There are many dogs that, mainly from puppies, acquire unhealthy behaviors such as starting to chase bicycles, people who are running or even cars. At first they will simply bark while chasing you but sooner or later they will end up biting you.
It is important to correct this type of behavior as soon as possible, so that it does not take hold in the mind of our dog and think that it is something normal or that it is fine. We must not forget that not only is our dog endangered, but it can bite or cause an accident to third parties, something really serious.
From Proactiveproducts, we are going to explain how we can prevent our dog from having this type of behavior, the steps to follow to correct it and the best tips so that it never happens again. Always bearing in mind that we must insist for several weeks so that he learns the lesson well.
Why does my dog chase joggers, bikes, or moving cars?
At general levels and with minor exceptions, it is usual for the dog to do it out of territoriality or fear. So the first thing we must find out is if our dog feels scared when a bike, a runner or a car passes by.
If it is not scared, it is a case of territoriality in which the dog simply sees the runner, bike or car as a stranger trying to pass through its territory. Obviously the dog will feel the need to defend its territory and will be thrown towards them barking and finally biting.
If it is out of fear, it is even but since a frightened dog can easily panic and be completely unpredictable. Although this does not mean that their behavior cannot be changed, we simply have to work harder.
The mind of a dog is actually very simple, although sometimes we want to think that they reason… they don’t. Your instinct is primary and defending your territory or defending yourself against possible dangers are primary instincts. We simply have to work them to modify this behavior and thus avoid dangerous situations.
My dog chases runners, bikes or cars to defend its territory. What do I do?
In this case, the fundamental thing is to make the dog understand that it is not their territory but yours and that they should not run after them. Teaching this lesson to our dog is really simple, although we will need to be persistent.
Don’t expect your dog to learn this lesson in two days, because it won’t. You will need to work on his behavior for possibly four to eight weeks to get results, so just get your mindset and practice daily.
It is vitally important that your dog exercises, that he burns his excess energy daily. In this way it will be calmer and therefore much easier to educate him and avoid bad behavior.
Tie your dog to a leash of about two meters and go for a walk with him in areas where you know there are people exercising, bicycles walking or cars moving. Every time your dog tries to try to run after someone, or barks at them, scold him and say “No!” tall and resounding. You have to be angry for him to detect your anger (be really angry, but remember, you should never hit him).
With daily practice your dog will learn little by little, in a week you will see how his threats are decreasing and in three weeks he may only try to do it occasionally. Keep working on his behavior on a daily basis and burn off his excess energy by exercising.
You can also perform tricks with the help of other people, for example asking a friend or neighbor to run by or with their bike in front of you while you are walking. And if the dog makes a pretense of trying to get out after him, your friend or neighbor stops and also scolds him (you should do it too).
My dog chases bikes, joggers, or cars out of fear. How do I avoid it?
The only way to avoid this type of behavior out of fear is to eliminate fear, something very simple but that will also require continuous work. We just have to be persistent and little by little, we will see great progress.
To prevent our dog from being afraid of things that move quickly or pass quickly around us, we must socialize it with that environment. We will initially go somewhere where there is no one to bother us and ask a friend to run or cycle by from time to time.
Our dog must be leashed and we must order that he feels when we see our friend coming. The technique consists of distracting his attention so that he does not focus on our friend, so when the dog focuses on him; we must use food, toys or something that he likes a lot to get his attention.
We will repeat this exercise for a week before moving to a more traveled place, where we will repeat the same exercise over and over again, every day for a couple of weeks. Over time we will change to increasingly busy places but keeping our dog’s attention when we see danger coming.
Once our dog has become accustomed to being in busy places, we must simply stop attracting their attention to avoid danger gradually. Once yes and once no for example, repeating the exercise daily for several more weeks.
It is important that our dog also exercises daily, taking him for a run with us or skating for example is an excellent idea. This way he will burn off his excess energy and be calmer on all levels.
