Blue Heeler in Car

[Piddler]

Hi,
we have a 14 month Blue Heeler who just goes sick in the Disco Barking.

We tried a muzzle supposed to be the thing after 5 minutes of bliss he had it off with his paws and chewed it up.

It was on at the correct tension he jst hooked his claws over it and tugged on it.

Ant thoughts on car training him as the noise is driving us spare.

At home he is fine it is just in the car when it starts moving. We figure previous owners let him run around on a flat tray.

Any help appreciated

Cheers

[UncleHo]

G'day Piddler :)

Just keep repeating a VERY FIRM NO
that is all you can do, if he has been an Ex-Ute dog it will take a while to get through to him, we have had Cattle Dogs for about 20 years and they are a very stubborn animal but you can get through to them.

cheers

[sclarke]

Show him Mad Max 2 and tell him the Disco is the last of the Interceptors and train him to hold the string with his mouth that is attached to the Trigger.....

Sorry, Flash back to the 80's

[spudboy]

Get a length of chain (1/2 metre - 20mm (?) links), and when he starts barking rattle the chain as a warning, and if he doesn;t stop throw the chain near him (not at him) and growl him. He will soon get the idea, and the rattling of the chain will be enough to stop him.

For some reason dogs just don't like the sound of the chain being thrown. This is the same theory that Bark-Busters use.

Hope it works. Nothing worse than a dog that's driving you mad (well, maybe a wife...).

[dullbird]

when do you have him in the car???

is it only to take him out for walks???

is it excitment?????

need a bit more info

[roverfj1200]

Get a sound activated electric collar.

Bark...POW... Bark...POw..

They learn very quickly not to bark....

:D:D:D

[willvine]

Position the dog on the floor behind the front seats and chain him to the seat rail so he cant jump upand see the passing cars and trees. and put some window covers on the rear windows like the ones for kids to block out the light. the worked for me. Or get another dog.:o

[HAK]

buy him a defender hahahahaet

My mate took on red cattle dog who had the same issue vet recommended two thing tie him down low on the floor with 30cm lead so he cant look out or those citress collers

[gruntfuttock]

Call doctor Harry:D:p:wasntme:

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Get a sound activated electric collar.

Bark...POW... Bark...POw..

They learn very quickly not to bark....

:D:D:D


nope,, Burleigh barked straight through it,,
it changed his bark,, and changed my mind, I now think it was a cruel thing to do.:(

[MrsMcRover]

Jack our 2 year old Blue Heeler loves the car!. We adopted him from the RSPCA when he was 11mths. Apparent trouble maker. Although he is nothing but perfect for us. Loves the car and loves the bush. The only problem if you would call it that. Jack loves to roam while the car is moving :D So 9 times out of 10 he will be sitting on my knee or trying to sit on Damos while damo is driving!

Its Max our other dog a beagle who tries to escape everytime were in the car with him. :mad:

[Tusker]

buy him a defender hahahahaet

My mate took on red cattle dog who had the same issue vet recommended two thing tie him down low on the floor with 30cm lead so he cant look out or those citress collers


Hmm.. I'd have said the opposite, get him up so he can see out.

Dogs need postive reinforcement in their training. Collars etc are negative, its stressful to the dog "learning" by trial & error.

I'd suggest heaps of short trips - chuck him in whenever you're picking kids up from school, returning a DVD, that sort of thing. Shouldn't take long & the dog will accept the car as part of the routine, without anxiety.

You will have a dog that'll be unimpressed when you leave him behind though. :(

Regards
Max P

[dobbo]

I used to have the same problem with my Kelpie, she'd drive me insane with the barking. It's just excitement about going out. 14 months old is only really a pup, and with all working dogs it'll take ages to get through the pup antics. My advantage over you was when mine was a pup I had an old ute. I used to chuck a few bones or smackos in the back tray and hook her up to her lead and take her for a drive. After a while she was more interested in the treats than the wind and sights and ate them in silent bliss. Now she's still an 8yr old pup, but very quiet in the car.

[JamesH]

Interesting. My mates dog is the same. When he visits places he knows and likes, but especially the farm he he has, he recognises when he is getting near and he gets excited at the people he will be meeting and the snacks etc so he starts to go spare, barking and running back and forth along the back seat. He is an obdient dog generally but he cannot help it, no matter what. It got so that he would crouch in the footwell and stick his head under the seat to bark. Owner has babies now and sometimes he wants them to stay asleep but this is not possible with the dog. So the ceremony is now usually barking dog and crying babies and frustrated wife (the dog predates her) every time they arrive at the front gate of the farm.

He is not so bad now becasue he is elderly and "relatively" mellow but the problem never got solved.

[JohnE]

You have my sympathies, on of our dogs, the kelpie cattle dog cross aka the bitch, is the same,
I have worked and trained the bloody things for years and have almost stopped her from doing it, takes time.
As a herding dog thats what they do, you just need to be patient and be instantaneous when you do your corrections.
Its a bit hard to do when your driving, because you will inevitably telegraph your moves/body language to the dog.
having said that in my experience one good timely correction is all that is needed. And a good one at that.

the citrus and zap collars are fine, in the right situation with a fairly soft dog, but in a car the only imprint the dog will get from being in the car is the zap or smell of the collar, not the pleasure of the drive. I know thats very anthropormorhic. But in the long run it would stop the dog going near the car.

Do some basic obedience with the dog on lead, so you can develope your correction voice, so the dog knows when you are displeased. Plus you can get your timing ring as well.

As tusker said short drives, then gradually build up, to longer ones.

john

[mcrover]

Another thing you can try and with working dogs it tends to work fairly quickly, if the dog only barks when your moving, as soon as the dog barks, pull over and say NO and dont move until it shuts up.

It may take one or two drives to get it but with everything else it shouldnt take too long.

The chain thing works with big dogs more than smaller dogs for some reason, a mate of mine used to use it with his German Shepards that were security dogs but it never worked to the same extent with our farm dogs but all dogs are different so try it but like it was suggested, throw it in its direction but not at it.

I dont like the shock collars, I think they are just a final resort sort of thing and the citrus collars I dont know as I havnt seen one to know.

Make sure the dog has only 1 boss as well as if eveeryone in the family tries to be the boss it will get confused to whom it should be listening to and then wont listen to anyone, not saying that the whole family cant tell it to do things but only one person should feed it most of the time and one person does the training and everyone uses the same terms and tones.

This will make training him a lot quicker and easier I have found over the years but Im no expert, I would take it to obedience training even if it is to just secure in your mind the best way to train your dog as there are effective techniques for different breeds.