Different kind of vehicle reactivity. Could use y’all’s help working up a training plan

[davidfirth]

Hey, awesome regulars of r/reactivedogs. I’ve been on this sub for over two years, and it’s always heartwarming to see the support y’all provide those of us with reactive puppers. It was this sub that made me realize that my beloved (now 3-yo) female ACD doesn’t necessarily have a screw loose; she’s reactive…I’ve learned a LOT lurking this sub and put a lot of it into practice. However, I felt like I needed some extra help and a few weeks ago, I hired a trainer. Then this week, my vet prescribed Paxil, so I’m waiting to see what results we get out of that. The trainer has helped us a lot (mostly in training me to be a better owner, lol), but I feel like I’m having a tough time coming up with training protocols on my own, and our next session is tomorrow, in public park (not a dog park). This will be our second session out in public.

What literally JUST occurred to me is that my ACD has really bad vehicle reactivity, but it’s kind of weird: she’s pretty much fine while driving, but she goes way over threshold once we’re parked. She acts super excited, vocalizing, wants out of the truck, just flips. (She also gets really upset when I leave her in the truck even if she can see me, like if I have to fuel up, full on crying/howling.) I’ve been trying to get her to calm down before we get out, but it’s tough, especially since she’s fine while I’m driving, but as soon as we stop, she’s red zoning herself. Like, where do I start calming protocols? Obviously this is going to set the tone somewhat for her for the training session, as she’s already going over threshold just getting out of the truck. Last week, she did much better than the trainer expected, but realizing this now, I feel like I’m setting her up to fail before we even get started. So do I just go early and wait it out until she calms down to get out of the truck? Get out and have some cool down time (although in a somewhat stressful place)?

Any tips or ideas y’all have to help me navigate this and work through it, I would be so grateful.

 

[alliah]

@davidfirth Can you get a sense of why she's barking when you stop? Is it excitement/wanting to get out of the car? If that's the case I would just wait it out and let her out once she's quiet (even if it's just for a second).

Then use some calming activities once she gets out of the car (go sniff would be a good one aka throw some cookies in the grass and have her sniff them out).

Pre-exercising her or fatiguing her mentally pre car ride might help as well, to set her up for success. Like if you have an afternoon session, take her out for a solid hike in the morning or at lunch, allow her to have a nap and then take her in the car. So it's not the most exciting thing she's done all day.

 

[davidfirth]

@alliah I think it is wanting to get out, along with excitement/anxiety about what’s to come next. She loves going anywhere, even if it causes her anxiety. If I make the mistake of starting my truck and leaving the driver’s door open and, say, hubby opens the back door and she slips outside, good luck getting her out of the truck! She’s going

I do think I just isolated the biggest trigger, oddly enough. After I posted, I took her out to my truck on leash, asked her to load up in the backseat (totally different than our usual routine of her just hopping in through the driver’s door and sitting shotgun but she did it flawlessly), had her sit, secured her leash, walked around, got in, started it up, and she was fine. Treats and praise all the while. I put it in drive, drove around the yard a bit, fine. Treats & praise. Shut off the truck, unloaded her just fine. Did it all again, but once I put the truck in park I accidentally hit the lock/unlock button and she LOST IT. So that’s a trigger for sure. It locks at like 10 mph and unlocks when you put it in park if the doors are locked. So I repeatedly hit it and treated until she calmed down. And I feel pretty dumb, as I know she’s very reactive to clicky or otherwise “hard” sounds (a lighter or my husband’s recliner, for instance). At least I have a good starting point. I swear, just typing all that out to post here helped my brain get in the right gear to start to really troubleshoot.

I’ll definitely try cookies in the grass if she’s below threshold enough to get them, along with trying to wear her out some even though it’s in the morning. Thank you!

 

[prayerorprayer]

@davidfirth Our BC/ACD mix used to do this in cars. For a lot of it, it was just over-excitement/over-stimulation. We do the classic ignore and wait while she has her outburst. Once she quiets, we tell her she's good, give her treats, and start making moves to get out of the car. If she starts freaking out again, we stop and go backwards (sit back down, close door, etc.). When she is calm, we can progress to the exciting thing. She is really good now, but it took a year of doing this to get there.

We also crated her (covered crate) in the backseat for over six months whenever we were in the car to help her not get overstimulated/overexcited on the drive. We never let her ride in front, though she dearly wanted to when she was young, but has now accepted that pups ride in the backseat. Better for all of our sanity. lol

 

[alliah]

@davidfirth hahah happy to help. It's funny the associations they learn. Maybe you should do clicker training... harness her click reaction for good

 

[davidfirth]

@alliah Tried that early on, had to switch to a marker word because OMFG this dog but points for making me snort coffee out my nose!

 

[vanda]

@davidfirth Does it stop when car is on and start when car is off while you are in the vehicle?

If yes, I would use that to my advantage by starting with very small stops, immediately redirecting to a high value treat (I use jerky for cars usually).

Second, I would practice before starting your drive. Have her sit calmly in the back before you get in. Get in and shut the door. Then get back out and wait (under the threshold of barking) then get back in and reward her.

I’d also practice having her get in the car, sit/stay while

 

[vanda]

@davidfirth So I would just flip the door locks giving treats while you sit in the car and stand outside with the door open (not sure if you’re electric or not, but if you can only do all the locks simultaneously do it with the window down standing right outside.

 

[vanda]

@davidfirth Have you tried running the truck and having her sit/stay with the door open and then gradually increase your distance?

I would actually start mat training first, teach them to sit/stay on a mat and build up time until you can enforce it while moving away and out of sight.

Then work on stepping out the front door out of sight.

Then do it in the truck.

 

[davidfirth]

@vanda Working on mat training, was going to do just this! I also did treat/cycle locks in various positions. I think we’re making progress!

 

[vanda]

@davidfirth Awesome. We would love an update as you progress and master this together!