Home › Blogs › Helenp's blog

Anxiety at trucks

Posted June 10th, 2009 by Helenp

Hi Aidan, up until recently (8 weeks to be exact) my 20mth old airedale
travelled beautifully in the car. She would hop in and on long journeys be
asleep in half an hour. Now however she has become quiet anxious when along
comes a 4WD or a truck although she is not hesitant to get in the car at
the start The ears go back and she starts to salivate and gets a look of
fear in her eyes. If we pass the truck quickly she is "ok" and stays on the
seat if I have to pull up next to the truck (which I try and avoid) she
will get down in the foot well behind the driver's seat and stay there for
as long as she feels necessary.
What I think has created this behaviour is I left her in the car while I
ran into a shop I was gone no more than 10 mins however, on the way in I
did notice a garbage truck parked about 50 metres away and I think that
maybe the truck was emptying those big industrial bins though I did not see
this happen and am assuming that it was quiet noisy.

Can you suggest how I can change this behaviour? On lead out and about
she does not react at all it is only in the car. I try not to
praise/reassure her until she gets back up on the seat. Not sure what to
do - should I not take her in the car? Should i take her in the car more
often on short trips? As most times it is only her and I in the car should
I pullover until she settles or am I better off ignoring her and praising
when she gets back on the seat. Any advice would be appreciated as she
does spend alot of time with me in the car on weekends.

Thanks

Helenp

Comments

re: Anxiety at trucks

Aidan's picture
On June 17th, 2009 Aidan says:

Hi Helen, I am a big fan of controlled set-ups and controlling the environment to set the dog up for success. What this really means is that I like to set the dog up to succeed at something specific so that I can reinforce THAT behaviour.

Short trips are an excellent idea. Even better if someone else can drive (or reinforce) so that you can reinforce calm behaviour.

If she has a strategy of coping with trucks, then I guess it isn't doing too much harm to let her bury herself in the footwell behind your seat when you do encounter a truck. I suppose you could drive somewhere where trucks will pass frequently, pull over and park the car, then see if you can get her to, say, down on the back seat. You might need to pull down a side street or something to get a bit of distance so that you can set her up for success.

Both my dogs seem to get nervous about the garbage truck on our morning walk. They are noisy, lots of loud thumps and bumps, they start and stop (they don't do what other vehicles do), and they probably make all sorts of high-pitched noises that we can't hear.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

Back to top