Defending the car...

Oh I really hope someone comes on here with some good advice. I wish I could help, but I have the same problem! Ash will lunge, bark, growl, scratch and claw at the windows and just flat out go crazy. She does this AS we're driving. She does it at strangers, motorcycles and bikes, people on skateboards and scooters, another dog, anything really. It's more aggressive when it's something rolling. She NEVER used to do this and she's not an aggressive dog. I don't know why she does this  now. It started about 2 months ago and I don't  know how to get her to stop. It's really bad.

Hrm I wonder if it's got something to do with the small confinement of the car seeing as it's such a small, enclosed space.  My dogs will quietly growl when we drive by a person walking on the sidewalk, though sometimes if they're in a really rotten mood Cairo will just go off at the poor person and Nikki will sit and growl.  *sigh* 

Hello there []

Your afterthought - the second post - was actually my first thought: that it might not be the defending of anything, but rather a fear reaction cause by being penned up in a glass and steel straight jacket. Feeling helpless (ie unable to control a situation by keeping distance) is a major cause of canine aggression. It is also possible that someone teased them once when you were away from the car, starting this behavior. It could of course also be simply territorial aggression, but in that case they would almost certainly display that on other occassions also (for instance at home). And so forth.....

There are of course ways to evaluate what exactly the problem is, and there are ways to fix either. To do so reliably with this little information is of course difficult. Each possible fix in turn needs quite some room to describe in detail, but let me outline two or three options briefly:

One possibility, if you happen to have an SUV or mini-bus, is simply having the dogs crated. The crate could be covered, so they do not see too much of what is going on around them. That will also limit the 'egging on' factor. This will not solve the problem per se, just manage it via sensory deprivation and the inability to destroy your car. Ideally, you would give them something like peanut butter stuffed kongs into their crates - keeps them busy. []

Another possibility is of course aversive training via an ecollar, but I am not going into this as I do not believe it proper. However, an experienced trainer often can teach them swiftly to lay still in your car whenever you are out of it.

A further option would be to countercondition: if you happen to know enough people willing to help and which are unknown to the dogs, you could put the car in an unfamiliar location and have the window open a tiny bit. Then have strangers walking past, and each stranger walking past throws in a dog treat through the small opening (making sure the opening is small so as no fingers are in danger!). Doing this often enough - this needs some time and a proper protocol - they will come to see as strange people passing by as something good.

I really would advise you to seek out the help of a good behaviorist. Have the dogs assessed as to what the problem is. That will make a treatment protocol so much easier to come up with.

Thanks for the info; I have a feeling it's territorial because they do defend the house, but not nearly to the extent that they do the car.  With the house they're just doing the typical alarm barking, but in the car they're just plain ferocious.  I also think that you have a point about being pent up in a "straight jacket" situation and I'm sure that's *why* it's so much worse than at home.  Throw in a touch of pure boredom to complete the recipe and I guess that's probably what it is.  I wonder if giving them a peanut butter bone to entertain themselves while we're gone would at least get rid of the boredom aspect, but I'm not sure it would be enough to distract them completely.  We have a minivan which isn't big enough to fit two crates inside; we usually have them both in the back seat though they always try to get up to the front of the car so we have to tie them to the back.  I don't know if that helps at all, heck it might even worsen the problem because it's even further restricting them, but we have them back there so they can't see outside as easily and we'd rather the back of the car get injured than the front (dashboard/controls) of it. 
 
I'm not sure an ecollar's the way to go as I don't know much about them and I've heard mixed feelings about them, but I think that maybe the 'treating stranger' idea could be a good start.  I'm not sure who I could ask to do that as most of the people I know have met the dogs before, but I can ask around.  I think it would probably be better to do that with each dog individually so one doesn't get all the treats (Cairo, being the dominant dog, might hog them all).  I can try to talk to my parents about getting a behaviorist to come evaluate them, but I think my parents are a little reluctant to spend the money until we're sure nothing else will work.
 
Thanks so much for the input, it was very helpful []