Dear Cesar,

Hi, my name is Gabrielle Spina, and I have two dogs, a German shepherd and a Husky mix. My question is mostly about my German shepherd. She is 4 years old, and my family and I have a hard time walking her.

She tore her ACL last winter, and the vet has told us that she can't run anymore. But because she is such an active dog, I feel bad having to keep her restrained. We walk her as much as possible, sometimes it's once an hour, but she has this aggression towards cars.

I am afraid that she will get hurt someday. I have a hard time keeping her steady when a car comes by, because she is a powerful dog. What can I do to prevent her from lunging towards a car?

Sincerely,
Gabrielle Spina
New Hartford, NY

Dear Gabrielle,

This is a hard question to answer without being there to see the dog for myself. A dog professional can be a great help. The goal is to change how your dog reacts to the movement or sound of the car, and this needs to be done by someone who knows how to block or redirect the mind. This is what I did with the dog from the Spinning Poodle episode. Every time a car went by, he would just spin and spin, and the owners were just letting him do it. So what I did was, at the moment the dog was about to begin spinning, I pulled his leash to the side, which kept him off-balance. If he tried again, I gave him a quick correction. It took a while, but eventually he got the message!

There are some tools you can use to help distract your dog. It is unlikely that your dog is attracted to the smell of the car. It is probably the sight or sound of the car that is triggering the behavior. If your dog is attracted by the sight of the car, you can get special glasses for the dog that block the sides of his vision, like blinders for horses. This way the dog has to remain focused on what is directly in front of him. If it is a sound-oriented attraction, you can use earplugs, so the dog doesn't hear the sound that triggers the behavior.

Again, I highly recommend finding a trainer to work with you on this issue, but don't be disheartened. Once you have worked through this issue, ignoring the car will become an additional psychological challenge for your dog. Keep at it!

Cesar Millan