You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Chasing cars is dangerous for the dog as well as for drivers and passers-by

Every year veterinarians see dogs that have been injured because they have been hit by a car that they were chasing. In addition, chasing cars can be dangerous for drivers and pedestrians because the natural instinct of a driver is to swerve to avoid an animal that darts out on to the road.

There are two basic behavioural instincts that lead to this problem :

• Territorial guarding - chasing off an "enemy"
• Predatory behaviour - chasing prey

The fact that the car accelerates and "gets away" gives positive feedback to the dog and reinforces the behavioural pattern, and even dogs that have been injured by cars continue to chase them after they have recovered !

This type of behaviour can also be directed at other moving objects such as bicycles, skate-boards and even lawnmowers !

Various techniques have been tried to prevent this behaviour but the only method guaranteed to be successful is to prevent the dog having access to cars. Other methods which work occasionally include :

• If the driver of the car stops - gets out, shouts and chastises the dog.
• The car stops and water balloons are thrown at the dog, or mace spray is used.

These methods have to be used every time that the dog chases a car on several occasions to break the habit.

Updated October 2013