Jumping on cars

[sheryllb]

Hi there!
I have 3 dogs..2 retreivers ..a 4 yr old, a 2 yr old & then a 14 yr old Lab that I adopted. They are the 3 amigos & life on a 5.5 acre farm is grand except w/h someone drives down our lane. The 4 yr old male retreiver will run up & jump on the car w/h it stops. We are very concerned that he will scratch someone's car. He does not do that to us. It is hard to control him w/h we are outside & not close enough to stop him. What to do???

[KOPcaroline]

Hi sheryllb,

Is it just your 4 year old that jumps up at cars? The other 2 arent interested?

Hows the dogs recall? Does he come when you call? I would try training them all to come to you when a car appears on your drive - this comes with the condition that you notice when cars come up and can call the dogs immediately. If you give them a treat reward for coming it will encourage them to repeat the behaviour, and you can hopefully train them to come running to you (with or without you calling them) when a car comes. Be sure to praise them heaps and keep them happily entertained until the car is stopped at your place. You're just aiming to train them to do something good in response to the car, instead of acting up. It will take diligence on your part, and lots of repetition. If you've got a friend nearby who's willing, have them drive up your road a few times in an afternoon and work with your dogs coming to you wherever you are. You want the whole group to come back so they all help train each other and make it more fun

You could also consider (for more money) an electronic fence to control how far your dog can run at the cars. Similarly, to help you with the above suggestion, you can get a remote sensor that beeps when cars turn into your drive, so that you know immediately when someones coming, and you can use it to help train your dogs (bell sound = come to the backporch, or whatever).

This is running on the assumption that your dogs are good with training and recalls. If not, we'll brainstorm some more Let us know how things go!