Motorcycles

[CeeCee]

I would start small and with short recordings of motorcycles. I would reward remaining calm or non-reactive and once they can do it at the recorded sound, move to outdoors and at a distance. See if over time and repetition you can move closer and then even move to the sound for extended periods.

I would also experiment with the reward. If they are play motivated that might be an even stronger reward than food.

I watched the video and just curious as to how this would pertain to a fearful dog with motorcycle sounds? Rev the bike and give a treat, rev the bike and give a treat? I'm having a hard time understanding how one could treat a motorcycle noise in the back yard.

On the other hand I do see treating a dog after they have ran through a bin of empty loud bottles but the backyard seems different. Hopefully the trainer can get creative and figure out a way.

 

[Jarena]

Update: Every time Lettie hears a motorcycle we have been completely ignoring it. If she freaks out and wants inside, we make her do a command then we reward that command with letting her into the garage (but not inside the house). Then we encourage her to come back out after a minute. She has been slowly getting better with the sound, she now usually paces and whines a little instead of tucking her tail and running for the door. I think we are improving. Baby steps lol.

Today though.... I had her in the car with me and we were at a red light. A motorcycle pulled up behind us (with a helmet and sunglasses). She was NOT happy!! Her fur stood up and she growled and barked her fool head off! I knew the “quiet” command was NOT going to work in this situation. So I reached back and patted her and told her to calm down, no big deal. When I touched her she would look at me and be quiet for about 2 seconds then whip back around and go nuts. This poor guy.
The light turned green and we go, she quieted down to a low growl (this guy noticed her and tried to keep his distance). But as soon as he got closer she started her crazy barking again. The guy turned at the next road, maybe just to get away from the crazy pup.
I really don’t know if it was the motorcycle, or the helmet that set her off (or both). So now I need to borrow or find a cheap motorcycle helmet to start desensitizing Lettie. She is fine with sunglasses.
The older she gets, the more I’m seeing our socializing pay off. I constantly see things that I think will set her off, but she just keeps impressing me. We will get over this motorcycle and/or helmet thing eventually!

One more thing....OMG her big scary bark is no fun in my little Hyundai Elantra!! It bounces right back and hurts my poor ears

 

[April Nicole]

OUCH!!!
Bet that guy was thinking he was about to be dog food...

Do you think she would reply to a high value treat? Or is she in a zone? I know it would be time consuming, especially if there's traffic, but maybe you could bring something she absolutely loves like p.b. or something, and pull over and make her focus on you, and treat heavily. Possibly find someone with a motorcycle, and see if they would follow you one evening to set up a training session with her. And do it several times till it desensitize her to it. I know it's easier said than done...

So glad she's starting to make progress though. Logan was scared of the vacuum, so I held a treat in my hand and made him come to me to get it. He was hesitant, but really wanted the treat. I did it several times, and then he realized the vacuum wasn't going to kill him. Lol. I know a motorcycle is a lot different, but maybe the same theory. Stand next to one with an awesome treat and try to get Lettie to come to you. She trusts you, so she will start to see that if your OK with it, it probably won't hurt her. Just a suggestion.

 

[Jarena]

OUCH!!!
Bet that guy was thinking he was about to be dog food...

Do you think she would reply to a high value treat? Or is she in a zone? I know it would be time consuming, especially if there's traffic, but maybe you could bring something she absolutely loves like p.b. or something, and pull over and make her focus on you, and treat heavily. Possibly find someone with a motorcycle, and see if they would follow you one evening to set up a training session with her. And do it several times till it desensitize her to it. I know it's easier said than done...

So glad she's starting to make progress though. Logan was scared of the vacuum, so I held a treat in my hand and made him come to me to get it. He was hesitant, but really wanted the treat. I did it several times, and then he realized the vacuum wasn't going to kill him. Lol. I know a motorcycle is a lot different, but maybe the same theory. Stand next to one with an awesome treat and try to get Lettie to come to you. She trusts you, so she will start to see that if your OK with it, it probably won't hurt her. Just a suggestion.

I almost always have treats in my purse just in case. Until I needed them lol. I would have tried to get to to pay attention to me and treat her. Yes, easier said than done, but it needs to be done anyway .
Matt told me he has an old motorcycle helmet at his parents house that we can go get. So we will try to practice with that. If we can find anyone with a motorcycle, that’s probably exactly what we will do. She does trust me and that’s how we introduce her to everything new, I go stand or squat down by it and call her to me with awesome treats in my hand. This is how we did the new snowblower and new lawn mower. After a few minutes we can usually stack treats on the new object and she will take them off.

The vacuum is a little different. Before we made the 3 hour trip to get her, I pulled the vacuum out and sat it in the living room. I knew that could be a problem so I wanted to work on it right away. So after she came home I would move it around (not running) a few times a day. Well we worked and worked and she is *okay* with the vacuum under certain conditions. She is ok if both of us are home. She is ok if we vacuum the bedroom and hallway. But if I’m home alone and try to vaccum the living room she barks and lunges at it like she is protecting me from it. The only way I can vacuum alone is to have a bowl full of kibble, I grab a handful and toss it to the other side of the room. And repeat.

 

[Boxergirl]

I think you've got this. You've got great instincts and her focus on you is really good. Considering how good her focus is, if she can't disengage then you probably need to move a bit further away. Of course that doesn't work in a situation like the car, lol.

 

[April Nicole]

Like Boxergirl said, sounds like you've got it !

It's funny how something makes them so crazy. Logan acts like that with water. He goes nuts. I can't pour it on him, put him in it, gently squirt him w it. Nothing! I tried giving him cheese which helps for a moment. Then he's bucking again crying like he's been hit by a car..

Like you I'm just going to try to be patient and consistent. And treat heavily

Keep us updated, and please share what works for you. It helps so much to learn what's working for everybody else.

 

[Zeela]

Yes, it is funny what makes them so crazy and it constantly changes, what use to scare her like the garbage can, no longer does. She does not like the dustbuster & she is slowly getting use to my Harley.
She knows the sound of my loud pipes that means I am leaving or when I can home and she sees me pull it into the garage. I've noticed her getting closer to it where before she would run the other way.

 

[Jarena]

Thank you both for the encouragement! This forum always makes me feel like I have a whole team of support behind me.
With the motorcycle (if I can find someone), I would start far away with it not running. Maybe even start in a car first. I could just have my car in park with the motorcycle car behind, then slows signal for them to come closer to me over time. First I think I’ll start with just one of us in a helmet without the motorcycle at all, just at home.
Oh the water!! We have almost given up on bath time! Lettie HATES water! Thankfully, she’s a very clean girl. She doesn’t roll around or get herself dirty. So I just give her a “cat bath”. I put a little natural dog cleanser in a bowl with some warm water and wipe her down with a wet cloth.
Our bathroom is not big enough to even fit a medium sized dog lol. So we take her to the doggy wash thingy. It’s a small room at a gas station by the car wash. It’s nicer than it sounds lol. She won’t get into the tub, we just have to chase her around the little room to wash her.
It sucks, but I bet it’s funny to watch! Two adult humans baby talking their mastiff while the mastiff tries to get away from the scary water. “Oh you’re such a good girl, it’s ok baby” “here Matt, just try to turn her a little, I need to get her belly” “oh baby girl, just gotta get your tummy, your doing so good” “ouch she’s on my foot”!!
We will try to work with her more this summer outside. We know a plumber so he hooked us up with warm water outside.

 

[April Nicole]

Thank you both for the encouragement! This forum always makes me feel like I have a whole team of support behind me.
With the motorcycle (if I can find someone), I would start far away with it not running. Maybe even start in a car first. I could just have my car in park with the motorcycle car behind, then slows signal for them to come closer to me over time. First I think I’ll start with just one of us in a helmet without the motorcycle at all, just at home.
Oh the water!! We have almost given up on bath time! Lettie HATES water! Thankfully, she’s a very clean girl. She doesn’t roll around or get herself dirty. So I just give her a “cat bath”. I put a little natural dog cleanser in a bowl with some warm water and wipe her down with a wet cloth.
Our bathroom is not big enough to even fit a medium sized dog lol. So we take her to the doggy wash thingy. It’s a small room at a gas station by the car wash. It’s nicer than it sounds lol. She won’t get into the tub, we just have to chase her around the little room to wash her.
It sucks, but I bet it’s funny to watch! Two adult humans baby talking their mastiff while the mastiff tries to get away from the scary water. “Oh you’re such a good girl, it’s ok baby” “here Matt, just try to turn her a little, I need to get her belly” “oh baby girl, just gotta get your tummy, your doing so good” “ouch she’s on my foot”!!
We will try to work with her more this summer outside. We know a plumber so he hooked us up with warm water outside.

What a great idea for the bath! I'll just try to wipe him down. Unfortunately he does like to roll around and get filthy. I leashed him this morning and tried to gently hose him, cause he got really muddy. Our neighbor was outside. I bet he thought I was killing him! I got him clean, and gave him plenty of love and he was fine with the towel drying and brushing...

I read through some of your previous threads, and I have noticed that Logan is very similar to Lettie. They have a lot of the same behaviors, and characteristics. So you are such a good example for me. I appreciate all of your input.

Too funny about the dog wash. Are y'all soaked when you get out?

 

[April Nicole]

Yes, it is funny what makes them so crazy and it constantly changes, what use to scare her like the garbage can, no longer does. She does not like the dustbuster & she is slowly getting use to my Harley.
She knows the sound of my loud pipes that means I am leaving or when I can home and she sees me pull it into the garage. I've noticed her getting closer to it where before she would run the other way.

Glad she's getting used to it. Maybe you can get her in the side car

My husband drives a 7.3 diesel, it's loud, but Logan doesn't mind it, cause it means we are going to the park! Our road is super busy in am and evening. So I take him to the end of our driveway and let him watch the cars drive by....A lot of people are trimming trees this time of year, so he got used to hearing a chainsaw...
I'm glad we were here for him to get used to traffic, cause where we are moving there is none... Now if we can overcome that water phobia!!

 

[Jarena]

What a great idea for the bath! I'll just try to wipe him down. Unfortunately he does like to roll around and get filthy. I leashed him this morning and tried to gently hose him, cause he got really muddy. Our neighbor was outside. I bet he thought I was killing him! I got him clean, and gave him plenty of love and he was fine with the towel drying and brushing...

I read through some of your previous threads, and I have noticed that Logan is very similar to Lettie. They have a lot of the same behaviors, and characteristics. So you are such a good example for me. I appreciate all of your input.

Too funny about the dog wash. Are y'all soaked when you get out?

Lettie was dirtier as a pup. She was also easier to “wrangle” in the bath at that age/weight lol. I’m happy to hear they are similar. I really didn’t want a puppy, but Matt is afraid of dogs so we had to get puppy. Now I’m so glad we did. It’s been a lot of fun learning with Lettie. She’s taught me as much as I’ve taught her. She taught me patience, that’s for sure!!
Yes, it was winter and freezing cold last time we took her to the doggy wash. We all left looking like wet dogs!

 

[Zeela]

Zeela gets washed down with a wash cloth almost every night bc she sleeps in my bed. she loves its, she waits for it after I take my shower. She seems to like to do what I do, crazy as it sounds.
As far as motorcycles, you just got to get Lettie around them and use to the noise. I walk Zeela every day, our main street is somewhat busy so she is still getting use to trucks, the more you get them out and about the better.