afraid of the traffic

[morgy1987]

Alfie over the past couple of weeks has suddenly become extremely frightened of traffic when we are walking him. Before this he was fine apart from when he was really young. He is just coming up to 6 months old. Has anyone got any advice. We have been reassuring him the whole time when cars pass etc. Its actually become quite dangerous as he can run across you when a car goes past and can nearly trip you up. Can teething put them out of sorts with everything? He still has one more canine to fall out which should hopefully be soon. Any help would be much appreciated.

[lescef]

Maddie had a phase of being frightened by noisy vehicles when she was young. She would jump around the pavement.  We used to go and sit on a bench that was quite close to a junction of a busy road. The buses and odd lorry would go past and as they did I would get her to 'watch' me and then reward her if she stayed un phased by it. It did work although I felt like a bag lady always sitting on a park bench!
By the time Bramble came along we had bought our caravan in the lakes so used to go and sit at a pavement cafe in Bowness. Far more civilised!

[lesley3165]

We also went and sat on a bench near a roundabout and just sat Meg on our knee and cuddled her. She soon got used to the noise and also enjoyed other people stopping and making a fuss of her 

[Des]

Bonnie was very frightened of buses and lorries when she was younger, as previously said I just sat her on my knee at a busy cross roads on a bench and watched the world go by.She soon got used to the extra noise and hardly bothers now.

[linda c]

We re-homed a very nervous 9month cocker who hadn't seen much of the real world and was frightened of everything. I used to take him to a small roundabout near us and talk to him and stroke him, saying "that's a car and that's a bus ". I'm sure people thought I was a bit nutty talking to the dog 
Then walked up to a busier road and he just sat while I stroked him and let him just watch everything going past. Built up his confidence so he wasn't bothered by anything.

[QuaCKeReD]

Think the exposure is the trick.

Pebbles was never scared, then suddenly (around 5months) started being scared of anything bigger than a car, and louder than a scooter  ...buses especially.

Have started standing on field near road, and treating her for staying next to me.  Walking around a bit and starting again if she jumps.

[Patp]

It sounds normal to become fearful of things at various stages in their lives.

Is there a large supermarket near you that you can just walk around?  The cars should not be traveling too fast and the stopping and starting whilst you wait for cars to come out of places will keep her focused especially if you use the clicker and treats.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

We also went and sat on a bench near a roundabout and just sat Meg on our knee and cuddled her. She soon got used to the noise and also enjoyed other people stopping and making a fuss of her 

Charlie was scared of the dark and this is what I did with him too (albeit in the garden and it was winter!)

[morgy1987]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yeh it just came on all of a sudden but i was out the other day with him and seemed to be a lot better. My dad walked him yesterday and said he was great so not really too sure why he is sometimes afraid and sometimes ok. 

[QuaCKeReD]

With Pebbles, it's often what else she is doing; if she is engrossed in sniffing, then she doesn't see/hear cars coming, so jumps when they are there...if she's walking along, she often stops and watches them go past

[Jane57]

Reassuring him could actually be why he is nervous, I know it sounds silly and it's a natural human thing to do but it could actually make it worse. Is he OK maybe with your dad because he doesn't reassure him . I wouldn't talk to him , wouldnt say it's all right etc I would just keep exposing him and he,ll soon  grow out of it.

They pick up if we are nervous too. Hope it gets easier soon.

[MANDYANDALFIE]

My Alfie was also very nervous so I used to take him out along a quite busy road and just not say anything to him in the hope that if I was relaxed and unfazed he too would learn to be.  We eventually had an unfortunate incident when a bus, large truck, and dust cart passed by us at speed which scared the life out of me as I wasn't aware there were 2 large vehicles approaching behind me.  Very fortunately, Alfie just stopped and looked a little startled and then carried on walking so I considered him cured.  I then moved on to sitting near my local bus hub where he could experience vehicles stopping and starting with lots of people standing and moving around.  We now don't see much traffic on a day to day basis but whenever I take him somewhere built up and busy, he is still very relaxed.