Maybe you can try exposing him to the car little by little? Just walk him up to the car and then away - over and over. Then open the door and away - over and over. Then put him in the car with you and let him jump right out - over and over. Then shut the door for a few seconds, open it and right out - over and over. Take it from there and work up to backing out of the drive, etc., but I've found that this repeated, gradual habituation to the thing they greatly fear gradually desensitizes them. Stay patient, positive and lots of treats and praise. My two fearful dogs(one in the past and one now) have always responded very well to this method and especially my Tibbe as he had a very bad start in life and came to me with many, many awful fears and devils in his life. He's now a very healthy, stable and hardly fearful little beast who tears through life with the gusto of a bull and yet........he can still revert sometimes when it comes to a "new noise" and if at first ignoring his response doesn't work, here we go again for a bit of "over and over". I hope that will work for you but you will likely get many posts about other ways that work just as well. Good luck to you and Toby and let us know how things are going. |