Scared of the car...

[Evanescence]

Well, I have a rat terrier/heeler mix that I've had for about 8 months now, and who'se a bit over a year old. When I first got her, she was petrified of the car (and just about everythig else) but through short trips to happy places and tons of cookies she was totally looking foward to hopping in there! But she's always hated it once the car starts moving. She will accept cookies in the car, so she can't be that overwhelmed, but, she looks miserable, and frightened on any trip more than 10 mins. and drools like mad on longer car rides.

Recently I've started toting her along with my other dog to agility trials on the weekends. I've tried to work her up to these longer car rides with TONS of short ones (like 3 5-20 min. drives a week for 6 months) She has a ton of fun once we get where we're going, and loves to be everywhere, but they are longer car rides, like an hour or two, and recently she's started refusing to get into the car until I clip a leash on her and walk her to it. She dosn't resist once the leash is on, but she presses herself up against the front door like its the end of the world until I get the leash on her, and then she follows me, but I know she's dreading the car ride. If I could only play frisbee in the car while I was driving I'm sure she'd enjoy it, but too bad for her, that's not an option :p

I've started kenneling her in the car, more for me than her, since I get drooled all over and I'd rather her be miserable in her kennel than miserable drooling on me. And she's not freaking out or anything, just plain miserable. She's gonna be an agility dog too in about 6 months, and there's no way out of the car rides, but I was hoping to make them a bit easier on her.Anyone else have a dog like this? Or any advice/suggestions/ideas about what else I can do to help her begin to enjoy riding in the car?

Thanks!

[DiggityDogs]

Poor girl! maybe she's just plain car sick. I get carsick a lot on long rides and I dread them too! I've heard of people giving childrens dramamine to help out with that, but I'd ask the vet first as I'm not sure of the doseage.

[Evanescence]

Thanks for the advice...I thought you might be onto something, so, I dried dramamine this weekend....didn't do a thing. She still hates the car...just stares and pants the whole time...I've heard diphenhydramine works also? maybe I'll try that for the drive to our April trial. -- oh, (not along the lines of this post buuuuttt) my other dog and I also got our first agility title -- in NADAC Wild Card!

[WolfRyder]

there's some herbal stuff you can give dogs, cats, birds, to calm them a bit. You may want to look into that. Can't think of the name right off hand.

[DiggityDogs]

there's some herbal stuff you can give dogs, cats, birds, to calm them a bit. You may want to look into that. Can't think of the name right off hand.

Yeah- there are a couple of herbal remedies- one is called 'rescue remedy' I'm not sure what it's made of but it's supposed to be a calming aid. There's also some stuff that I've seen that has Tryptophan in it (yes, that's the same stuff in turkey that makes you extremely sleepy) but I can't remember the name. Judging from how sleepy turkey makes me, I'd think that something like that would work pretty well. You could also try giving a stuffed Kong in the car if she's pretty food motivated- it will give her something to do and also help to give her a longer positive experience for the car ride. Maybe a combo of rescue remedy and a kong will help?

Congrats on the title!!! Way to go- it takes a lot of work to get that first title!

[blklabgrl]

Hi, two of my dogs were the same way (a poodle and a jack russell mix). My poodle infact use to get soo upset, he'd throw up from anxiety. They have both since grown out of it, and what I think helped (if possible) was I put them in the back seat with my Lab (who LOVES the car). I think being w/ her they seemed to catch on that it was ok and nothing bad was going to happen. I'd also talk soothing to them and just let them know it was going to be ok and roll the windows down - the fresh air seemed to calm them down and tire them out - so they would sleep!

[Sibe]

I think that the size of the dog just may have something to do with this. When they are small, they just fall all over the place. Perhaps if they had a special dog seat that they can be fastened in and feel secure, these problems could be assuaged.

[luv4gsds]

I would go with the herbal remedy I've used Animals' Apawthecary -Tranquility Blend on few of my dogs.

[TxDog]

Shiner my small dog is a very scared dog in general. He has gotten A LOT better since we got him but still he is weary to do anything not normal.

Car rides scared the hell out of him always. He would whine, pant, and shake. After a few months of having him he was not any better. I was forced though to take him from Texas to Iowa in a mini-van. 2000+ mile trip.

After that trip he is content in the car. IMO it was the repetition of the ride with nothing but praise and treats. Now he is fairly happy to jump in the truck for a ride. Just takes time and there being no bad things that happen on the ride.