Bike Chasing

[Christine Kent]

My setter has just started chasing bikes and barks furiously at them and the owners.  He does look quite fierce when doing this and most people get angry and try and kick him.  There have been a couple of people who have just said hello and stroked him and then he has stopped barking. When one man was kicking out at him he got his trrainer in his mouth. I think his reaction to the bike and owner depends on how the owner reacts to him.  This is becoming a problem because everywhere I go there are bikes even when I tried to go to a remote wood there was a bike.   I did get my bike out the weekend to do some training with him and at first he went mad but gradually calmed down with treats. But when I try and call him and give him treats when out he takes no notice just carries on.  Any tips?

[Sherry Miller]

How special Keegan and his owners are to have found a way for Keegan to get the attention every Irish Setter craves and deserves.

 

[Kristin]

I am so interested in this because my dog has similar issues with trucks and men in uniform (police, cable guy, mail man, etc.).  It has gotten much better while he is on leash, but when he is in the car with me and a truck is nearby the barking and aggression is quite bad, and I am at a loss of what to do with it. I got my setter as a rescue so I have no idea what happened to him in his past life to cause this.  He was about two years old when I got him.  I am interested in training solutions.

[Christine Kent]

Hi Kristin, the bike chasing is getting a little better. What I do is put a really long line on him and I can then easily get to him by putting my foot on the line.  Mine also barks at people when they are walking towards him especially men in hats. I don't know why this has started to happen I think it was when he reached the age of 2 back in April.  How old is your dog now?  Another person recommended putting shingle into a jar and shake it when they do this. I may give that a try.

[Sherry Miller]

Kristin..having a dog who was two years old when he arrived in his forever home with you means he has issues that came with him....we also have a rescue in our home.  Those mysteries are  what we try to unravel and can only guess at what might have happened in their other home.  Does he sit nicely in the car most of the time? can he be rewarded for everytime he ignores a truck?  I took our Molly here on lead to a busy area where trucks came by....we found a place to just sit and watch the trucks go by...she soon settled down as far as the noise which she did not like at first. As she calmed down we offered water and a small treat and then continued talking to her until we felt she was fine around trucks...we also walk her around a farmers market where a passenger train runs behind so repeated the same procedure with the train.  Now when she hears it coming she sits and looks at us for praise and her treat! 

   The mystery of a rescued dog can be fun to guess at...we believe Molly was a motorcycle MAMA who went on campouts at a lake as she loves to snorkel and where they had cookouts where they toasted marshmallows on a stick over the coals of a fire. She goes nuts when anyone toasts a marshmallow over the coals of a fire....leans into your leg waiting for some to fall !  How close that is to the truth we have no idea as we were told she was a companion for a handicapped gentleman in a wheelchair!  But we can rewrite her history anyway we like just as we can and have created a safe happy world that she is the center of and one she knows belongs to her just as we now belong to her.  Molly has just paid us back threefold or more for the time we took to train her and work with her by keeping us always laughing and eager to see what she finds around that next corner! 

   I hope you can work with him to resolve his issues with trucks and people with hats...sounds like someone in a hat may have kicked or yelled at him...and perhaps that person came out of a truck?  You will never know but I would try to sit and watch trucks go by with him on lead....try entering your home with different hats on (borrow them if you can) and just keep loving him and working with him until he feels secure in both those situations.Good Luck.

[Howard Glansfield]

We had a Policeman call at our house and we had a setter who couldn't stand men in uniforms wearing hats.I asked him to take his hat off because the dog didn't like them,he asked what was the breed and laughed when I told him he was an Irish setter who could be aggressive to uniformed men in hats.I said I would go and hold the dog,he said not to bother so I didn't........he kept his hat on...he was pinned to the wall by a growling dog.His hat came off and William was fine.I know I should have held the dog but the Policeman annoyed me.( I was a lot younger then...and not so wise!)

William was rescued by us and we found out that he had undergone barbaric training  by a so called Security Guard.That's why he didn't like uniformed men in hats.I won't go into the details of his training because they are horrific,he ended up having two operations to rectify the damage to him .The guard was reported to the RSPCA and they discovered another dog treated the same way.I was never asked to go to court but my vet gave evidence.