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My dog gets mad if he sees someone on a motorcycle!
Submitted by Hjck889 on Dec 01, 2006
Hi Katrina
I have a question about some weird behavior my dog has. He's a nice dog and behaves really nice; however he gets mad when he sees someone on a motorcycle! And two weeks ago he severely attacked my assistant. Since I have him, he knows her and they have a great relationship, but the other day while she was getting ready to leave on her bike, he got mad and started to bark a lot to the point of running towards her and bite her!.. it was really bad. He doesn't get like this around motorcycles but he does when people get on them. Why does he have such a weird behavior? And what can I do about it??
Answer by Katrina*:
The first thing you need to do is to find a professional dog trainer who emphasizes positive reinforcement to assist you in your training. Aggression is a very serious issue and should not be taken lightly. I recommend when outside having your dog wear a head-halter such as a Gentle Leader or a Halti, and also be on leash. This will give you much for control of your dog.
To teach your dog to tolerate motorcycles, stand with your dog far away from the road (like in a field), but close enough to still see the road. Anytime a motorcycle goes by feed lots of small pieces of very high value treats, like crumbs of turkey. Do this regardless of your dog's behavior. This will teach your dog to associate the presence of motorcycles with getting really good things. Gradually get closer and closer to the road and do the same thing. My guess is that your dog has been practicing reacting to motorcycles for a long time, so it is likely that it will take many, many training sessions with lots of repetition before you're able to pass right next to a motorcycle without your dog reacting.
Also I recommend practicing lots of behaviors you like. This could be looking at you or sitting, so you can ask your dog to do these things instead of reacting to the motorcycles.
* NOTE: Answer provided by dog trainer Katrina Krings, not currently affiliated with Pikapet.com
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