My bullmastiff, Star, loves to ride in my car. She goes somewhere with me at least once a day. We have to spell out the word c-a-r or she gets way too excited.

Well, yesterday I put my summer tires on my car, and when I came home, Star sniffed them and ran off with her tail between her legs, and stayed freaked out for several hours. (I didn't know what it was that was freaking her out or else I would have parked the car outside the gate for the evening.

This morning it was time to go for a ride, and she was thrilled, as usual, until it came time to get into the car. She refuses to go near my car. I parked outside the gate until I figure out what to do, but now she goes up to the gate, sniffs the air, and runs off with her tail between her legs.

I don't know what to do. We always prided ourselves in making car trips so much fun that I usually have to pull her out of the car if I want to go anywhere without her. I have to proceed carefully so as not to ruin her from my car for good. But right now she is so afraid of my car.

Any suggestions? I was thinking about washing my car really good and then smearing my tires with meat or meat juice. But I'm not sure if that would get rid of the rubber smell or whatever it is that's making her freak out.

Well thats certainly a new one on me. What brand tires are they?? Maybe she's displaying brand loyalty: "Bridgestone mommy? Bridgestone???? Are you kidding me?? I ain't riding with you anywhere till you get some Goodyears!"

It sounds like you have her off lead. How does she react if she is on-lead?

She's off lead in the yard, but on lead when we go outside the gate.
On lead she stops and pulls the other direction - almost planting her butt down so as not to go near my car. We had to go past the car in the driveway to go for our walk today, and she pulled a big wide circle so as not to go anywhere near it.
She's 14 months old (and 125 lbs). Up until now a car ride has been her biggest excitement in life. For her to not go anywhere near my car is very very strange. Like a child being afraid of candy.

There's an odor on the tires that is spooking her. Where do you keep them stored during the winter months? Possibly snake odor or another creature that she doesn't care for. Cats like to mark tires...any chance that happened. If she's had a very bad experience with cats it might be the problem.

I assume they are used, and not brand new. If they're new then I haven't a clue.

Howard

They were given to me from a friend who sold her car and moved back to the States. They were used by her for only a year, so they are in really good condition. I didn't need them at first so they've been sitting in my concrete basement (completely empty basement, with nothing else in it), wrapped in plastic bags, for the past year. As far as I know there haven't been any animals down there (definitely not a cat, and we don't have snakes here as far as I know). Where they were stored before they were given to me may have had animals, but I have no way of knowing.
I bent down to smell them today and they smell really strong of rubber (to me). When my dog sniffed my hand after I touched the tire she ran away. She's terrified of whatever the smell is. I really don't know what to do.

Your best bet is to scrub them down really good with something to kill the odor as best you can. You can't narrow the smell down any more than that. If that doesn't work the only option you have is to desensitize the dog to the smell.

Howard

alright - I'll try it. it's the strangest thing.

thanks!

Hi Brenda,
So sorry to hear that you are having that problem with Star and the tires. Maybe the odor of the rubber (or whatever odor is freaking her out) will dissipate now that the tires are out of the plastic bags where you had them stored. I can't imagine what her reaction would be if she went into a tire store!

I'm wondering if you could work with her a little with some really yummy treats at a distance away from where the car is parked. Retreat to a place further away from where she first starts to freak out. Really love her up and feed her the treats, then after a little while, advance just a tiny bit towards the car, again feeding the treats. Then retreat back to where you were before, then advance just a little further than before. This may take some time - definitely not something to rush!

We saw amazing results using this method at the seminar we attended last weekend with Roni Hoff. Our dog Nickie has a real fear of the pool (he fell in when he was 8 weeks old). Roni worked with him for about a half-hour with the method mentioned above. He was eventually able to lay within 6 inches of the edge of the pool, completely relaxed.

If you want to see pictures of that, click on my Photobucket link below and then on the left side the album that says "Roni Hoff Seminar". It would be worth a try! Roni was using little bits of raw hamburger to get his interest up.

Good luck!

Good advice. Personally, I would park the car down the street, near other cars if you can, then walk the dog and treat during light OB prior to getting near the car. As you approach you can use Diane's method to get over the rough spots.

The reason for parking away from the home is to take the "ownership" of the vehicle out of the equation. A car parked on the street is just another car.

If she does well and is relaxed around the car after that then you can unlock the car and have her get inside. Don't make a big deal about it and don't get her excited about going for a ride. If she stays in the car without any problems then take her for a ride. Treat her for just being in the car as long as she is relaxed. If she's stressed, don't treat or sooth her.

Don't put her in the car and drive off until you are absolutely sure she'll be OK. If you do, and she freaks out, now you have a big ol dog going nuts and could cause an accident, or she'll get out and possibly get hit by traffic.

Like Diane said...don't rush it.

Forgot an important peice of information...Make sure you are downwind of the car when you work towards it. This allows you to read the dog long before you actually get close to the car. If you start upwind and suddenly get right on top of the car before she smells the tires you'll likely get dragged down the street.

Howard

I like both of your ideas! Thank you so much! I was thinking of parking the car down the street anyway, just so she could relax a bit and not be so on edge with it being in the driveway. Just get it out of her mind for a bit. But to take away the "ownership" of it and have it be just another car is great.
I was trying to do some OB with her in the back yard to distract her from the car, (this was before I parked it outside the gate), but she was so nervous about it being even in the side driveway that she couldn't concentrate and wouldn't do a think I asked.
So, I'll get rid of the car from in front of the house and then go play and reward in the general vicinity of where it's parked, seeing how close we can get.
I do think that once she is inside the car she'll be fine. The doors will be closed and she won't be able to smell the tires from inside. (She is normally in my car so often that people don't like to be in it because of all the dog hair. I have to put clean blankets down every time I know a human is going to be riding with me. I drive a little red VW beetle and Star sits in the front seat right next to me. When we're sitting she is taller than me. She attracts attention everywhere we go -it's "Star's car".)
I'll let you know how it goes!