Road Sense

[fainty_girl]

Is it possible to teach a dog to have some road sense?

Today my dog Jessie decided to take herself across the road to see a little fluffy dog being walked by a lady, and nearly got herself hit by a car twice! I heard her barking and I assumed that she had gone into the front yard, yet she was on the other side of the road, and then she saw me straight away and then started crossing the road to see me. A car had to break to avoid hitting her, and then the lady called out and said it was the second time that she'd nearly been hit.

She got out into our front yard by going through the garage door that had been left open by my dad.

We've owned her for 2.5 years and she's never done anything like this before. She's never wandered across the street before or wandered anywhere past the front yard by herself. She always has access to the back yard, and normally I watch her when she's in the front yard, but she's never shown any interest in leaving whatsoever.

Is there a way to teach her to have some road sense? Obviously i'll have to make sure that the garage door is shut from now on, because I definitely don't want her to be in this situation again. But is there something that I can do when i'm walking her on the lead to help her get some road sense? She is a clever dog, loves dog treats and i've also used a clicker to teach her tricks and she has responded well to that.

[Paganman]

I'd say probably not, most dogs get road sense if and when theyre hit by a car if they survive chances are theyll not go neara car again. IMO its the responsibily of the owners to keep the dog contained on their property, theres no excuse for letting a dog get out on the road.

[wagalot]

there is way, its called training!!!!

remembering dogs are unpredictable even the most well trained dogs may have the same incident.

you can train boundaries with dogs, teaching them where is the boundary of the property and teaching them they can not go past this point, it takes along time, and it depeneds on the breed and personallity of the dog, as well as your training methods.

do you take your dog to obedience school?

a reliable recall is also a good place to start.

its important to teach your dog to sit before crossing roads too.

a good trainer can show you the best ways to teach your dog boundaries.

glad to hear your dog is okay though

[Cosmolo]

Agree with wagalot- you can definitely teach boundaries. This is different to actual road sense though IMO

[persephone]

The best training is ,as said, boundary training.

Guide Dogs get taught a form of traffic avoidance...it takes a long time, and requires much work....and the dog uses its knowledge always with a human present.

Maybe you should be training your HUMANS to shut the doors/gates ?

[kelpiesrule]

At least start training your dog to stay so that if you do see it across the street, you can get it to stay there until you cross to collect it... (and dont get mad at it when you get there coz it will only run away next time)

And... what everyone else said.

Sometimes we take our dogs for granted that they will always be the same way.. How many times have you heard.. 'but she has never done that before, always been well behaved'... Take every precaution you can to look after your precious 4-legged family members.. treat them like you would small children.. would you let your young child wonder out the front yard alone?

PS some dogs have natural road sense, some dont. Prevention is always better than cure.

[fainty_girl]

Thanks for your replies everyone

I think part of it is that my dog is getting some confidence. We've had her for 2.5 years, but when we first got her from a rescue place she was afraid of so many things and didn't have any confidence. She even used to get scared if someone stood outside and called her to come outside. We would joke that "she'll never leave", but at least now I know that she is willing to cross the road by herself when she sees another dog with a middle age woman (her favorite type of person!).

[ShellyBeggs]

Well they can certainly teach guide dogs to take people across a road safely..........so surely they can be taught road sense.

I taght my old lab to sit at the road and to look...........then asked him if it was safe to go......if he got up to go and a car was coming I told him No....and we repeated. If he got up to go and it was safe.......we crossed and was of course a good boy. If it was safe but he didn't move.....we went on my lead and he was of course a good boy.

We spent 2-3 months with him getting out every day by a method I never realised until a day at home sick..........because the guy in the local drive thru bottle shop was feeding him. When I went to tell the guy to STOP feeding him......the guy told me that he always say and looked before crossing the road and never crossed if a car was coming. SO it must sink in somewhere in their brain.

[fainty_girl]

Well they can certainly teach guide dogs to take people across a road safely..........so surely they can be taught road sense.

I taght my old lab to sit at the road and to look...........then asked him if it was safe to go......if he got up to go and a car was coming I told him No....and we repeated. If he got up to go and it was safe.......we crossed and was of course a good boy. If it was safe but he didn't move.....we went on my lead and he was of course a good boy.

We spent 2-3 months with him getting out every day by a method I never realised until a day at home sick..........because the guy in the local drive thru bottle shop was feeding him. When I went to tell the guy to STOP feeding him......the guy told me that he always say and looked before crossing the road and never crossed if a car was coming. SO it must sink in somewhere in their brain.

Thanks ShellyBeggs :p

My very first dog Tammy (R.I.P ) that I owned as a child learnt her road sense by getting hit by a car in a really minor way (we didn't see it happen, but I think she just ended up with a bit of a sore foot or something very minor). At traffic lights while on the leash she also seemed to know to cross the road when the signal beeped for pedestrians. She was very obedient when crossing the road off the leash to a park...all we had to say to her was "in behind" and she'd sit behind us, and then "over you go" when the traffic was clear.

My dog Jessie that I own now does the same thing at traffic lights when on the leash that my Tammy did. As soon as the signal starts beeping she will start pulling on the lead to cross the road.