Barking and chasing cars when walking!!!!

[ballaa03]

PLEASE HELP!!! My 6 month-old puppy is a nightmare to walk! I live in the town where there are lots of cars and bikes - he is fine in any park area or quiet streets but when a car comes in sight he will not stop barking, pulling at the lead...basically wanting to chase the car/ bike. I have been told before about spraying a water gun at him when this happens...but no luck. I try and make him sit, ignore him, drag him along, walk in the opposite direction suddenly...but still no luck. Shall I continue with these methods or does anyone have any other ideas????? or have the same problem??? Be good to hear from you.

[Autaven]

Have you thought of going to some training? I know that my youngest boy dog was mental until we started our Agility training and it's made him much sharper and he listens so much better. Even a few weeks obedience class?

Advice on different methods though I would continue with the walking in the opposite direction and distracting him with some really tasty treats. It must be quite a frightening thing for him to do as it could turn dangerous very fast, so hope he comes around soon. Good luck!

[Mindysmom]

Instead of punishing him for doing something wrong try rewarding him for good behaviour. My Max was a car chaser as a pup. What I did was work on having him focus on me - if he could walk nicely beside me he'd get a treat (and I'm talking two or three steps to start) - I would ask for his attention when I saw the distraction coming car/leaf/bike etc. and reward him until we passed it. It didn't take all that long before he learned to glance at me for his reward when he saw something distracting. He's three now and I still take treats along on walks and reward excellent attention in the face of distractions. Cars are no longer a distraction for him but bunnies/squirrels/dogs lunging at him are still a bit of a challenge.

[Nalu]

Try walking in an area without traffic until he's creates a habit of walking nicely with you.

[ballaa03]

Many thanks for your suggestions, I've been trying to reward him by sitting etc when the cars come by and its early days but seems to be working better!!!

[waldor]

I have found the Holy Grail that stops Sophie's pulling on the leash. It's the Easy Walk Harness made by Premier.
I don't know why I waited so long to try it! Well,, yes I do,, ,it's expensive, but how I wish I had tried it a long time ago. She gave it the old stink eye the first couple weeks, because it stopped her headstrong pulling, but now she's over it. She knows it's not going away, and she still gets her walkies, and has surrendered to walking nicely.