Member Questions 8-29-26

Here are this week's member questions:

Gabriele M

Our Belgian Malinois started barking at bicycles excessively while riding in the car, just started doing this. Our car is too small to fit in a crate , otherwise would crate him. He is 19 month old and been in the car since he was a puppy. He is e collar trained. Any suggestions. Thanks

Ian

I feel when I am training my Mal she chooses to switch off when she feels like it.   she has high drive and is amazing, but the more I let her, I feel the more she does it.   one minute she is very fast and wants to learn, and sometimes she can't be bothered.   she still does it but not with the enthusiasm she usually puts in.   I gave her a shake and she switched on bit. I don't really want to do that, any suggestions.

Michael F

Robert, My 1 year old nervous GSD is very reactive around fast moving cars. This mostly happens when I walk her, She also gets reactive when she is on the porch and the cars are driving by. I took your advice about replacing the prong collar with the martingale. She is still very reactive but at least she doesn’t let out a bark at the end of her episode because I think she isn’t in any pain like when she had the prong. Would an E Collar possibly help with the reactivity or would it be a bad idea for a nervous dog? When she is reactive with another dog I can easily go the other way, etc. When a car is coming down the road she just gets in her zone and I can’t get her focus off the car. My wife thinks she is scared of the cars but I think it is just her nature to want and chase something, what do you think? Best Regards, Michael

Richard

We have a 3-year-old cattle dog mix who has come a long way in minimizing reactivity, but still occasionally growls and lunges at small children if they are running around and/or screaming. She doesn't do it when I'm holding her leash, but she will often do it when my wife is holding the leash. I'm sure the problem is the human, so what can we do to make it clear that behavior is never acceptable no matter who is holding her leash?