by 2 yr old border collie has a bad habbit of chasing push bikes we have had her a year from a rescue center.
any hints on how to stop this habbit
many thanks
sian weavers

You need to get her attention onto you when you see a bike coming. Does she respond well to treats or a particular toy? Take them on your walks and have them ready to distract her. If you know someone who could ride a bike up and down past her for a little while over several sessions it would help to desensitise her. Praise her when she watches you and not the bike and she'll get the idea.
LynnT

we were going to try the bike thing the weekend with me cycling it dosnt matter if she jumps at me

This is very common with Border Collies because they have been bred to have a very strong herding instinct. They'll herd anything that moves, given half a chance!

You'll have to work very hard on distracting her as soon as you see a bike approaching (before she's seen it). Try getting her to sit and reward her with a treats or a favourite toy when she's looking at you and ignoring the bike.

Good luck.

My gwp had a bit of a thing for bikes but it wasn't too serious. One surprised us from behind and he ran over to it. He didn't actually do anything once he got there but I wanted him to stop doing it.

A cyclist comes along at the same time on our walk so I was able to get ready for training. When I saw the bike, I made him sit and talked to him. He has a pretty steady sit so it was fairly easy. After a few days, we moved onto letting him sniff the ground in front of him whilst the cyclist went past. I had him on a long line at this point as I wanted to give him the freedom to go towards the bike if he wanted but I was able to stop him if he chose.

This took a week for us as I said, he wasn't particularly keen on chasing the bikes; this one bike startled him.

Helen

I wouldn't want to have chanced my 7 month-old bc pup on a long line because her thing is cars! We've got to the point now where she may occasionally think of stalking them as they approach but a quick "no" and she gives up. She "chases" passing cars inside the back of the estate car when we're out unless she's told firmly to "leave it".
Strangely, she isn't in the least bit bothered by bikes!:)
LynnT

I'm not suggesting you try this as luckily Willow was unhurt but she stopped chasing bikes when she got run over by one, poor bike rider though just lay there on his back for ages asking me if my dog was alright,thankfully he was just winded and eventually got up and rode on.I would follow the distraction advice it does work.Gillian

Hi Lynn, I read this thread earlier and thought I was lucky cos by BC pup hadn't shown interest in cars or bikes (but he does like joggers!), but I just got back from walking him and he was obviously lunging after nearly every car that went past. :( We live in London and I tried distracting him every few cars, but it would be very difficult to actively distract him for the whole length of a busy road? Any ideas, or is this the only way... How did you get your pup to the point where 'no' will stop him? :)

It came as a surprise to me with Abby because I had meticulously carried her everywhere with me when out walking my older dog, Ben. I had stood at busy road junctions letting lorries and buses and endless streams of cars go by without so much as a glimmer of interest from her....until her little feet touched the pavement!

I walked her along the roads round my local area at the busiest times(obviously no comparison to the amount of traffic you encounter!). She's extremely food-oriented so a tasty morsel nearly always wins over a car;) We were learning how to do a close heel in obedience classes anyway so it wasn't new to her that I wanted her to concentrate on me as she walked to heel before she'd get the treat. (You need to keep a treat which the dog can see in your hand, the same side as the dog, with your arm down by your side. Don't let the dog have the treat if he jumps at your hand, only when you think he's earned it. To start with he'll earn it just by following you, then keeping up with you for longer, coming in closer, etc. Clicker training works brilliantly with this but I found it difficult holding a lead, a treat and a clicker so I click my tongue to mark the behaviour!) As a car approached, in either direction, I would put a treat in my hand and call her to heel. I would treat her every time a car went past and she hadn't lunged after it, then if she hadn't stopped to look, then if she hadn't glanced at it, etc. It was pleasing how quickly she picked up on this, but a bit disheartening when each walk seamed to start with the same old behaviour. However it didn't take her long till there was a definite improvement. She'll still tense up occasionally but I can distract her with something, or just tell her no. You can almost hear the sigh of disappointment but she trudges past:D

Dogs can get bored of heel work so no, I wouldn't suggest he heels all the way along a busy road, but if you try this for a couple of minutes or so at a time,a few times over,as you go along, the gaps in between should hopefully become less of a struggle, if the heel-work is making any difference and you're able to hold his attention. Alternatively you could try stopping with him, treating him every time something goes past and he doesn't lunge, etc, then go on to the heel-work.
Another suggestion that was made was to take a good book and a sandwich, and find a seat near a busy road. Settle and let the dog get bored to death with the traffic. Don't know how this one would go with a bc, but may be worth a try.

You need to find what works with him. Best of luck. Let me know how you get on:)
Lynn x

Thanks ever so much Lynn,
I will be trying everything in your message asap, but I will wait until it gets a bit warmer to try sitting by the main road!!

I don't blame you!;)

Buy or hire an Aboistop Remote control collar. This is one of the situations shown on the training video that you get with the collar. As the dog chases the bike/car whatever , you call them ..they (as usual) ignore you , you press the remote control ..the spray startles the dog and it looks to its mum straight away ..you call again and then reward the safe return

HTH

Melody

If you cant stop this behaviour you could change its name to Rover 2000.

:D

Mr Murphy you have made us laugh!! :D Julieann (as my late BC was just like this brought back some very funny moment!)

My dog had a "thing" about moving bikes which wasn't totally unexpected, she loves to chase and is so fast and can be there one minute and gone the next before you have time to realise.

Anyway, I took her to plentyu of places where there were cycle paths (and of course when you plan a session do any bikes turn up? NO!!!!) This was the previous winter so she must have been around 8 - 10 months in age.

I started by taking her on normal collar and lead to where bikes would go past, so she could see them and get used to them, but not so close that she reacted. If she did react, I moved slightly further from the path. I was aiming for interest but not obsessive reaction :)

I use a clicker and she already knew it marked the correct behaviour, so when she did behave well, such as just looking at a bike, I clicked and treated after the bike had gone past. (the treat was either cheese or a tug with her toy :) ). After a while when a bike came she would look at me and get the click and treat, and graduallyover weeks I moved her closer and closer to the bikes as they went past.

As far as I know she is now totally fine around them, but if I see either a bike or a jogger esp a fast one i do call her to me and get her to sit and wait til theygo by, i feel this helps to improve public opinion of dogs and owners generally.

I did try using my other half on a bike to assist with the training, but gave up very quickly as she got so excited seeing "dad" on his bike, she was totallyOTT and too silly to train, but i expect it is a very good idea if the dog doesnt go "bonkers" at the time ;) :p

LIndsay

for the quickest method of training your dog to stop chasing bikes is to buy, hire or borrow a Master Plus remote control gas collar. With someone you know riding a bike let your dog react normally but as he gets near the bike give the command to come. If no reaction press the remote and your dog will stop startled by appearance in front of it of a cloud of harmless gas imitted from the collar. Your must then give the come command again in a really happy manner. If still no recall press the remote again and give another command to come and if you have to get down on your knees and call your dog and do not show anger. You should then get a good responce and give loads of praise and even a titbit. Later on try someone else on the bike but I would espect your dog will have lost all interest in chasing bikes. It is important that you reinforce this command to come when ever you see a bike even if you no longer have the Master Plus. These are expensive at £160 but you can always resell them second hand. This collar should not be used on an apprehensive dog.