my 6 month rott pup has a fear of traffic and I am wondering how to help him get over this.

I have taken him to busy roads and quiet roads to expose him to traffic and have used the no nonsense approach so I don't approve his behaviour but it is quite distressing to watch as he foams at the mouth and his ears are right back whenever he is out near cars.  He is ok travelling in the car and also looking out the windows at other traffic but has started to bark at motorbikes when he is in the car.  Missy did this too though so I am not sure if it is just a dog thing.  He is a totally different dog when he is in the park and there are no cars around.

Any tips from CD'ers?

My trainer usually says that if a human is afraid of snakes, being thrown into a snake pit isn't going to help overcome that, quite the opposite :) I.e. you need to take this gradually. Start being at a distance from traffic. You will notice when the dog is far enough away to be comfortable. When he NOTICES traffic but stays calm, you reward. Gradually you move closer. Just bear in mind the process will take weeks and must be slow for it to work. You don't want him to feel he HAS to be near traffic because you say so, but rather that there is in fact nothing to worry about.

Buster was petrified of traffic. When I felt he was confident with going out on walks (about 6 months), i took him for a walk next to a busy road, as soon as he saw the traffic he freaked out I was too frightened to take him back there and try again because he nearly pulled me over. I was a bit freaked out myself as every walk he's had, whenever a car has passed us, I've given Buster a treat, but that positive association was not enough when he was faced with a very busy road :(

It's only been recently that I have felt confident in my handling of Buster to try to get him over his traffic fears. What I did was to take him for a walk along the busy road but not right next to it, there is a large grassy area and we stayed as far from the traffic as possible (about 40ft), whenever he felt like it was scarey he would stand still and watch the traffic, I never forced him to walk on or spoke to him atall, just waited untill he felt he could walk (I've got a bit about this in my blog).

The 'no-nonsense' approach will make Buster much worse (he'll freak out if he feels he's being forced into confronting things he's unsure about) also, when he was really nervous of the traffic, any enticing with treats had the same effect it was too much pressure on him, I just stood with him and waited untill he was ready to move on. As he got a bit better, I would then give him treats for walking when cars went past, now occasionally he'll stand still if a bus or really noisy thing is passing us, but on the whole he is really good.
Oh - another thing, I never bothered about getting him to walk 'nicely' at the begining, he could sniff around and pull me towards interesting smells on the grass as much as he liked as I thought this would help build a positive association for him (lovely smells to sniff with traffic noise about).

You need to find your pups comfort level - that is how close he can be around traffic without it worrying him, and get him used to it from that distance, gradually get closer over time, but never force pup to be close to the traffic it will make him much more frightened. Another thing - don't panick, and dont rush him.
Now Buster will walk 'nicely' past the traffic, right on the pavement next to the road, he's even carried on walking with me when a police car zoomed past us with sirens going :)

ETA - Doh!! just noticed MarianneB has allready advised and with much less rambling than me!

Thanks for the tips both of you.  He won't take a treat when there is traffic around and living in a suburban area it is impossible to get anywhere without traffic.  Most of the parks we go to are surrounded by busy roads so I suppose he will have mixed associations there. 

I will take it a bit more softly softly with him as he is a sensitive wee soul.  with regards to walking at heel even if he is ahead of me or having a snuffle he will come back close to my heel if there is traffic without being asked. 

I appreciate that you live in a suburban area, but whilst you are de-sensitising him to traffic, would it not be possible to take him to the park in the car. In the meantime do you have a large superstore near you, they are a great place to sit outside, as there will be lots of cars moving around the carpark, but they will be travelling slowly. Also it is better if they are passing you from the side rather that approcahing you head on, as this is also less threatening. Retail Parks are often a good second stage as again lots of slow moving traffic trying to park up. With both places, it is great socialising as lots of people want to stop and have a pat and give a treat. All this helps to redirect some of the attention off the traffic, but at the same time pup will be getting used to the sounds/smells associated with cars. The fact that he won't accept treats when there is traffic really shows just how fearful he is of the traffic. Remember that each time pressure is put on him, you are forcing him to react in a negative way and deepening his fear and negative association with traffic.
Good luck.

I used to take my dog to a bridge that went over a motorway. He could see and hear the traffic but it was far enough away not to scare him.

lots of good ideas there goldiemad which I will give a shot.  Unfortunatley I can't drive him to the park just now as I had eye surgery recently and can't drive yet but we can walk to the retail park and I will start putting him in the front garden so he can see cars close up.

Hi. completely agree with what the other posters have said. My dog had the same fears. Under our behavioural trainer's guidance we found Rufus' comfort zone to work from. Every time he was alert to the sound of an approaching vehicle I was to click & treat. Every day rain or shine, step by step, we made our way towards our target road. Took months but we finally got there. Slowly does it.

Ann

I would drive to a quiet area where there is only the odd car now and again passing , get him out of the car and walk him up and down gently ease him into being around cars rather than taking him to a main road and expect him to accept them by treating or what ever ..gentle exposure to a scary thing without you reacting when he panics ..baby steps...

You could also train the 'look at me' so that when you see cars coming you use this training method ..I use it when passing other dogs as I am usually walking 3.

I had him out in the street this morning at 6.45am and it was really quiet and he was prancing along beside me quite the thing but tonight we only lasted 5 minutes as it was busy.  I have had him in the front garden tonight and he didn't bat an eyelid when cars went past and even when a blaring fire engine went past the end of the road.  Weird!

Maybe he feels more confident at home because he feels safer there. :-)