Border collie going absolutely feral at bikes and scooters - getting worse not better, what am i missing
My 3 year old border collie Flynn has always been a little excited by bikes but for the last few months it's escalated to something i'd genuinely describe as unmanageable. He lunges hard, screams (yes, screams), and will not take treats or listen to any cue until the bike is completely out of sight. We live in a neighborhood with a lot of cyclists and this is happening like 4-6 times per walk now.
We've been doing BAT work with him since he was about 18 months for general reactivity and it made a real difference for dogs and strangers. But bikes seem to operate on a completely different level in his brain - i think it's the movement plus the noise plus they come fast from behind sometimes. I've tried high value treats, i've tried u-turns, i've tried crossing streets preemptively. When i see a bike coming from far enough away it's manageable. But surprise bikes from behind basically blow the whole walk.
Has anyone dealt with specifically bike/scooter reactivity in a herding breed? Is this a herding instinct thing or just regular old reactivity? Wondering if this needs a different approach than standard reactive dog protocol or if i just need to get better at management and keep doing what we're doing.
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