First let me say the dog has not chased a car on the road, nor does she go out loose, off the property I mean.

OK, I have a one year old standard schnauzer bitch, though she goes in next week to be spayed.My house is 400 feet back from the road. The whole property (8 acres) is fenced and divided. We have 5 acres out back, 2 in front and then our own front and back yards. Everything is fenced with pipe and no climb wire,5 feet highon the perimete, 4 for the cross fences.

Yesterday we were playing in the big field out front, my two kids and both dogs. When a big truck went down the road the Schnauzer, Kaycee, chased it along the fence line. She did this for every car that went by. She has never done this before, we go out front frequently. I brought her out there this morning to see if it was a game yesterday, but she did the same thing. Luckily I have a good fence. The yard by the house, 400 feet from the road is fenced. While at the moment it is not an emergency, I certainly want to stop her from this. My fencing is very safe, but we all know things can happen. Any suggestions as to the best way?

When we are on walks, she pays no attention to any traffic. When she is in the car she pays no attention to cars going by. She gets plenty of walking time, plus trains in obedience and/or agility daily.They also get to play daily in our fields. My other dog, a 6 year old keeshond, could care less about cars and had no desire to play the game with her.

I do not know if she would chase a car or truck if she were ever loose, but do not want to find out. I have never used an e collar, but am wondering if that is the way to go? (I have nothing against them, just never had to use one so far.)

Yep, an e-collar would put a QUICK stop to her fence-running after cars, but first, please order Ed Frawley's video on the RIGHT way to use a remote training system...

http://www.leerburg.com/318.htm

His DVD is worth its weight in gold, believe me -- I have the Innotek IUT-300 "Ultra-Smart" e-collars for my dogs & LOVE them !

Chasing cars...do I have a story about that one, but will not go into it on this post. My dog picked up the habit when he was about 6 months old...urgh!

Something that worked for me was esssentially desensitizing my dog to traffic and cars. I'd take him out to busy intersections and streets with cars that would pick up speed.

If he focused on the cars instead of me when in heel or a stop, I'd correct. We did this for weeks.

The other thing I did was have my sister drive fast on the gravel road out by my mom's house. I'd be with dog on leash near the road, and she'd come flying up over the hill. This sound and vehicle noise used to always peak his interest and he'd want to chase, until I'd correct (level 10?--yeah) when he'd go to go after the vehicle. Needless to say, he does not have the desire anymore...hopefully I worked it out of him for good, as it would come up intermittantly with him for a while...but now it's been well over 2 years since he's done it.

Good luck.

I was going to say the same thing Michelle said....or you could use a long line outside and correct her that way when she runs the fence.

I'm having the same problem with cars and cats. When off lead Haley does well,for the most part,she is obediant around other dogs,nor does she chase the horses or cattle. She will not let me out of her sight, comes when called, and follows me into the fensed in yard when our exercise time is over.However,she will chase a car about 40% of the time, when off lead,and a cat 100% of the time.Therefore,I rarely try to work her off lead unless I am certain there are no cars or cats around.That entails working way out in the pastures with the horses and cattle, which she doesn't chase. There,she performs great,even with distraction. A cat jumped on her at about 8 wks.,and apparently she's harbored a grudge, and who knows about the cars. Do I need to invest in an E-collar, or just continue obedience training?

bruce,

i have the exact same problem with one of my dogs. completely and utterly insatiable prey drive when it comes to cats (and squirrels). it seemed to be of the general consensus that an e-collar would help, but since i can't yet afford one yet i've just been continually working on obedience with a long line.

Yeah, the obedience/correction route takes a while. It required for me, dedicated, daily exercises in the desensitization process.

My dog is high prey drive too. Even after I thought I had him trained, he'd still intermittantly take off after cars for months....very random acts. Now he just doesn't get the chance. If he's getting all ballistic at the fence line, I tell him to bring me his ball, or I get the ball and tell him to come to me. This ball distraction works wonders.

High prey has its pros and cons I guess.

I agree an E-collar is the best tool to stop those behaviors.
A long line is good but after a while they know they are on it and if you are going to use a long line well you mind as well use a 6' leash .An E-collar gives you a bit of freedom to play with the kids or use you hands to do what ever it is you are doing and not have a long line to contend with ,especially with kids all around they might get caught up in it .E-collar best bet.