Resolved Question

How to teach a dog not to chase motorbikes?

My older dog has been taught by one of our previous dogs (died because of illness) to chase motorbikes. Now he;s teaching the same thing to the younger dog and we want to avoid that because if that continues, no one will fear our dogs and the they are supposed to be guard dogs. The older one is two years old so i doubt he can be taught anything anymore but i just wondered if you have any ideas how to prevent the younger one from following the same path (if we don't stop it we will have a vicious circle)

Boann, I don't think the dogs are "teaching" each other to do this...they're simply not being stopped when they do it. Dogs live in the moment, so the myth that you can't teach them better behaviors because they're too old just isn't true. As your dog's pack leader, it's up to you to step in and teach them the correct way to behave in this situation.

IMO, a good approach is correction and desensitization. Put the dogs on leashes. Have someone drive a motorbike by. When the dogs react, verbally and physically correct them. Repeat until they stop reacting to the motorbike when corrected by you. Then, when they're off leash and a motorbike goes by, the verbal correction from you (and if you've established yourself with them as their pack leader) should be enough keep them in line. It may take a lot of practice, but they'll catch on.

There are a lot of good training materials out there that address this kind of thing. I always recommend Ceasar Millan's stuff because it has worked so well for me and our "problem dog." Might be worth a look. Best of luck! :)