Episode #250 Road Safety for Dogs: Teaching Awareness Around Moving Vehicles

Keeping your dog safe near traffic is one of the most important skills you can teach. In this episode, we dive into car and road awareness training — from staying back from moving vehicles to pausing and looking before crossing the street. Learn how to:

• Teach your puppy to create safe distance from cars
• Use cues like “back” or “wait” to prevent accidents
• Reinforce calm, focused behavior around roads
• Practice real-world safety in your neighborhood and beyond

Whether you live in a busy city or a quiet suburb, these strategies will help your dog feel confident, aware, and safe around traffic.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Road Awareness Matters
• 1:46 Cars Are Exciting Or Scary
• 2:24 Start Far From Traffic
• 3:27 Teach “Back” As A Safety Cue
• 5:02 Build A Crossing Routine
• 6:06 Manage Driveways And Parked Cars
• 7:28 Reinforce Calm Around Movement
• 8:00 Practice In Busier Environments
• 8:37 Use Real-Life Rewards
• 9:24 Review And Positive Mindset
• 10:31 Closing And Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Today we're talking about something that's both incredibly practical and absolutely essential: road and car awareness. How does your dog handle cars? Let's talk about it today. Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy. From training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hey you guys, welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. Thanks for listening. We haven't talked about this topic before. So I thought, you know what? Let's talk about cars. I know some dogs chase cars. In fact, just the other day, a dog in my neighborhood was chasing a car. I thought I haven't discussed that on the podcast. So maybe this will be useful to you. But our dogs, we are asking them to live in a human world, right? And that means cars, bikes, delivery trucks, movement. Now we even have the addition of e-bikes, scooters, one-wheels, you name it, right? And those things are quiet. They come up on you pretty fast. But while we often focus on teaching sit, stay and recall, one of the most important things we can teach our dog is how to stay safe near roads and how to move thoughtfully through traffic environments or where there's going to be moving vehicles, right? So today let's talk about how to teach your dog to stay away from moving vehicles, pause and look before crossing a street, and then build calm, focused behavior around cars and roads. So let's dive in. To start off with, I'll say this. For most dogs, cars are either exciting or they're scary. Some want to chase the movement, that's that hurting instinct or prey drive kicking in. And others might freeze or bolt because they're scared out of fear. Now, especially if they've been startled before. Now, neither of these reactions is actually safe. Our goal as trainers and dog parents is to help our dogs feel calm, aware, and responsive around roads and moving vehicles. Think of it like this: you wouldn't let a toddler walk near a busy street without teaching them what stop means. It's the same with our dogs. The more they understand what to do around the roads, the safer they'll be, even when something surprising happens. So, step one, let's start early and far away from traffic. When we first introduce our puppy to traffic, start at a distance where they can see and hear cars, but they're still comfortable. So you're going to be watching their body language and making sure they're not nervous, scared, or overly excited. And you need to get create a distance away from the road such that they can look at you or take a food reward from you. If they won't do either of those things, they're too stimulated. And I need you to create more distance. So bring some food rewards, maybe a mat or a blanket, and simply just hang out while the cars go by. Every time a vehicle passes, just calmly say your marker word, like yes, and offer a food reward. You're just teaching your puppy that cars moving nearby are part of the world. Nothing to chase, nothing to fear. So we're not getting excited about it, we're not getting scared about it. It's just neutral. This early exposure can help create that neutrality, that emotional neutrality that we're looking for. That's what we want our dogs to feel when they see these moving vehicles. Step two is to teach back up or move away from the road. So next we can teach a safety cue something like back up or away. You can choose the verbiage that you want to use. We're going to actually start in your house. I want you to step toward your dog gently, say back, and reward when they take even one step backward. An easy way to teach this is to create a very narrow channel. Either slide a sofa next to a wall so you have about two to three feet of space in between the wall and the sofa, and then face your dog in that narrow channel and start approaching them. They'll naturally want to back up. As soon as they take those backward steps, that's when you're marking yes and paying them for that behavior. So just get that behavior first, and then like I mentioned, you're going to start to say back, and then they move in that backward direction. So we want to teach that cue first, and then we can gradually practice near the driveway or sidewalk edge once they understand what that means. So teaching it inside in a non-distracting area where they feel safe and secure, that's best. And then as the behavior progresses, we take it outside to a more challenging environment. Now, again, I wouldn't start at the busiest street you know. I'd probably just start somewhere quiet. So if you can go to a park or somewhere, if your driveway's on a busy street, go somewhere else where it's a little more quiet avenue so that you can start with a quiet road and then we can work up to more busy roads. So when we approach the Kerber Roadside, we can cue our dogs back and reward our dog for moving away from the street. Over time, this becomes a safety reflex for them. Our dogs will automatically give space instead of stepping forward. It's a little thing, but it can prevent some big accidents. Now, obviously, there's leash laws. We're keeping our dogs on leash, but even then, we want to make sure they're not just trying to wander out into that space. Step three is to teach a wait or look before crossing. So this is going to be all about crossing streets safely. Once your puppy has learned to sit and stay, you can turn those cues into a crossing routine. Anytime you approach a curb, we can ask for a sit or a wait. And then we look both ways, exaggerate a little, say look, and then give your release cue like, okay, or let's go. My cue is let's go. That just means we're about to move, so pay attention, and we can cross together. Now your dog won't literally check traffic, of course, but they'll learn that we pause and wait for permission before moving into the street. Make it predictable, same cue, same pause, every time. Dogs love patterns, and patterns build good habits. The next step is managing driveways and parked cars. So driveways can be a little tricky because cars move suddenly and parked cars block vision. So we want to practice walking slowly through neighborhoods, and anytime a car backs out or a door opens nearby, just reward your dog for checking in with you or holding position. This helps your dog learn when cars move or I hear a garage door open, I stay close to my person, but it's not a big deal. If your puppy tends to pull toward driveways or chase cars, you can use a front clip harness or a gentle leader for more control while you're training, but also recognize that distance away is going to be super helpful. Don't move too quickly through this process. You're going to understand your dog's threshold and what they can or can't handle around traffic. And if you need more advice on how to handle that with your particular dog, reach out to us and we can coach you through this process. But we want to reinforce calm walking with frequent praise and food rewards. Step five is to reinforce calm around movement. If your dog lunges or barks at passing cars, go back to the basics. Again, create distance. Reward calm looking. So a yes and a food reward when your dog sees a car but stays relaxed. That distance, you guys, is going to be key because they're going to notice that car. You need to be far enough away that they don't immediately just react to that, that they are able to process and think, oh, I need to back away, right? So we want to reward that calm looking at us again with the yes and the food reward. And we're trying to get that relaxing behavior from our dog. So use distance to help with this. And then slowly we can close that distance over several sessions or as our dog is successful. So the goal isn't to suppress our dog's instinct to notice movement, it's to teach emotional control. We want them to notice, stay calm, and then look to us for guidance. We have a class on reactivity, and this falls in uh this category. So if you need help with reactivity, your dog's lunging, barking, pulling at people, or dogs or cars or anything that moves or any other object, let us know. Come join our class. We'd love to coach you through changing your dog's reactivity. Now, step six is to practice in different environments. Once your dog understands the basics near quiet streets, take the lesson outside. Practice near busier areas, parking lots, school zones, parks where cars, bikes, and people move unpredictably. Start at a distance and move closer only as your dog can stay focused and is successful. So, in order for our dog to love the training, we want them to win a lot. If they're not winning, they give up on the training and they get frustrated and we don't want that. So again, start where your dog can be successful. And then as you see success, then you can go to these harder places, but don't do that too quickly. Remember, progress is about comfort, not speed. All right, here's a bonus tip for you. Use real life rewards. So safety behaviors like waiting, checking in, staying back are perfect for life rewards. Instead of always using food, try walking forward once they offer you a calm sit. That's the reward, the walking forward. Letting your dog sniff after waiting patiently, right? Dogs love to sniff and it's so healthy to let them do that on, let them do that on your walks. So if they do this good behavior, they check in with you, they're waiting, they're sitting at curbs. Let them sniff, right? Have a moment to sniff the corner. Crossing the street only when they focus on you. So we're not going to cross this street. We don't get to the other side. And that fire hydrant that you see across the street, we only get there when you look at me or you focus on me. This helps our dog understand that good choices lead to things they want. All right, so let's review. We're going to start at a safe distance from traffic and reward calm behavior. We're going to teach cues like back or away to build an automatic space from roads. We can practice waiting or looking before crossing. We want to make that a habit. That's going to be a routine. We can gradually expose our dogs to busier areas while reinforcing calmness. And then reward real world safety with real world rewards. The freedom, the sniffing, and the movement. Dogs love those things. Road safety training is truly one of the most life-saving things you can teach your dog. And remember, our goal isn't to make them afraid of cars. So keep it positive. We want to help them feel safe, confident, and aware when they're near them. And if your dog does have a desire to chase cars, we want to change that. All right, thanks for listening to the podcast today, you guys. Have a great week. Happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Train Podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.