Once management is in place, training can focus on changing emotional responses to traffic and helping dogs to regulate their arousal and learn to practise new behaviours around traffic.
We ALWAYS, with every training technique listed here, carry out this training at a distance from traffic at which collies feel safe and can relax.
Over time, they will naturally start to be able to relax as that distance decreases. This process is likely to take months, not days or weeks. This is a difficult behaviour to resolve, but patience will lead to success.
Desensitisation
Desensitisation aims to change how your collie feels about traffic, from feeling fearful or frustrated to feeling indifferent.
The goal is to pair the distant presence of vehicles with relaxing, neutral activities so that the dog learns that traffic no longer elicits any negative or anxious emotions, and it starts to fade into the background.
During this process, we are relaxing alongside our dogs, not giving them any instructions or commands, and just letting them relax and take everything in. If your dog starts to become frustrated, pattern games such as Up Down or Ping Pong (see below) can help to reduce frustration. If they settle and relax, give your dog calm attention and tell them they are really good. Doing a “huff” and lying down is a real sign that they’re coping with frustration and are trying to settle so praise them for that but keep it low key so that it doesn’t wind them up again. Placing a treat between their paws on the floor is ideal every time they settle and remain settled.
There are two aspects of traffic that could cause collies to react: sound and movement. Dealing with each of these separately could be helpful. This section is going to deal with the visual and acoustic aspects of traffic. See below for working with the sound of traffic alone.
In this desensitisation video, Flo’s trigger was other dogs, and this shows me helping Flo to learn to just watch other dogs in the park without reacting:
Finding the right locations
- Ideally, we want to find somewhere where the dog has a clear view of traffic coming from either direction.
- Work with roads of a 40mph speed limit or less, at least in the early stages. Very fast traffic is noisier and usually creates more arousal than slower traffic.
- Try to find an area of open traffic-free land to work on, ideally with lots of things for the dog to sniff, such as longer grass, shrubs or trees.
- Have 2-3 different locations to swap between: dogs are very context-specific, meaning that they can easily learn that they can be safe in one location, but still feel unsafe in other locations. Using different locations helps them to generalise.
Outside your home
Practising outside your home can be helpful if you have a long, open front garden or drive, far enough away from traffic, where your dog feels safe. If not, wait until they can cope with traffic at a closer proximity before trialling the training at home.
The road where you live is often the place where your dog will have the most difficulty if they were previously taken for walks from the house. This is because it’s the location where they have practised the behaviour the most, for the longest. It may also be because there may be a certain amount of territorial behaviour when working outside their house.
How do I know when my dog feels safe?
The following diagram shows the training zones for desensitisation
The trigger (traffic) is in the centre of this diagram. You will need to be located in the green safe zone, at which point your dog is aware of the presence of the trigger but is relaxed and only very slightly concerned. He must be aware of the trigger, but able to disengage from the traffic to look at you when you say his name.
These zones aren’t fixed – it depends on what else has happened in the previous days and hours. If he’s had a stressful walk, or had stressful or over-exciting things happen the same day, or the days before, his green zone may be much further away from the trigger than it will be on days when he is feeling more relaxed. It may also depend on any aches or pains that he might be feeling on the day as well.
On each walk, start as far away as you can, but where your dog can see traffic, and walk slowly towards it. Every so often just say your dog’s name and see if they can disengage from the traffic and look at you. At a certain point, they will be unable to do this. Go back a few steps from there. Then check that your dog can easily disengage from you when you say his name, can sniff willingly at the ground, and can take treats without grabbing them. If he can, this is where you should work for that day.
Mooch around, letting them sniff at anything they want to, or take a blanket and just sit and relax, or play pattern games such as Up Down or Ping Pong – for more details about pattern games, see this article: “Car Chasing Training: Pattern Games“.
Be prepared to move a little further away if needed. Sometimes your dog can cope with most vehicles, but the approach of a particularly loud or fast vehicle can cause an increased response. So if a motorbike roars past and your dog starts to react, move further back and stay further back for the rest of that session. Teaching a U-turn (see “Car Chasing Training: Pattern Games“) can help with this.
In this video, the handler was doing really well, but should ideally have moved further back when the motorbike passed – you can see the dog become more frantic, and she started to snatch at the treats.
Keep training sessions short – only 5 – 10 minutes. Training each day as well as quiet walks away from traffic, is the ideal recipe for results.
It’s important that you yourself are also relaxed – keep the lead short but loose, breathe deeply, and behave as if there is nothing in the world to worry about. Having the lead fairly short but loose is important – you might need to put a treat right under your dog’s nose the first few times of carrying out the training.
You should notice that over time (weeks/months, not days), you are able to get closer and closer to the traffic, and your dog can still cope, so effectively the orange and red zones are much narrower.
Remember: Training only occurs when dogs feel totally safe and calm.
Signs that your dog is over threshold:
- Stiff posture
- Fixed stare
- Closed mouth
- Ignoring or snatching food
- Can’t look away from traffic
If observed:
- Increase distance immediately.
- Do not cue behaviours the dog cannot perform.
- Reset calmly in the new location.
Counter-conditioning
Counter conditioning is very similar to desensitisation and follows exactly the same process as above, but with the addition that the appearance of each vehicle becomes the predictor of something the dog LOVES.
Finding the right locations
You can use similar locations as when desensitising your dog to traffic, except that there ideally needs to be a break in between each vehicle. Your dog needs to be aware that the vehicle is the predictor of a wonderful thing. If there is a constant stream of traffic, they won’t be able to learn.
What are your dog’s favourite rewards?
Food is inherently relaxing and calming, so using food is preferable to using toys. Dogs are more likely to be aware of traffic while taking and eating treats, whereas dogs engaged in a game of tug or ball play may completely block out the traffic, meaning that learning is not taking place. Your dog must be aware of the traffic.
When using treats, find 2 or 3 types of treats that your dog LOVES. Shop-bought dog treats or kibble usually don’t cut it – especially with young adolescent dogs. Typical high-value foods include:
- Cheese
- Sausage
- Beef
- Meatballs
- Turkey
- Tuna
- Tripe treats
Cut the treats into really small pieces – pea-sized or smaller. Then rotate these on different days. Using different brands of meat or cheese can help prevent boredom.
Research shows that if you can use REALLY high value treats the first time that you carry out any counter conditioning training, the more successful it will be in the long run.
What if my dog won’t eat treats?
If your dog won’t take treats out of the house, we need to work on this first.
It may be that they need to learn that going out of the house doesn’t automatically mean rushing off somewhere. We need to help them practise settling in one spot long enough for their arousal levels to decrease; once they’re calmer, they’re much more likely to accept treats.
Regular visits somewhere that they feel safe but can watch the world go by are the ideal way to reduce arousal out of the house and help dogs relax enough to take treats.
Sometimes, if collies are too aroused when out of the house due to being overwhelmed by everything outside, then we may need to look at anxiety medication to help them to cope better before they will feel calm and safe enough to eat food outside. Ask your vet about anxiety medication.
If your dog is not particularly anxious out of the home, but is just not that interested in treats, then see the BAT (Behaviour Adjustment Training) techniques outlined further down this article.
How do I use the treats?
I find that the best way of using treats for counter conditioning for traffic issues is to use pattern games – especially Look At That (See the article “Car Chasing Training: Pattern Games“)
Alternatively, you could ensure that the dog has seen the vehicle approach, and just scatter feed several treats on the ground for them to find, and repeat until the vehicle has gone.
It’s important that only the traffic predicts the arrival of food. If you are also rewarding for other things, such as constant checking in, or doing tricks or training with your dog, they will be less aware that traffic = treats, and in this scenario, you will be carrying out desensitisation, which is not as effective as counter conditioning.
For counter conditioning to work, each vehicle must predict the arrival of food.
Reactivity to the sound of traffic
Some car chasing collies are so anxious about the sound of certain vehicles that they shake and hide, even when in the home, when they hear certain vehicles. If this is your dog, then it might be worth starting desensitisation and counter conditioning to the sound of traffic as well as the sight of traffic.
Desensitisation
Just as with desensitisation to the sight of traffic, desensitising dogs to the sound of traffic means that they MUST feel relaxed and safe. Following this guide will help to ensure that your dog feels safe during training, giving you the best chance of success.
- Start with a good quality sound recording (see below) or have the dog a good distance away from the sound, so that it is barely audible. Alternatively, record the sound and replay starting at very low volumes.
- If your dog doesn’t respond in the slightest to recordings, then you could find somewhere where they can hear but not see traffic. But ensure, as with all training, that they are at a distance at which they feel safe.
- Have the dog engaged in a relaxing activity, such as settled and relaxed in his bed, or licking a lickimat or kong.
- Carry out the training when you are not expecting any deliveries or any other noises of which the dog might be fearful. Have music, the tv or white noise playing in the background to mask other sounds.
- Start the recording at the lowest possible volume (you may not be able to hear it) or create the noise in a distant location and watch the dog carefully.
Positive Sign: your dog’s ears twitch towards the sound, but he then carries on with what he was doing. This indicates he is aware of the noise but not stressed by it. Continue at this volume.
Warning Sign: If your dog keeps his ears flat back while the sound is playing, this is a sign of anxiety, and the volume is too high. Turn it off and start again at a lower volume or further away.
Remember to:
- Keep the session short – up to 5 minutes – no more than twice a day.
- Keep the volume at the same level for three days before attempting to increase it, ensuring your dog is constantly relaxed at that level.
- Over time (usually weeks or months) the volume is gradually increased to lifelike levels, always ensuring that the dog appears to be relaxed and not fearful.
- Desensitisation to sounds is most successful when used alongside counter conditioning (Riemer, 2020).
Counterconditioning
Counter conditioning is when we try to change the dog’s association with a trigger (in this case, a sound) from a negative association to a positive association. Instead of feeling scared, frustrated, overwhelmed, or anxious when they hear the trigger, we want the dog to feel anticipation for something good.
Start training when the dog is already relaxed, and as with desensitisation, start with the volume at a level at which the dog is aware but not fearful. Play the sound for short periods (3 to 10 seconds) and pair the sound to something fun, most often food, as this helps to keep the dog calm, but play can be used as well.
The noise should be a predictor of the food, so start playing the noise first, then immediately give the dog high value food.
Take a break between playing the noise, and vary the duration of the sound, presenting the sound in an irregular pattern. 2 to 3 presentations of the sound per day is enough.
Once you start to see a positive response from the dog when he hears the sound, we can increase the volume very slightly.
To ensure that the dog doesn’t just start to think that they are safe when they hear the noise in one location only, vary where you do the training – use different rooms, different locations of the speakers, different times of day, and different types of reward.
Using recordings for desensitisation or counter conditioning
Sound recordings can work really well for some dogs, but others don’t respond to recorded sounds in the same way as they do in real life. Ideally, use a good speaker rather than a phone or laptop speaker. Start the noise without attracting attention.
You could either record traffic nearby or use recordings online. There are some great recordings available:
The Dogs Trust has some fantastic resources and detailed guides to helping sound-phobic dogs.
The Training
- Locate the speakers in different areas of the room, particularly near windows, to mimic where the scary sounds come from. Don’t try to use older YouTube videos (mp3) – these will have important frequencies missing.
- Most importantly, test the set up when the dog is not present. Make sure that it sounds realistic and that the volume is very low – note that when you actually have your dog present, you may not be able to hear it. Starting at the lowest volume is best.
- Remember: your dog must be able to hear the sound (look for ear twitches or looking towards the noise) but must not seem fearful.
BAT (Behaviour Adjustment Training)
Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT) is a structured behaviour modification method developed by Grisha Stewart for dogs that show reactivity, fear, or aggression.
BAT is based on using functional reinforcement – meaning we use a reward that is reinforcing for dogs in terms of letting them behave in a way that is preferable for them in that scenario, usually without using food or toys. When working with dogs that are fearful or overwhelmed (which is how most collies feel around traffic), the reward is to move further away. So for dogs that aren’t particularly “foody” or into toys, it’s a great option.
Using this technique, you would use the information set out in the desensitization and counter conditioning sections above about to locate where to do the training each day.
Ideally, this should be somewhere where there are a lot of interesting things to sniff – big clumps of grass, trees, hedges, leaves, anything that dogs are naturally drawn to, to sniff.
We would use leash handling skills to allow the dog to wander where they want to go – they may stay back from the traffic to start with, and we allow that, but if they decide to approach, we allow this too.
Watch the dog carefully, and if at any time they move towards the traffic but make a good choice, such as sniffing, turning their head away, softening their body posture, we use a marker word and move further away again. Distance itself becomes the reinforcement.
Sessions of 20 minutes or so at a time in an area where traffic is visible is perfect for this.
BAT aims to teach:
- Dogs learn that they have control and choice – which increases their sense of safety.
- Calm behaviours are reinforced.
- Reactivity decreases because dogs have safety, predictability and autonomy.
- Emotional responses start to change due to safe repeated exposure to traffic.
BAT differs from traditional counter conditioning because:
- Food is not the primary reinforcer
- It focuses on rewarding the dog by increasing distance from the trigger
- It teaches leash handling skills that are used to give the dog choice-based movement.
- The dog can spend time looking and processing the trigger rather than being distracted from it.
Essentially, BAT teaches dogs that they can stay calm and create space safely.
Useful videos that demonstrate the training:
Summary of the BAT approach with Grisha Stewart
Application of BAT – with a dog who is afraid of a vacuum cleaner
Head-Down Behaviours
Visual fixation facilitates chasing, so in situations where you can’t avoid traffic, try these techniques to break fixation on vehicles:
Develop cues for the following:
- “Find it” scatter feeding
- Sniff cue on ground
- Reinforced calm sniffing
Sniffing activates the hormones that start to calm the dog’s body down and reduce arousal.
Teaching Focus and Engagement Skills
Training a clear, well-rehearsed and well-reinforced behaviour to ask for when near traffic can be helpful. The key is that the behaviour is taught in a relaxed setting and trained using positive reinforcement, so that asking for the behaviour increases the dog’s sense of safety.
Other useful skills include:
- close heelwork, where the dog is taught to watch and walk close to the handler
- nose-to-hand targeting
- orienting to the handler on cue (not encouraged to make eye contact as this can be threatening to dogs)
These behaviours should be fluent away from traffic before being used near roads, providing a familiar, stabilising response when movement occurs.
Scentwork as a Regulation Tool
Scentwork is a fantastic dog sport and has become extremely popular over the last couple of decades. When taught positively, the dogs are very enthusiastic, and once this enthusiasm and drive has been created, then carrying out scentwork at a distance from roads at which border collies are aware but not fearful could be very helpful. Dogs can’t feel enjoyment and fear at the same time, so carrying out an enjoyable activity can help to change a dog’s association from fear to something more positive in an environment in which they were previously anxious.
Training scentwork can:
- interrupt fixation on movement
- lower arousal
- decrease the likelihood of a reaction
Scentwork doesn’t always need to be intensively trained to be helpful. Examples include:
- scattering food on the ground
- simple scent trails
- hide-and-seek games
Scentwork is not only a distraction tactic; it is a state-changing activity that supports emotional regulation.
This video explains how to teach a dog to indicate a scent:
If you plan to try scent training as a dog sport, then the following are excellent organisations to contact for more information:
- The College of Scent Dogs: https://www.thecollegeofscentdogs.com/
- UK Sniffer Dogs: https://www.uksnifferdogs.com/
- Scentwork UK: https://scentworkuk.com/
Impulse Control and Frustration Tolerance
Cooper et al. (2024) found that dogs that car chased were significantly more likely to be very impulsive, and if these impulses cannot be acted upon, they become frustrated. Therefore, impulse control and frustration tolerance exercises can both be helpful.
Training frustration tolerance includes:
- structured “leave” behaviours
- delayed access to valued resources
- start–stop movement games
- calm waiting behaviours
- loose lead walking as a frustration tolerance exercise away from traffic
These exercises support emotional regulation rather than suppression. Many examples of frustration tolerance exercises can be found with a quick search online.
Key Takeaways
Car chasing in border collies is not herding behaviour. It is a dangerous, learned response to traffic, shaped by arousal, frustration, fear, and reinforcement history.
Progress comes from:
- preventing rehearsal
- reducing overall stress
- teaching emotional regulation
- changing emotional association to traffic
- reinforcing safer responses
With consistent management and carefully applied training, most border collies can learn to remain calmer and safer around traffic — even if off-lead access near roads is never appropriate.
When to Seek Further Intervention
Consider veterinary reassessment if:
- Behaviour escalates despite training
- There are signs of pain
- There are gastrointestinal issues
- Aggression generalises beyond the traffic context
Pain, gut discomfort, and chronic stress can all amplify reactivity.
Expected Timeline for Traffic Chasing Recovery
- Mild cases: noticeable improvement in weeks
- Moderate cases: several months
- Entrenched adult patterns: long-term management required
Complete off-lead reliability near traffic is not always a realistic goal.
For more help with traffic reactivity in collies, please get in touch.