Have any of you managed to train a dog to actually watch for cars when crossing a road. I know that guide dogs must do it, but we have never had any luck with it. We often make them sit when we get ready to cross and then we look but the dogs don't seem to take much notice. Cooper some times seems a little aware of cars and other times not so much. Tilly ran into the side of a car year ago. She did not get hurt, but it did not seem to teach her anything either. Cooper and Tilly seem to be pretty aware of skiers and tend to stay out of their way. If Cooper is in front of me, and I'm catching up, I tell her "COOPER GO", and she does. When she is getting tired she runs behind me instead. I wish she was as aware of cars. Her only saving grace is that she usually stays close, and will come back quickly. She and Tilly both, mostly understand our command "SIDE" which means move to the edge of the road.
My old dog Doug could do it and so could Moo. I just realised they knew when there was a gap in traffic we could cross and that when car stopped at cross it was ok to cross. Moo would only do it with me. We cross the roads a lot so over time they just got into the habit. I didn't trust them like you could a guide dog but they did understand.
No but I am working on Red. She sits automatically when we get to a kerb and waits for my 'Go' but that's as far as we have got so far. I am saying 'Look at that, car coming' and she will look and then back to me but don't know how meaningful that is.
Maybe @Boogie will have some advice via her guide dog knowledge? Brogan was trained to stay right next to me, on leash or off, so I don't think he had an ounce of 'car sense' because for that particular point he never had to think for himself. A weird thing though - he was like an old nanny when it it came to staying on the sidewalk/pavement. In a lot of places we lived, the sidewalks were only a couple feet wide or non-existent (Florence being a perfect example) so you HAD to walk on the street sometimes. But he would insist on trying to get me (and him) squished onto the sidewalk. I blame it on too much time spent in Germany learning to always follow the rules - because as the Germans say "Think of the children!".
Guide Dogs are trained to stop at the kerb. Some sit and some stand. They are also trained to stop at the textured strip just before the crossings. They indicate the button by putting their nose on the pole so that their owner can feel down their head and push the button. They are not trained to decide when to cross the road. Their owner tells them when to cross by listening for traffic. But, if a car is coming they are trained to say ‘no’ by refusing to move. This is called trained selective disobedience. The same if a car pulls out of a driveway, they stop and block their owner with their bodies. They don’t have any car sense whatever off the lead (or any other kind of sense lol, they are ordinary dogs in every way off lead, including loving fox poo - which can cause problems remembering their owners go everywhere by public transport!) Here is a link with more detail - https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/services-we-provide/guide-dogs/what-a-guide-dog-does/
That's good to read -- only the other day I was following a man with a guide dog through town and I saw him do exactly that -- hesitate before the crossing. It wasn't a crossing on the road though, but one from the bus station, so no busy traffic. It looked as though the dog wanted to stop but I guess then that that the man knew it was ok to cross as no bus was leaving. He had someone with him too who was sighted. So now I know -- I wondered at the time, thought the dog had just been ignored, always interesting to learn about how they operate. Thanks @Boogie, I find that since being a member here that I look guide dogs very closely these days, the whole thing fascinates me
Oh he was such a love Cass wouldn't have a clue about oncoming cars, we rarely encounter any on our walks and if we do they are slow moving, I do ask her to sit while they pass though. I do take her though town from time to time, she seems to enjoy it, but not nearly enough for her to work out waiting to cross.
We only have to cross a side street to get to Homers usual walk. There are two places I make him stop and wat but after the same routine for 5 years he’ll stop when I say but not otherwise.
