 At the same time as Kim started to lift his leg while peeing and becoming sexual mature about 2 months ago, he also got his interest in chasing after cars back. This came to our knowledge when Kim to our consternation and as a piece of cake jumped over the fence in our yard and landed alongside the fender of a Volvo that was driving by... The driver hit the breaks, Roger ran over in an attempt to get hold of the now shocked Kim who escaped in the other direction. When we had checked Kim and made sure he was safe, the relieved driver could continue his ride home with a little more irregular pulse than earlier. We thought this incident would discourage Kim from further herding attempts of big vehicles, but unfortunately he got even more eager to go after them. When he was a tiny puppy, a walk along the highway cured him (there was so many cars passing by that he eventually got tired of them). Unfortunately this simple measure didn't help this time, especially the large trucks woke his strong instincts up.
So we went down to the village. I with a can filled with candy treats, a safe lead on Kim and a chair. We settled down by a not too well-trafficed road (this is on the countryside, so there was not more then about two cars every fifth minute). Every time we heard a car, I threw treats on Kims head until the car had passed by. Why did I throw them on his head? Because he would "shut down" the entire surrounding as soon as he heard a car, when the candy hit his head, the blocking temporarily turned off while he ate. Why didn't I punish him when he showed interest in the cars? Well, it came to my conclusion when I studied his behaviour that his sallies came from FEAR towards the noisy vehicles, you cannot punish away a fear. And if that wasn't the cause, I still don't believe that punishment would help more than temporarily. After an hours time, we had gotten so far that Kim by the sound of a car looked hopefully at me instead. BINGO! We switched place to a more trafficed road and went for a walk. I still threw treats on his head. Unfortunately we went on for too long - Kim got satisfied ("filled up") and the candy was no longer interesting, so he started to launch attacks against the cars again. The situation felt hopeless, we wanted to be able to have the door to the garden open during summer. The Poodles wanted to go out, and they couldn't jump over the fence. Different ideas started to take shape - should we higher the fence? No, to difficult! Should we put up a net above the fence, so it got higher? No, that is too ugly! Should we plant a hedge inside the fence? No, too much work AND too expensive! The solution was to place compost nets along the inside of the fence, leaning up on the lower crossbar. That way it is not only high for Kim to jump, but long too. So far he hasn't gone over.ittills har han inte hoppat över.  Now the dogs enjoy the time out in the garden again. If you look closely you can see the compost net leaning against the fence in the background... By that the problem was solved. The next was being able to continue having Kim off leash on the walks without being afraid that he would disappear after a car. He was so interested in them that I believe he would pursue the car until his legs wouldn't go any further... The teenage period did not only show in care chasing, Kim also lost himself totally in his own little world of exciting scents, and by that he also got extremely un-attentive to me. Luckily we finally entered our first obedience class after months of standing in line. There was some clicker training that Kim and I have used during his puppyhood. This was the turning point. Even if you do a lot of training on your own, it is never wrong to share ideas with other dog owners on the same level. The class had 4 meetings and during that time it felt like I "got my old Kim back", his attention came back and also his willingness to please. But we had to work a lot at home inbetween class sessions, for instance I reinforced him during a couple of walks every time he spontaneously took contact with me. And yes, a couple of walks was enough for my sweet and quick-learned Sheltie!
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Now Kim is 9 months. The result from this training have made Kim turn instantly and come to me at full speed when I whistle, no matter what is tempting him, whether it is a car, a rabbit or another human (okey, since he is so non-breed characteristic crazy about people, he won't obey 100% there!) But this puts a lot of pressure on me to always make Kim feel that he really gains when choosing me instead of the other. If I succeed, I won't know until the next time I need to call him off something exciting but forbidden!