Help! My dog ran away in traffic. Should I chase a loose dog?

You will need to do some training with her and teach her to come to you when called. In the meantime, you should just keep her on a leash or in an enclosed area so she doesn't run away. https://positively.com/dog-behavior/basic-cues/recall-come/

Oh no! How scary! To prevent this from happening, you need to have very consistent recall from your pup at all times, in all circumstances. Dog training classes help teach you these skills, because it's all about you being consistent. If you don't want to do classes, you'll have to do your homework online using this tool: www.dogstardaily.com, which is a great veterinary behavior dog training website. Good luck!

Hi there! Many dogs are highly aroused by movement and have a tendency to chase cars. What your trainer recommended - teaching your dog to do something else, such as sit or look at you, for a treat instead of lunging after the car - is indeed the best approach, and it's what I recommend as well. I would NOT use a shock collar, as this has a high risk of causing other behavioral issues such as aggression or anxiety, and will not do anything to teach your dog what you want him to do instead. Practice at a distance at first where he can be successful (which may need to be a long way from the road, at first), and praise and reward him with a treat for sitting calmly or looking up at you whenever a car passes by. As he gets better at this, you will be able to gradually move closer to the road until eventually he can do it even when the cars are very close by. You could also consider a Gentle Leader head halter to give you better physical control of him and help prevent lunging, if you need something that will work quickly while you're still working on training him.

I would highly recommend keeping him on a leas for a while until he is better trained. I would recommend starting with basic commands like come, sit and play. I would take him some place not crowded and keep him attached to a leash and start with the above commands. once he starts responding you can add length to his leash. Once he starts coming to you on a really long leash you can start to remove the leash. It will take a while but you can teach him to listen to you in a crowded area.

Zeke is a very handsome guy! I see that he looks like an Australian Shepherd or a Border Collie. It's very common for herding breeds to try and chase fast-moving objects like cars. To address this problem, you will need to start with Zeke on a leash at a distance from the road. You need to be far enough away that is able to notice the cars going by without reacting - this may mean you need a *lot* of distance at first, depending on how sensitive he is. Each time a car goes by, praise and reward him with a treat for staying calm. When he's doing well with this, you can gradually begin moving closer to the road, one step at a time. If he gets too excited and tries to chase, just move further away until he can be calm, and work your way closer again. Eventually, with practice, he should be able to stand calmly with you on the sidewalk even with cars driving by a few feet away. It's also important to keep Zeke on-leash or in a safely enclosed area at all times, to prevent him from practicing his car chasing behavior outside of training sessions. It can be challenging to do this on your own in some cases, so if you're still having trouble, I would recommend finding a good reward-based trainer who can work with you in person. You can search for a qualified trainer in your area here: www.ccpdt.org

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It sounds like Toffee may not know his boundaries well, and assumes he can run everywhere once he's outside. I recommend training him on a leash to show him where his boundaries are. For example, walk him on a leash around the perimeter of your property, and never beyond. You can make him sit at the edge of your property, and give him a treat. Do this at multiple points around your property. Since he has run off before, he may not learn the true edge of his property. The safest thing to do is to take him out on a leash and not let him run freely. He is otherwise at risk of getting lost, or even hit by a vehicle. I hope this is helpful.

I would recommend working on a 'drop' or 'leave it' command with Charlie. You can give him a toy, then offer a treat and when he drops the toy say the command. Once he will do this consistently during training time you can try using the command when he picks something up and wants to chase. It is important that you don't chase after him when he's doing this (unless he has something that will truly hurt him) as even the negative attention can reinforce the behavior. Look away, find a treat, and wait for him to drop the item and reward him. Since he seems to like chase you could also have a special toy that is the only one you use for chase - you could ask him to drop whatever he has and replace it with this toy and then chase him for a bit as a reward.