# Help!



## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

So I have a 1 year old golden. She's super smart and sweet and is really just an awesome dog but she has a few vices. First, she chases cars. She has a good recall until it comes to cars. She just will not listen. She gets focused on the tires and just bolts. Also she's terrified of strangers. Never had a bad experience had has had tons of socialization, we literally bring her everywhere. She barks at them and won't come anywhere near them. i'd really like some help. And just so you know I'm 14 she's my dog and my family has never helped with any of her training so please don't be rude about the fact that she's not perfect. She's my first dog and I'm doing my best.


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## Coastal Pup (Jan 30, 2021)

Bumping up!


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Do you have your dog in obedience classes? Does she know sit/stay (for me staying is implied when I say sit) or place? If not, get to work on training those commands and attend some classes regularly if you are not. Classes or a private trainer should be able to help you with your dog’s fearfulness also. 

If your dog is crate trained, that provides a safe place for her to go if she’s uncomfortable when new people are in your house. When you’re out and about, don’t let people approach her if she is scared. I’d work on that issue with a trainer first and they can guide you as to how to help her through it gradually.

How long has she been acting terrified ? It seems odd if you have been taking her out and about a lot.

Also, for safety’s sake, never give your dog an off leash opportunity to chase a car. That could turn into a heartbreaking situation real quickly.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

diane0905 said:


> Do you have your dog in obedience classes? Does she know sit/stay (for me staying is implied when I say sit) or place? If not, get to work on training those commands and attend some classes regularly if you are not. Classes or a private trainer should be able to help you with your dog’s fearfulness also.
> 
> If your dog is crate trained, that provides a safe place for her to go if she’s uncomfortable when new people are in your house. When you’re out and about, don’t let people approach her if she is scared. I’d work on that issue with a trainer first and they can guide you as to how to help her through it gradually.
> 
> ...


Hi there! Thanks for your repy. Yes she know those commands and about 40 tricks. She's very smart. She's always been nervous from the time she was a puppy. Her dad is too so it could be genetics, and we are very good friends with her breeder so we know she was socialized and raised properly. She has to be off leash by a not very busy road because when I'm hanging out with my neighbours/best friends we have our dogs (7 all together) playing together. she's the only one that even looks at cars.


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

Even though it’s so much fun to get together with friends and their dogs, your dog doesn’t sound ready to be off leash yet. Yet, is the key word. It doesn’t mean forever, it just means until you can get the car chasing well under control. As the other poster said, having your dog off leash coupled with her car chasing habit could result in extreme heartbreak. Since you are close with the breeder have you thought about asking them for some training ideas both about chasing cars and fear of strangers. I also think there are some very good YouTube training videos available and you’ll probably find help for both your issues. Maybe other forum members know of some good ones they recommend.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Hi there! Thanks for your repy. Yes she know those commands and about 40 tricks. She's very smart. She's always been nervous from the time she was a puppy. Her dad is too so it could be genetics, and we are very good friends with her breeder so we know she was socialized and raised properly. She has to be off leash by a not very busy road because when I'm hanging out with my neighbours/best friends we have our dogs (7 all together) playing together. she's the only one that even looks at cars.


I wouldn't allow her to play with the others right now. Can you get into dog obedience classes or 4H? That would be a great place to start.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

dgautumn0207 said:


> ..... She has to be off leash by a not very busy road because when I'm hanging out with my neighbours/best friends we have our dogs (7 all together) playing together. she's the only one that even looks at cars.


She does not HAVE to be off leash by a road. It may take some time, but eventually your girl will be hit by a car if you don't protect her. If she is this smart, she needs more training and time to mature. Have an experienced trainer help you - but fix her recall or keep her on leash. Or I hope you have pet insurance to pay for vet bills or cremation when a car finally gets her.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

DevWind said:


> I wouldn't allow her to play with the others right now. Can you get into dog obedience classes or 4H? That would be a great place to start.


She has been in a puppy class, a basic obedience class, and an advanced obedience class. As well as a trick class, a shed hunting class, and an agility class all of which she aced. She's perfect and has great recall until there's a car


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> She does not HAVE to be off leash by a road. It may take some time, but eventually your girl will be hit by a car if you don't protect her. If she is this smart, she needs more training and time to mature. Have an experienced trainer help you - but fix her recall or keep her on leash. Or I hope you have pet insurance to pay for vet bills or cremation when a car finally gets her.


Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

What training have you done, or are you currently doing, to train out the car chasing habit?

Below is an example of what I found doing a super quick YouTube search. I sure hope you find something quickly!





On an endnote, keep in mind that your “baby” is relying 100% on you, as her pawrent, to keep her safe, especially when she can’t. Maybe you can explain to your friends that until you get the car chasing trained out, you have to keep her on leash for her safety. I’m sure they will understand. Another idea, might be to ask your friends if you could hang out with your dogs in someone’s backyard, or a park vs. a road.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

When we go on walks and a car goes past I have her sit. When it's gone I give her a teat and she keeps walking. But she doesn't even look at cars when she's on leash


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## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


@nolefan Isn't being awful, she's being honest. You are 14, and probably can't go to a trainer by yourself, but your parents or someone had to take you to get the puppy. They also have to drive you to the vet, and I imagine help pay expenses. You can control whether or not your dog is on a leash. If she chases cars she absolutely has to be on a leash. If a dog has a solid sit command you can stop it from chasing a car by saying SIT. If it has solid recall you can prevent it from chasing a car by saying SIT, HERE. I'm sure she is wonderful and very intelligent. I believe you've gone to many training classes, and done a wonderful job, but they are in a controlled environment. You now have to train your dog adequately to be outdoors, in an uncontrolled environment, off leash. This takes a lot of work and reinforcement.

Chasing cars gets dogs killed. It's that simple. Keep her on a leash and keep working on her training. She's smart enough to know that when you don't have the leash on her she can do what she wants. Try a long 20' line and do recall work.

I was once 14 with a Golden and I wish I'd have had this forum, and these members to help me back then, now I wish I was 14 again 😂


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

DblTrblGolden2 said:


> @nolefan Isn't being awful, she's being honest. You are 14, and probably can't go to a trainer by yourself, but your parents or someone had to take you to get the puppy. They also have to drive you to the vet, and I imagine help pay expenses. You can control whether or not your dog is on a leash. If she chases cars she absolutely has to be on a leash. If a dog has a solid sit command you can stop it from chasing a car by saying SIT. If it has solid recall you can prevent it from chasing a car by saying SIT, HERE. I'm sure she is wonderful and very intelligent. I believe you've gone to many training classes, and done a wonderful job, but they are in a controlled environment. You now have to train your dog adequately to be outdoors, in an uncontrolled environment, off leash. This takes a lot of work and reinforcement.
> 
> Chasing cars gets dogs killed. It's that simple. Keep her on a leash and keep working on her training. She's smart enough to know that when you don't have the leash on her she can do what she wants. Try a long 20' line and do recall work.
> 
> I was once 14 with a Golden and I wish I'd have had this forum, and these members to help me back then, now I wish I was 14 again 😂


Ok, her breeder is my neighbour I walked to go get her. My brother drove to her classes and vet app and i volunteer there to help pay for them. I can teach her come and sit all day and she will do it until there's a car. I have a long line she can't be on it while around other dogs. What I want to know is how to teach her to NOT CHase CArs


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


She wasn't being awful. Like all the other posters, she simply doesn't want your dog to get hit by a car, that's all.

To answer your question: The first step in training your dog not to chase cars is not to give her any more opportunities to chase them. This means keeping her on leash and not having her loose in places where she may chase a car. The reason for this is that car-chasing is self-rewarding behaviour - in other words, each time she's able to chase a car, it strengthens her desire to chase them because she enjoys it. So you first have to cut off all her opportunities to engage in the behaviour. Every time you let her loose in the front yard, and she chases a car, you're making the problem worse and harder to deal with. So your first task is to make a choice. Do you want to train your dog not to chase cars, or do you want to let her loose in the front yard while you hang out with your friends? This is an either-or choice. Sadly, there's no middle ground here. If you're going to let her hang out with the other dogs, then you won't be able to train her not to chase cars.

The next step is to understand what prey drive is - because that is what is pushing your dog to chase cars. Prey drive is innate in most dogs, but especially in hunting breeds like golden retrievers. Your dog appears to have identified cars as "prey". It's a long and tedious process to train a dog out of an innate behaviour that has been reinforced by recurrent opportunities to engage in it. As previous posters have said, you do this by always keeping her on a leash when she's in situations where she might be able to chase cars, and by working on basic obedience commands and drilling them until she obeys automatically in any situation.

That brings us to the third step, which is to understand the difference between acing a training class and actually being fully trained. Your dog may have aced her classes, but she hasn't learned to generalize what she was trained to do in class. In other words, she has understood that "come" means "come when I'm in the training room" or "come when I'm in the back yard". She clearly hasn't learned that it means "come even when there's a car driving past". She therefore isn't fully trained. So that is your challenge, and that is why Nolefan recommended working with a trainer, because it's a very difficult challenge to meet successfully. You have to start by training her basic commands in lots of different places, always on leash. Not just the "come" command, but "sit" and "down" as well. Your dog must understand that she has to obey those commands wherever she is, and even when there are distractions. You need to start in places where there are no cars (e.g. an enclosed back yard, someone else's kitchen, an empty school yard), and gradually work up to places with lots of cars (e.g. store car parks). Always on leash, using high-value rewards. If you don't know how to train using rewards, and how to time the reward so that you're rewarding the right behaviour, then you'll need to learn that first.

I'm not talking about a few days here: it will take several months of intensive training to get her to obey consistently, everywhere. And only when you've done that should you move from a leash to a long line. Of course, always making sure she never, ever has a chance to get away from you and chase a car. It may be many months or even a year or more before she's able to be off-leash in the presence of moving cars, and it may be that she'll never have a reliable enough recall in those situations because she's learned that the behaviour is self-rewarding. It's do-able, but your level of success will depend how hard you're willing to work with her, and how long you're willing to persevere.

I want to be clear here. I'm not trying to be mean or awful. I'm trying to be honest and answer the question you asked even though there isn't an easy answer. I hope you're successful because you clearly want to do the best you can for your dog. I wish you good luck.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

ceegee said:


> She wasn't being awful. Like all the other posters, she simply doesn't want your dog to get hit by a car, that's all.
> 
> To answer your question: The first step in training your dog not to chase cars is not to give her any more opportunities to chase them. This means keeping her on leash and not having her loose in places where she may chase a car. The reason for this is that car-chasing is self-rewarding behaviour - in other words, each time she's able to chase a car, it strengthens her desire to chase them because she enjoys it. So you first have to cut off all her opportunities to engage in the behaviour. Every time you let her loose in the front yard, and she chases a car, you're making the problem worse and harder to deal with. So your first task is to make a choice. Do you want to train your dog not to chase cars, or do you want to let her loose in the front yard while you hang out with your friends? This is an either-or choice. Sadly, there's no middle ground here. If you're going to let her hang out with the other dogs, then you won't be able to train her not to chase cars.
> 
> ...


Thank you! This was actually helpfulish the only response I've gotten so far that is. The thing is that she is almost perfect. She will do those commands at any point anywhere on leash. she doesn't even look at the cars when she's onleash. so i assumed she's be fine but the ONLY time she doesn't listen is when there's a car. And everyone says I need to train her to not chase cars but that's obvious what I want to know is HOW to do so. I'm willing to put in as much time as it possibly takes and i can't hire a pro trainer. I've payed for everything for her and I want to go to University to be vet and to do that I can't be broke.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


My apologies, I was in a hurry and trying to leave and missed the part completely where you said you were 14. I wish you would have mentioned that in the first sentence. You don't have enough life experience to know how quickly accidents happen and how life changing it would be for you to witness a dog you adore killed in the horrific way a car would take her life. 

Please know that I wish more than anything that you never know how devastating that would be. Realizing that you're 14, I certainly would have tried not to be quite as blunt with my wording, but honestly I wouldn't change much because it's the truth. If you're old enough to post on a public forum, you're old enough to hear the truth.

Please, please, please stop letting her off leash where she is at such a high risk of chasing a car. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye and there are no 'do-overs'.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> My apologies, I was in a hurry and trying to leave and missed the part completely where you said you were 14. I wish you would have mentioned that in the first sentence. You don't have enough life experience to know how quickly accidents happen and how life changing it would be for you to witness a dog you adore killed in the horrific way a car would take her life. Please know that I wish more than anything that you never know how devastating that would be. Realizing that you're 14, I certainly would have tried not to be quite as blunt with my wording, but honestly I wouldn't change much because it's the truth. If you're old enough to post on a public forum, you're old enough to hear the truth.
> 
> Please, please, please stop letting her off leash where she is at such a high risk of chasing a car. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye and there are no 'do-overs'.


DO YOU ThinK i DON'T KNoW THAT??! If I didn't know it was unsafe would I be trying to stop her do you think? I asked HOW to TEACH her to not chase cars. If your just going to tell me something I already know please just don't respond.


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Well, I tried to be helpful by telling you to keep her on a leash. If a dog repeats a behavior over and over it is reinforced. The reinforcement must stop. It’s your responsibility to keep your dog safe. She will likely die, or at least suffer serious injury, if she collides with a moving car.

I’ve seen quite a bit of helpful advice and even a video as to how to train your dog not to do this dangerous activity. So, one obvious and simple way to stop the behavior is to never allow your dog to do it.

Your dog is young. She may end up needing to be on a leash for a while — perhaps even a year to two years more — for you to get her well trained so she will listen when you say “sit” (stay implied) and stay.

So, how you TEACH is by not EVER allowing the behavior to occur. You can check with any dog trainer and you can look in a psychology book and read about reinforcement. A huge part of being a responsible dog owner is to know you must keep your dog safe. Again — it is your responsibility. Your dog does not have to play with other dogs off leash in an area where there are cars. Find a fenced in area if you insist on letting your dog have play time with other dogs.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

dgautumn0207 said:


> DO YOU ThinK i DON'T KNoW THAT??!


If you want people here to take you seriously, you might want to tone down the mockery. I did tell you in my first post: She needs more training and time to mature - she's simply not ready yet, she doesn't have the self control to overcome her impulses, natural instincts to chase - as explained above by Ceegee about preydrive. It takes many, many repetitions and well timed corrections to convince some dogs that car chasing isn't worth it. Since you don't have years of training experience, it will require an adult with a higher skill level.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> If you want people here to take you seriously, you might want to tone down the mockery. I did tell you in my first post: She needs more training and time to mature - she's simply not ready yet, she doesn't have the self control to overcome her impulses, natural instincts to chase - as explained above by Ceegee about preydrive. It takes many, many repetitions and well timed corrections to convince some dogs that car chasing isn't worth it. Since you don't have years of training experience, it will require an adult with a higher skill level.


I'm sorry if I was rude, but I'm getting exasperated


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

There’s no magical fix for chasing cars - if you want quick or easy, you will not find it. That process is long and ugly and requires a lot of time, dedication, and training. Part of getting the behavior to stop is to prevent it from happening. The more chances she has to practice the behavior, the more ingrained it will be. How is a dog supposed to learn not to do something if she also knows she CAN do it?

I was 14 on this forum not so long ago. The members on this board have years, decades of experience. Some of them have been adults training dogs since long before you or I walked this Earth - I would listen. They’ve all absolutely given you relevant, knowledge advice, what you do with that is up to you.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


This is not bullying. It is reality.
You do NOT have to 'play with others', ever- your dog can hang out on lead. If you don't your dog will eventually be hit by a car.
You are a child, and children for the most part don't get the finality or the need to anticipate issues before they happen but this one is quite easy to predict. Put her on a lead until that recall is rock solid, in ALL situations. If she is good in all situations except when cars are around, she is not good - kinda like a kid being good around strangers til one says he is missing a puppy... that one situation wlll kill.


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

This thread is starting to be unproductive. @dgautumn0207 the way to train your dog to not chase cars is *to keep her on leash. *If you are unwilling to do that, then there’s not much more we can do for you.

If you really are 14, then you need to start treating the adults on this forum with respect.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

aesthetic said:


> There’s no magical fix for chasing cars - if you want quick or easy, you will not find it. That process is long and ugly and requires a lot of time, dedication, and training. Part of getting the behavior to stop is to prevent it from happening. The more chances she has to practice the behavior, the more ingrained it will be. How is a dog supposed to learn not to do something if she also knows she CAN do it?
> 
> I was 14 on this forum not so long ago. The members on this board have years, decades of experience. Some of them have been adults training dogs since long before you or I walked this Earth - I would listen. They’ve all absolutely given you relevant, knowledge advice, what you do with that is up to you.


I would love if someone would tell me the long grueling way to fix it please!


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## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

Please reread ceegee's post, it's pretty detailed....


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

dgautumn0207 said:


> I would love if someone would tell me the long grueling way to fix it please!


Let me give this a try.

1. To get rid of a problem behaviour in a dog, you first have to identify what triggers it, and then replace the dog’s response to that trigger with something else – in other words, you have to replace the problem behaviour with another, alternative behaviour that is more acceptable to you. This involves teaching basic obedience and also impulse control.

2. The trigger here is the presence of moving vehicles. When the dog sees a moving vehicle, she responds on impulse by chasing it.

3. To solve the problem, you therefore have to teach her to control her impulse to chase and respond to the trigger in a different way. In other words, you need to teach her to sit, or lie down, or whatever, when she sees a moving car, instead of chasing it. Let’s say you decide to teach her to “sit” instead.

4. To do this, you will need to work her in lots of different places, WITHOUT MOVING VEHICLES at first, and always on leash, until she sits 100% of the time in response to your command. For example, she has to obey the “sit” command when there are people around, when someone puts a bowl of chicken on the floor next to her (controlling her impulse to eat), when someone is bouncing a tennis ball next to her (controlling her impulse to play), when other dogs are running loose nearby (controlling her impulse to chase them), etc. Then you do it again on a long line, WITHOUT MOVING VEHICLES, until she responds 100% of the time regardless of distractions. Then you do it again, off-leash in a variety of safe, enclosed spaces, WITHOUT MOVING VEHICLES, until she responds 100% of the time regardless of distractions.

5. Once you’re 100% certain that your “sit” command works in all the above situations, you start over, in the presence of a slowly-moving vehicle driven by someone you know. Start on leash, have the car drive past slowly, order the dog to sit, enforce if necessary, and reward when she complies. Keep doing this until she responds to the sight of the car by sitting automatically without being ordered to do so – in other words, until the sight of the car triggers the “sit” response and not the "chase" impulse. (We are talking weeks to months of practice here). Then repeat the whole process on a long line, and eventually, when you’re 100% certain that your commands work in the presence of that particular moving vehicle, you can try off-leash. But you have to be certain. If you let her off leash and she ignores you, then you’ve just wasted all those months of training.

6. When you’re getting a 100% response rate with the controlled moving vehicle – in other words, when she sits down without being ordered to do so, every time the car drives past - you can try with other moving vehicles, on leash and then on a long line, until you’re 100% sure she will respond by sitting, every time. It will be up to you, at that point, to decide whether or not you want to risk her off-leash in your front yard.

7. Until (6) has been accomplished, it’s very important to make sure the dog doesn’t have any more opportunities to chase moving vehicles. This means never having her off-leash in a situation where she might decide to chase one.

I’ll give you an example. My dogs used to bark like maniacs and rush the front door every time the doorbell rang. The doorbell was the trigger to this behaviour. I decided to train a different response to the trigger by teaching them that when they hear the doorbell, they have to go and sit on the staircase instead of rushing the front door. I started the process by teaching the “stairs” command, without the doorbell. To begin, we stood next to the staircase and I lured them into sitting on the stairs, then rewarded them. Once they’d understood this, I added the verbal command “stairs” (still no doorbell). When they obeyed the verbal command 100% of the time if they were near the staircase, I started giving the command when I was in other places: the hallway, then the kitchen, then the living room, and so on, until every time I said “stairs” they would run to the staircase from wherever they were, and sit on it (still no doorbell). Only when they were doing this did I introduce the trigger - the doorbell. We’d wait by the stairs, a family member would ring the doorbell, and I’d order the dogs to sit on the staircase. Eventually, through practice, they came to realize that the doorbell means the same thing as the “stairs” command, i.e. when they hear it they have to sit on the stairs. And that is what they now do.

Good luck!


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## unpublishable (Dec 29, 2021)

There is enough information in these posts to help you. Many of us wish you, and especially your dog, the best. I hope you can process the information given here (and consult other sources and individuals in your community) to do what is best for your dog.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

ceegee said:


> Let me give this a try.
> 
> 1. To get rid of a problem behaviour in a dog, you first have to identify what triggers it, and then replace the dog’s response to that trigger with something else – in other words, you have to replace the problem behaviour with another, alternative behaviour that is more acceptable to you. This involves teaching basic obedience and also impulse control.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much! That was super helpful!!


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

Personally I feel like this is not “real” and whoever this is, is getting a kick out of stringing us along. That, or they don’t have the bandwidth to understand ALL of the helpful training tips and videos that have been submitted. I’m out.


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## unpublishable (Dec 29, 2021)

JulieCA said:


> Personally I feel like this is not “real” and whoever this is, is getting a kick out of stringing us along. That, or they don’t have the bandwidth to understand ALL of the helpful training tips and videos that have been submitted. I’m out.


If anything, this thread will be useful for future readers who are having a similar concern with their dog. Hopefully they’ll be much more thoughtful.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

JulieCA said:


> Personally I feel like this is not “real” and whoever this is, is getting a kick out of stringing us along. That, or they don’t have the bandwidth to understand ALL of the helpful training tips and videos that have been submitted. I’m out.


I assure you I'm not. The only "helpful" training tip I've gotten is to keep my dog on leash at all times, forever, until she dies. And if I don't she will without a doubt meet a morbid bloody end and I'd better call the cremation company in advance. I think maybe two people have been helpful.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I’m out too. You appear to be correct, Julie. If you aren’t, fourteen is not six and some politeness and maturity should be extended when asking for and receiving assistance.


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## Oceanside (Mar 29, 2021)

I also was a 14 year old golden owner not _too_ long ago and I also wish I knew about this forum back then. Anyway, ceegee gave you a very good and detailed answer, better than I would’ve written, and now has written an extremely detailed step-by-step guide for you. I think it’s important to understand that young dogs cannot be expected to behave off-leash without extensive training. Each dog has its own set of challenges — just because the other neighborhood dogs seem to be fine off leash in the front yard, doesn’t mean that yours can/should be. I hope you do follow ceegee’s posts and work on it several times per week. Also know that training is a long term commitment and results won’t happen in a week or two.


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## Steven Kargenian (Sep 28, 2020)

Coastal Pup said:


> Bumping up!


Use a training collar or an invisible fence


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

dgautumn0207 said:


> Wow, I'd heard people on forums were awful, but you're something special. I'm 14, I can't hire a trainer!! If I wanted a homily on how to keep my dog on leash I would have posted for that. But i didn't. I asked how to train her to not chase cars. i hope you feel good about bullying a 14 year old. Thanks for nothing. And she has great recall until there's a car


I


dgautumn0207 said:


> I assure you I'm not. The only "helpful" training tip I've gotten is to keep my dog on leash at all times, forever, until she dies. And if I don't she will without a doubt meet a morbid bloody end and I'd better call the cremation company in advance. I think maybe two people have been helpful.


 think Nolefan was trying to point out that you said "She has to be offleash", because of playing with neighbor dogs or whatever. And that's simply untrue. She does not have to be offleash. You're choosing to allow her to be offleash before she is ready. So, follow the advice you have gotten here, and keep her on the leash, or she will get hit by a car before you have the chance to teach her to be off leash reliably. Simple as that.


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## jomiel (Feb 15, 2019)

Thanks for the extensive write up, ceegee, and your example of the doorbell training. I need to restart our work on the doorbell again, I had neglected this portion for the last 2 years since we had almost no visitors.

I just want to chime in to say that training an alternative response to a behavior that already has been frequently reinforced takes a very long time, especially one that's based on the dog's natural impulse. It's often a 2 steps forward 1 step back kind of journey. A learned behavior that's based on the dog's natural impulse like chasing is very different from learning tricks or not to beg at the table.

It doesn't mean that we have to give up, but it just takes more time and will need different ways of training.

My example: Tomo was in daycare for about 5-6 months as a handful older puppy, and he learned to run up immediately when he sees another dog to see if they want to play. This led to a lot of problems for me after we stopped daycare when he turned 1 year old -- on walks he would drag me so he could meet dogs, and of course outside of daycare, dogs find this straight dash to their faces incredibly rude or intimidating -- both situations are dangerous for me or for him (he's gotten in a few fights because of this). He's now 3, and we've been training this one thing for the past 2 years so we are more partners walking together, to look at me when he sees a dog, for me to assess if the dog/owner is appropriate for some greeting/playtime. We go to a variety of environments for fun and training: neighborhood walks, parks, "main street" type of areas, dog friendly stores, parking lots, beaches, etc. He does wonderfully in most situations, but every week there are still times when he wasn't capable of making the decision I wish he would make.

He's on leash unless I truly trust that the environment is safe. If we're hiking or in the park he's on a long line so he has more freedom. Being leashed doesn't mean that he doesn't get to have fun, or that he can't decide where he wants to walk, or that he resents me. It just means that I have the ability to protect him from making a wrong, disastrous choice.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

Taz Monkey said:


> I
> 
> think Nolefan was trying to point out that you said "She has to be offleash", because of playing with neighbor dogs or whatever. And that's simply untrue. She does not have to be offleash. You're choosing to allow her to be offleash before she is ready. So, follow the advice you have gotten here, and keep her on the leash, or she will get hit by a car before you have the chance to teach her to be off leash reliably. Simple as that.


No, she doesn't "have" to be off leash. But, at somepoint I'd like her to be. Everyone's told me to keep her onleash until she's trained enough to not chase vehicles but no one has told me how to train her to not chase vehicles when she only cares about them when she's off leash but doesn't even look at them on leash


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

dgautumn0207 said:


> No, she doesn't "have" to be off leash. But, at somepoint I'd like her to be. Everyone's told me to keep her onleash until she's trained enough to not chase vehicles but no one has told me how to train her to not chase vehicles when she only cares about them when she's off leash but doesn't even look at them on leash


Of course she only cares about vehicles when she's off leash. She's smart enough to know that she can't chase them when she's on leash. This is irrelevant in solving the problem. The vast majority of problem behaviours occur off-leash.

I suggested a method (see post 27 above) to teach her not to engage in chasing. In case it wasn't clear enough, let me summarize:

1. Immediately remove all opportunities to chase vehicles - i.e. keep your dog on leash when she's likely to be in the presence of moving vehicles.
2. Decide what alternative behaviour you want her to do. E.g. When she sees a moving vehicle, she sits instead of chasing it.
3. Teach that alternative behaviour and proof it extensively through practice in different settings and with a variety of different distractions (food being thrown nearby, toys, tennis balls, etc.).
4. Once the alternative behaviour is proofed, introduce the "trigger" (a moving vehicle) in a controlled way, and teach/enforce the alternative behaviour.
5. Practice, practice, practice with the controlled trigger, on leash and off leash.
6. Gradually expose her to other moving vehicles, keeping her on a long line so that you can control her response and enforce the alternative behaviour if necessary.

You're looking at a long process here. There's no magic wand. It will take effort and commitment.


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## dgautumn0207 (10 mo ago)

ceegee said:


> Of course she only cares about vehicles when she's off leash. She's smart enough to know that she can't chase them when she's on leash. This is irrelevant in solving the problem. The vast majority of problem behaviours occur off-leash.
> 
> I suggested a method (see post 27 above) to teach her not to engage in chasing. In case it wasn't clear enough, let me summarize:
> 
> ...


THANK YOU SO MUCH!! This is exactly what I wanted! A million thank yous!!


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