We have a 4 month old Border Collie hes only been out for the last 2 weeks and has now started to lunge at every car that passes ,we use a harness when hes out . How can we stop him doing this Many thanks in advance

I have a rescue border collie who spent most of the first year of his life on a chain on a farm and he too is a car chaser  and had never really met anything but farm traffic. I started off taking him to a supermarket car park and parking right at the back of it with the tailgate open and getting him to watch me and rewarding every time he glanced at me rather than the cars that were passing by. I chose that car park as the cars move slower in there than they do on a road. I then progressed to finding a spot where he could see a busy road in the distance but he was not near to the traffic - within his own comfort zone - and did the same and gradually worked our way nearer to traffic over a period of time.

I am now able to walk him fairly close to traffic - having a grass verge beyond the pavement and next to the road is now within his comfort zone. I try to find roads where we can walk on the side that faces oncoming traffic as traffic approaching from behind and whizzing past is more of a temptation and is self rewarding as in his eyes he has chased it off. I also have started to walk him around a large industrial estate in the dark as there is very little traffic and the headlights seemed to add to his discomfort as does wet weather when the tires make a swishing noise.

It has been a long, slow process and has to be done in tiny, tiny steps but a year on and he is so much better than he was before but we still have a way to go. Interestingly he isn't the slightest bit bothered by trains that rush past - some of them are the highspeed trains that really move but he shows no interest in those at all and some do pass us very close when we are waiting to cross the tracks on one of our walks where the footpath has a pedestrian gate.

nearly all my young collies have done this,lunging at passing cars,fortunately it never lasted very long.A gentle check on the lead and a firm "no" was all I ever did.Maybe a pocket full of treats used to distract the pup before he gets fixed on the car,might help,too.Good luck!

Is it possible to use a toy as a distraction, eg. whenever you walk near a road have a tuggy toy (or other interesting toy) that you encourage him to play with.

I'd imagine the car-lunging is chasing instinct (rather than a fear response), so instead of trying to supress an instinct, it's far easier to re-direct it to an appropriate out-let, that way the dogs internal 'reward' for acting on the instinct acts with what you are trying to do. Keep this toy as a 'special' toy - only ever available in the presence of moving cars.

That is an interesting post Harley!  My older collie has always been rather nervous of cars passing - but will only lunge in certain situations.  If I stand still and talk to someone near to a road it gives her the opportunity to get her 'eye' in and she is likely to lunge - something I am aware of and I try not to let people distract me from my dog when I am on a narrow pavement.  She used to pull like mad when a noisy car goes past but now she has become more confident and may flinch occasionally but walks nicely - lots of training for lead walking.  However on our lane where there is no pavement and cars are driving towards us more slowly she is much more likely to lunge - I may be tensing myself up in expectation because some folk just whizz past us with no thought to the dog.  Tension and worry is picked up so easily by the dog.  

Now if a car is coming towards us on a narrow stretch I keep to the middle of the road and make them slow down and wait for me to get to a safer place for passing - especially as once her teeth went into my leg when I tucked her behind my legs to squeeze out of the way!

Mastifflover - a toy is a great idea - especially if it squeaks to distract the dog from staring - but preparation has to be built up with a toy - it has to be used at home first to get the dog to focus on it in less distracting situations - and then build up to a very exciting situation like watching moving cars - Harley's advice was really good - use titbits or a toy - just as long as the dog is not too aroused so it can't focus on you.

A friend had an older dog then got a Welsh Sheepdog and later a Border Collie, the Welshie was chasing cats, birds etc so she bought a few sheep . She lost the older dog and the original Welshie but has another Welshie who is deaf and also 2 Borders and is now doing sheepdog training with 2 Borders and entering the 'beginer' level trials.:-) :-)
the dogs tend not to chase stuff now but will herd her horses, geese and sheep etc