Hates the car.. Best way to get past this?

[Blue]

We adopted Nitro a year ago when he as 7 months old. He's hated the car from the day we got him, which in all honesty lead me to never taking him in the car. I know not really the way to go but at the same time I had a 1.5 year old who also hated his car seat with a passion so driving around with a screaming child and adding a whining shaking dog into that just wasn't something I wanted to deal with at the time. My husband works 65-70 hours a week so it's just me and 3 kids most of the time (well two are at school al day). Anyways, what is the best way to go about getting him to be ok in the car and is there just a possibility that he will hate it forever? I thought about treats in the car but didn't know if that just reinforced the nervous behavior. Or if I should just start taking him with me every time I go somewhere. I can't fit a crate in my car so he is basically just loose on the floor. I have an SUV with captains chairs in the second row. Not really enough room behind the 3rd row for him. Ideally I'd like for him to be inbetween the 2nd row captains chairs on the floor and stay there but instead he paces, shakes and whines the whole time. Also the amount of fur left behind you'd think he wouldn't have any left. Basically I need to know the best way to go about this on my own while driving at the same time. My previous dog loved the car so this is different for me. On the plus side he is more then happy to get in the car on his own.

 

[season]

Well, I started taking Solo in the car with me all the time. Part of socialization. For u it's going to take the same. Put him on a leash. Work on getting in and out of the car Then take him on random trips. The only way he is going to move forward with this is if u do to. Be calm. Let him know through your body language that there is nothing to fear. Don't talk to him and soothe him when he's anxious. I'm a firm believer in moving forward through obstacles. Don't make a big deal out of it. Just do it. The more it's done the easier it will get. But again, keep calm. Your dog will feed into your energy. Bring a toy. Something to chew on. The process starts before u even leave the house. Once out move forward. Get him in the car and go. Practice. Repetition. Repeat.


Carpe Diem

 

[Blue]

I am very much the ignore type. I don't baby him or anything like that. Oddly enough I don't know why I didn't think to bring a toy, well I guess for him one of his bones. He's happy to jump right in the car with no effort on my part. He is not allowed in until I OK him then he jumps right on in. I guess I'll just have to start off with just biting the bullet and taking him with me all the time. Most of my trips are on the shorter side anyways. Dropping off and picking up the older two. Even with all the shaking and whining going on when we get home he will sit and wait for me to take my son out first and for me to OK him to get out. If I didn't have a toddler I would have tackled this right away when we first got him so I'm a good year late. We would like to bring him to my husbands races over the summer but it's quite a bit of travel so I need to see if I can desensitize him to the car at all before then. I am extremely laid back (probably too laid back) person and that paired with 3 kids, I can deal with a lot without any sort of reaction on my part. Just have to do it and hope for the best I guess. Then get a good cleaning on my poor car because I'm sure it won't take long before I have a thick layer of fur on it. I just hope this is something he will get over and not always get so stressed in the car.

 

[Hector]

It sounds like a lot of anxiety in the car. I don't know if securing him helps or maybe even consider giving him some calming treats before hand. The fur loss is a sign of stress and in his case, it's pretty bad. Sometimes it's better to leave him home, but if you have plans to take him then definitely figure something out. High levels of stress can cause bloat.

 

[season]

I am very much the ignore type. I don't baby him or anything like that. Oddly enough I don't know why I didn't think to bring a toy, well I guess for him one of his bones. He's happy to jump right in the car with no effort on my part. He is not allowed in until I OK him then he jumps right on in. I guess I'll just have to start off with just biting the bullet and taking him with me all the time. Most of my trips are on the shorter side anyways. Dropping off and picking up the older two. Even with all the shaking and whining going on when we get home he will sit and wait for me to take my son out first and for me to OK him to get out. If I didn't have a toddler I would have tackled this right away when we first got him so I'm a good year late. We would like to bring him to my husbands races over the summer but it's quite a bit of travel so I need to see if I can desensitize him to the car at all before then. I am extremely laid back (probably too laid back) person and that paired with 3 kids, I can deal with a lot without any sort of reaction on my part. Just have to do it and hope for the best I guess. Then get a good cleaning on my poor car because I'm sure it won't take long before I have a thick layer of fur on it. I just hope this is something he will get over and not always get so stressed in the car.

Sounds like you are already almost there. He gets in and out fine. Sits well. He'll get over the shaking and anxiety the more u work on it. That stuff will go away. Just keep working on it. Just bring him with u when you go places. Working at it works.


Carpe Diem

 

[season]

But if u don't like the fur clean up and are concerned about his stress etc then u can choose to leave him at home and avoid it all together. For me I think the path of least resistance is a bad teacher. But like Hector said, sometimes it's better to leave him home.


Carpe Diem

 

[Wilsy]

I'm assuming you don't know exactly why he doesn't like being in the car e.g. bad experiences, never taken in the car before you you adopted him? When you do take him out in the car, where do you go? Maybe if he gets to go somewhere fun or do something good when he gets out the car at the other end he might look forward to a journey a bit more. We have a campervan and our DDB gets super excited when he sees us starting to pack things into it for a trip.

 

[season]

I'm assuming you don't know exactly why he doesn't like being in the car e.g. bad experiences, never taken in the car before you you adopted him? When you do take him out in the car, where do you go? Maybe if he gets to go somewhere fun or do something good when he gets out the car at the other end he might look forward to a journey a bit more. We have a campervan and our DDB gets super excited when he sees us starting to pack things into it for a trip.

Great point...for some dogs it's simply the excitement of getting in the car, head out the window and being with their people. For others it might be the "carrot at the end of the stick." Either way try to start associating good things (bone in the car with him, trip to his favorite park etc) with the car ride.

 

[Hiraeth]

As a side note to the suggestions you've already gotten - his stress related behaviors (whining, panting) could also be because he suffers from motion sickness. Especially because it sounds like he hops in and out fine and otherwise has no stress about the car until you start moving.

If you notice that he's not getting any better as you work on getting him used to the car, you could potentially ask your vet about motion sickness and some low dosage motion sickness meds for him to see if that makes a difference.

 

[tmricciuto]

I have a product similar to the one in the link below. My girls are not phased by going in the car, but I also have a third row SUV and they are happiest in my lap...not safe at all. I put down the third row and bought a bed for the back (no small kids so we never use the third row) and put up this barrier. It keeps them back there and after a bit they just settle down on the mat and do their dog thing.

K&H Pet Products Travel Safety Pet Barrier

 

[Boxergirl]

What Hiraeth said. I would definitely rule out motion sickness before just assuming it's behavioral. Says she who *did* assume it was behavioral with my rock solid, very confident Oliver until it bordered on cruel. Motion sickness just never occurred to me until we'd made him go through several long trips a shedding, drooling, panting, quivering ball of dog. Letting something like that go on too long can then turn into anxiety about entering the car, which makes sense. I get in the car and I get sick. I won't get in the car. Then you have more work cut out for you than was necessary. That's why I think it's always best to rule out any medical issue, in this case I'll consider motion sickness medical as there is medicine to help, before deciding something is behavioral. Tough love isn't always the answer, and if I had realized that from the beginning I wouldn't have to be doing desensitization and counterconditioning now that he's associated the car with getting sick.

 

[Blue]

How would I know if it's motion sickness versus stress/anxiety? He's never gotten sick in the car. Our trips are basically just to boarding, the vet and friends houses. So a little bit of both fun and not so fun, although less fun since its been winter. They're short trips though, maybe 15 mins tops and some only 5. The shaking panting and all that do start once we get moving so he definitely doesn't like the movement. I will add in that I doubt he was ever taken in a car for the first 6 months of his life. Whoever originally had him didn't take care of him and never got vaccinations. When we got him at 7 months he didn't know how to use stairs. He also has as few scars so I have to imagine he was mistreated as a pup. I think I'll just start off slow. Once my son goes down for a nap each day I'll just bring him out and sit in the car with him without actually going anywhere, so the car itself becomes a normal place to be in. Then move up to just a quick trip around the block and so on. So I guess the question of how to tell if it's motion sickness would be important. Although when we get to where we are going he does remain anxious for a little while which leads me to believe it stress/anxiety. Unless it's somewhere with a dog then he's fine and snaps right out of it.

 

[Blue]

I'll also look into barriers of sorts. He's doesn't try to come up front, more like just all over the rest of the car, walking around the floor, on and off seats. I use the third row daily with the kids so I can't put that down.

 

[JamieHalverson]

Motion sickness doesn't always cause vomiting. Whinning, drooling, restlessness etc are as much symptoms of nausea as they are of anxiety. I would also add that if he doesn't have anxiety in other circumstances, such as separation anxiety, and in general is a confident, outgoing dog, I would definitely rule out motion sickness first. You wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the difference from his behavior if it's motion sickness or anxiety, but giving medication would either relieve the symptoms or not. If he has motion sickness, no amount of effort on changing the behavior will work.

 

[Hiraeth]

From someone who suffers from motion sickness - mine rarely causes me to vomit, but the world spins, I *feel* nauseated, I get a horrible headache, I break out into cold sweats and I lose my sense of balance. It is a horrendous feeling, and it happens every time I am in the back seat of a car, or when someone drives in a very jerky manner.

The only way to rule out motion sickness is, like Jamie mentioned, to get meds and see if they work. Low dosage meds should have few to no side effects, so I'd recommend talking to your vet and seeing if they have an impact.

 

[Blue]

He has had other anxiety issues. We had a huge problem with crating when we got him, finally landing on a plastic crate. He also has to be crated when we leave because of anxiety behaviors. He is the most attached to my son and myself so prefers to be where we are and will get a little anxious if he sees us leaving, buy we are the ones he's spend all day every day with. He was very anxious/fearful around men at first but that has gotten better. He was SO stressed and anxious at the vet which I wasn't expecting at all, BUT that was also coming off an anxiety ridden car ride so who knows. They ended up using a muzzle just because he wouldn't calm down and wanted to be safe. No growling lunging or anything like that but just so stressed out. The muzzle actually almost instantly calmed him quite a bit. He has never acted like that anywhere else though, so I don't know what was up with that.

 

[Blue]

I forgot (rough night with the little one) it did take a couple months before he would willingly get into the car on his own.

 

[Hiraeth]

If he now feels safe in his crate, you could try putting his crate in the car, as well.

 

[Blue]

I don't have anywhere that I could fit a crate let alone one that would fit him in it.

 

[DennasMom]

My theory - is that he feels "loose" when the car starts moving, and needs some "security".... a harness that would hold him in place might help?

Not having room for the crate I understand is a problem (very few cars fit a mastiff-sized crate!)... Can you squish a bed in there? Like the one with walls, that would provide a "nest" for him to stay in? You could give it a special name ("car-bed") and teach him to go to his "car-bed" in the house (i.e. a special "Place" command)... then move it into the car, and have him "stay" or "wait" on his "car-bed" when in the car. You'd need a helper to drive the first few times, so you could reinforce that while in the car, he is NOT to get out of the car-bed until given the release to do so. If a bed won't fit, a special blanket might work... not as "nest-y", but still, it would provide some direction on what you want him to do, which might help. If he has to focus on staying on the "car-bed", that should help keep his mind off the flashing pictures flying past the windows...

Or... Is there a place where he could sit and look out the window? Does he do better if you crack a window and get him fresh air?

Denna much prefers riding in our F350 - where she has the back seat (folded flat) and is kind of 'contained' between the seat-backs, and the back of the truck. When she rides in the back of the Subaru (seats down, so she has the whole back/cargo area) - I think she rolls around more - so is less "firm" in her seating... which I think makes her a little nervous. She still will go - 'cause she knows we go fun places for walks... but she'd rather we take the big truck instead.