I am working with a rottweiler pup who shows a great amount of prey drive and barking at people, cars, etc. However when a car continues to approach he runs away back towards the house. I have been working with him when people approach that they turn and leave when he barks at them. What is the best way to work on correcting his fear of cars? He is 15 weeks old. Thank you for your advice.

Just my two cents but I'd guess you might be confusing that prey response as actually a defensive response, especially after you say that if the car continues to approach he dog heads for the hills. I personally wouldn't have the people leave if he barks at them as they approach. IMO you are doing nothing but reinforcing the barking at what I will presume are strangers. Dog is apprehensive about the approach of people, he barks, people leave, he finds success(people retreat)by barking. Quite a bit more defensiveness I'd want my 15 week old to be showing. JMHO.

Best way is to desenitise him to the problem. Have him around cars and work him with a favorite toy from a distance than work closer. I think it is way to young to think of defence. I would not have the people go away. you may create a monster later on. This age is very crucial as to what gets imprinted into its mind

Sorry Keith, I agree with you .

Thank you for the reply. What I meant on the prey drive is he chases balls and tugs with what seems to be never ending energy. He will pull on the tug until I let him win. Right now it is still a bit of a challenge getting the toy back, but we are working on the out command.

The people he is barking at are not strangers to us, since they come by often, but he may see them as strangers. We live in a rural area where he does not come in contact with many people. He barks at anyone who comes to the house or near the house (except for myself, wife and child). It seems when we come home he is always laying around and doesn't come to the door until we call him.

I spoke with a local trainer who suggested that to build his confidence we should have people retreat during training when he barks at them. Gradually making the people approach closer over time so that he thinks at first he is scaring them away, then to build confidence that not everyone will run and he can continue to hold ground and bark at them.

I also want to clarify that he will not be used for any type of sport work. He will also probably never progress to any type of bite work, unless an experienced trainer feels he has that drive at a later time. We are primarily looking to use the dog as a alarm/deterrant dog.

I will work on using the toy around vehicles to try to acclimate him to cars. Thank you for your advice and I look forward to any comments you may have.