to enroll Callie in more classes, but it is not in the budget right now and I do feel like I could be getting her better at what we started on before I go into a new class, otherwise I would be asking the trainer all of this stuff right now:-)

I'll go with Eric
And, also not fond of trying out all the different hardware first, I find it very helpfull to have a plan, and stick to it. Take small steps, but be very consistent, no more bike chasing, not even looking at them. My dogs totally react to just this state of mind (for me it's no more chasing wildlife and chickens...), they will not even try. But if you have an off day, and feel weak, do not go near a bike just yet
Good luck!


edit: ow, and how about having her walk next to a bik, not riding it, just have one of your kids stand/walk calmly next to you while you control the dog? Correct chasing, reward looking at you?

I'm not opposed to using a tool if you can't control all of the variables. Meaning, if you can not ensure that she will be at an acceptable distance from the stimulus, then you have to do something. Every time she engages in the behavior of trying to chase it is self rewarding.

A specific collar is simply a tool to control the dogs body while you are teaching the alternate behavior that you actually want. If someone had to go back and reteach on a new collar, then they didn't actually teach the behavior in the first place - they taught the dog how to respond to that tool.

A head collar would give you control of your dog's face and make it virtually impossible for her to injure you when she wanted to chase. But the prevention of injury would not actually be teaching anything. You would still have to have a plan (as Marjolein said) about how you would like her to react long term. Then correct or prevent from there. A prong is similar, the dog will experience discomfort pulling into it. For some dogs this limits the behavior, for others it adds pain stimulation and makes it worse. But still it is only a bandade and doesn't fix anything.

So for me, I am all about using the right tool to keep me from hurting at the end of the day, and for setting the dog up to learn the behavior that I want the fastest. But the alternate behavior has to be your ultimate goal.