Hi, any tips on helping my 14 month old lab get over his fear of traffic?? It's becoming impossible to walk him anywhere there is traffic. He's always been a bit scared of buses and lorries but since he was neutered about 5 months ago it has got worse and worse. He just cowers and freezes and won't focus on anything apart from the vehicle. It's horrible to see him so scared.
Oh poor chap. You need to start with the traffic a long way off, so he can see it but it's not bothering him, and gradually move closer. It's easier said than done though, trying to find such a spot. Maybe find somewhere remote, and a helper to drive a car while you handle your dog? Good luck, it's horrible to see them distressed.
I had this with one of my previous labs - I went to a reasonably quiet trading estate armed with loads of treats. We started off standing in a corner right out of the way watching lorries inside factories just manoeuvring and gradually progressed over several weeks so eventually we could be on the pavement and lorries could drive past. We lived in a very remote area and I hadn't realised how little exposure he'd had to large vehicles until a removal van came to another house one day.
We've had big problems with Homer and his fear of noises, the main road near us is becoming increasing problematic as we just won't go up that way, even to the butchers and the pizza shop on the corner where he was always given a piece of cheese. At the moment Homer is on medication for the firework bangs then we start the long road of rehabilitation to noises and fears with advice from the behaviourist.
Welcome to the forum from Hattie 9 years and our rescue boy Charlie 5 years. When we rescued Charlie at 9 months old he was very scared of traffic, luckily we live in a rural area so we walked him up and down the quieter roads with lots of tasty treats very gradually moving to the main road, he is absolutely fine now, takes it all in his stride, it didn't take that long to sort out. You can also buy a dog desensitising CD from Amazon that has all kinds of noises that you can play at home that might help. I think some of our members have used this successfully.
Yes, take time. Let him just look from a distance then treat when he relaxes and walk away. I have an excellent place where the pups can look down on a busy road from a (higher up) retail park. We go there and I hang around until the pup gets bored and lies down - then they get a treat and we get in the car to go home. I repeat this many times before we start going nearer to busy roads with trucks, buses etc. Then a bus station is quite good because the buses move slowly there and are not zooming past. ...
