So, What IS she?? (scared of cars)

Hey,
This is my first post. My name is Sarah, I am a uni student and 1 1/2 years ago my boyfriend and I brought home a gorgeous little (big) puppy from a re-homing kennels. We have both had dogs all our lives and decided it was the right time to get one as "ours". We love her to bits and I can't imagine life without her now. She is an unusual dog to say the least, and I thought I would post a couple of pictures to see what your thoughts are. We are currently thinking that she might be dalmatian x hound sort of!! we are considering getting a DNA test purely because we are so interested. I know I am biased, but I think she is a stunning dog!


That was her as a puppy when we first picked her up.



That is a more recent picture so you can see her proportions. She is very speckled even more so now. Each time I look at her she seems to have gained new freckles!!



P.S we got her at 11 weeks, and she was handed into the kennels at 8 weeks as a stray. She is terrified of cars; walking next to them on the road and getting into them. It wasn't such a problem when she was younger as we could pick her up easily, but now it is a 2 man job!! We have been very persistent with her, not a day goes by where she isn't in a car or walking on the roads but still no better. I hate seeing her so scared, but I don't know what to do to help her. Any ideas on how to crack this while she is still young?

http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/fourwheelphobia
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3307

Thank you I have done clicker training with her and she has her bronze kennel club obedience training. It is just this car thing, but that first link has some good tips. Thanks

Welcome to the forum Your dog is gorgeous.

I too have a nervous dog so I know how hard it can be.

Personally I have found that NOT walking my dog around roads is the better option.
Each time you walk by a road your dog feels scared, it becomes such a habit that he is convinced it is indeed something to be afraid of and they become hyper vigilant.
I used to think I was 'exposing' my dog to things but in reality I was potentially just flooding her and possibly even increasing the fear.

If you want to work on it, I would stop walking on busy roads. Find the threshold the dog CAN cope at... is it 15 metres from a car on a busy road or 10 on a quiet road.
Try to work BELOW threshold.

My dog is still very nervous of cars and streets. I find it makes her MORE reactive in other situations like with people and in the house so as a result I don't walk her on busy roads. We've been attempting very quiet empty streets but even when there are no cars she's on edge so we're a long way off yet!

We don't really know what it is, I think she makes it all up in her head because some days she is much better than others. We have stopped walking her by the road unless it is absolutely necessary but the problem is I don't drive yet and so if I want to walk her on my own I have to put a harness and a halty head collar on her just so she doesn't pull us both into the road. She doesn't mind having all the "tack" on but it has come to a point where she will run and hide if we pick up the leads. She is not nervous about anything else and we have put it down to her have a traumatic experience before we had her. She is getting better at getting into cars but I know she doesn't like it and I hate putting her through it but it is that or no walks!! and I know she would not like that! She is a pleasure to walk and she has boundless energy as they all do. We are just a bit stuck with the "car thing". What dog(s) do you have?

Where do you live perhaps we could recommend a 1:! trainer for you?