Chasing Bikes

Gizmo's 2 on 1st May, and he's never chased a bike before in his life. Yesterday we saw one of the park regulars riding his bike, and Gizmo went nuts barking at the bike. Normally when he sees this guy, he's exercising and not on his bike, so we figured that was the change. The guy slowed his bike to a standstill, Giz calmed down and I went on my way thinking it's a one-off.

Saw a bike today, instantly starts barking and growling.

I'm kicking myself. I knew he was scared of bikes, but because his reaction has always been to move out of their way, I just left it.

When I'm training him to be ok with bikes, should I start with just the bike, or a bike with a person on it?

I cant believe Gizmo is nearly two already!! Time has flown!

Sorry I'm not sure but I'd say try the bike alone first because it might be the threat of the bike moving by the person thats causing the dislike? Good luck, let us know how you go.

Sorry, I missed this!

Have you got a friend with a bike? If so, I'd work like this...

Have your friend stand still with the bike in a fairly open space, and then bring Gizmo to him on a loose lead. If he goes tense or growls, throw some treats on the floor and get his head down and relaxed. If he can't you might be too close already, so back away and try again. You need him to know that the bike is there but understand that he can relax. Keep your lead - or better still training line - loose so he can move around and what you should find is that curiosity gets the better of him and he moves closer to explore.

At that point, praise him and walk a few steps away - he should follow you with no tension on the lead. Give him a treat. Then get closer, just to the 'uh oh' point of him wondering if he needs to do something about this, and throw treats on the floor again. Repeat this till you're close to the bike, never getting closer than the point that he can remain relaxed. Depending on how deeply he feels about them, you might not achieve this on one day. You might also want to do a few getting closer moves then give him (and your friend!) a break for fifteen minutes or so. There's a lot of learning goes on during breaks (oh, it's ok after all).

When you get to the point that you're fairly close, back off a few steps then ask your friend to push the bike away from you. As they move off, follow. Predators don't run away, so following something is often very helpful in settling fears.

If that goes ok, you should then be able to build up to being able to walk alongside your friend, and then maybe having the bike go away a little then come back again, and then to being able to ride it, etc. Keep monitoring, you might find that one change is too much and you need to slow things down again.

And if that all goes according to plan, then see if you can find different people to do the same with. You should hopefully soon be able to have them riding round you and coming towards you.

Strange bikes might still need a little more work later but we'll cross that bridge if we need to then. See how that all goes first.

for years mia was scared of motorbikes, as I live central was a bit of a problem I used to try and pull mia back as she was growling and snarling its important to take things at gizmos pace it wnt be overnight but be worth it.in the long run to make sure hes calm around bikes but your body language plays a big part too its important to stay calm and get to the point he doesnt react toward to bike . mia reacted more to my voice in this but if gizmo is treat orientated that will work too

I love how you always break training down nninto short steps, so much easier for me to remember, thank you.

Crystal, he's not keen on motorbikes either. will give it a go.

mia used to try and chase them while attatched to her lead shes quite strong while determined to get something hate to imagine how mias previous owners treated her what I was told just scratched the surface

Goblin wrote:I love how you always break training down nninto short steps, so much easier for me to remember, thank you.

Crystal, he's not keen on motorbikes either. will give it a go.

Little steps are so much easier for a dog too, and that way also helps you see what he finds easy and when you get to a hard bit. I'd tackle push bikes first, then go onto motobikes. Again, breaking it down, motorbikes are a bigger issue often because of the noise, smell and the increased speed.