Little Shadow is terrified of buses and bin lorries. He'll try to run away, he shakes likes mad with his tail between his legs. He is absolutely petrified, which breaks my heart. It's also very awkward, because we can't avoid them; in the village, there's buses that stop every 20 minutes during the winter, not to mention the tourist buses that pass through - and the bin lorry collects twice a day, every day. Where we live, we're out of the way of them, but to take the puppies to their normal walking sites, or if we're going visiting people, we have to walk through the village and that's where the problems are. I wouldn't want to avoid anyway, I want to help him get over his fear. I know the regular advice is to start at a distance and gradually get closer, but that's really not easy with either the buses (which obviously are on a schedule) or the bin truck, which tends to stop in places that make it hard to be far enough away and still see it. So, I was wondering if anyone knew of a DVD or similar that I could use at home for desensitising for trucks? Or any other advice? Today, I ended up carrying him past the truck because he was so scared and wouldn't walk (except to try to run off the other way - thank heavens for the harness!). His "look at me" is a work in progress, but certainly nowhere near strong enough to overcome such a massive, noisy beast. He's great with the sound of gunshot and didn't flinch with the few fireworks we had at New Year, so it seems that it may be the visual, physical presence of the bus or truck alongside the noise that's the real problem.
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear Hi Fiona, Have you tried just sitting at the bus-stop and rewarding Shadow when the bus arrives and departs (should be a little quitter when slowing into the stop)? This is what I've done with Harvey in the past - get some strange looks when I don't actually get on the bus though!
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear Thanks for your reply. It's not really that easy this time of year because the bus stop is rammed with people in ski boots, holding skis and boards and, when the bus comes, there's a massive charge to get the equipment in the storage compartment and then clomp onto the bus. I think that would all be a bit much for the little dude right now :-\ I had a thought that I might be able to put Shadow on my lap in the car, rather than in the car crate, and get John to drive around, following the bin lorry. I'm not sure he'd react in the same way to being outside and vulnerable, though. Still, it could be a start.
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear I'm struggling to suggest much - I don't really have any experience. Charlie has only shown nervousness of a stone statue of a lion, but that was easily overcome by putting treats on its paws. : I do sympathise with the impracticality of working with distance though - I find this hugely impractical in all but the most simple scenarios (and those are rarely really the challenging ones). Real life, complex, scenarios don't often lend themselves to you being in control of distance in a practical way. The only thing I can think of is one technique I use with Charlie to defeat stratospheric levels of excitement triggers, which is to break it down into components and get him used to them one by one. So I think your idea of getting Shadow used to the sight of the truck behind a barrier (a car window) seems sensible, as does the idea of generating the sound of the truck from a CD and so on. Do you have access to a terminus where you could take him to see a truck/bus that is not moving? And so on...
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear [quote author=JulieT link=topic=9198.msg131926#msg131926 date=1419243867] So I think your idea of getting Shadow used to the sight of the truck behind a barrier (a car window) seems sensible, as does the idea of generating the sound of the truck from a CD and so on. Do you have access to a terminus where you could take him to see a truck/bus that is not moving? And so on... [/quote] Hmm, that's an idea. There is - it's a bit of a trek away, especially at this time of year and will be mad busy at the moment, so I'll probably wait until teh new year to do that, but there's a place that has buses of all different sizes and it's adjacent to a car park, so we won't have to walk along any busy roads to get there. Good plan! I didn't mention but the other day, he was really brave when the commune pick-up came past us with its snow shovel down. It makes a horrendous noise, but Shadow just sat and watched it. I was so proud of him! I've just downloaded an assortment of strange, loud noises from a website (http://soundbible.com/tags-truck.html) and, even played quietly, he reacted to some of them, so this may be a good starting point for home.
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear Harley went through a stage of this with buses and trucks when she was about 4/5 months old. It was really difficult as we couldn't walk far and to get to the park we had to come out of our cul-de-sac and walk 100 yards alongside a dual carriage way. I started by standing near the end of the cul-de-sac and rewarding for calm, then walk after the bus/truck had gone past. I done this for several weeks before attempting to walk when a bus/truck was coming. I upped my treats and for every tiny look at me I rewarded her. It took another 4 weeks before she could walk the 100 yards with a bus coming with no reaction. Could you stand slightly back from the road? In a shop doorway or similar?
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear There's actually a hotel with a sun terrace a little way up a side road that I may be able to use. I'll look a right dicksplat sitting there in December, but it's a good idea and worth a go. Thanks!
Re: Helping Shadow to get over his fear Is there a "quiet" time for bus's where you are? Are dog allowed on them? Maybe a lil trip on a bus with mummy to cuddle would be an idea?
