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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  Other than a thundershirt to see if that will calm him during the trip and medication, I would try covering the windows in the back to see if that can help him during a trial run around the block. If not, see if you can just desensitize him to getting in the car, then back out several times. Then put him in the car and see if he will take a piece of boiled chicken while in there and wait a minute before getting back out. Work up to in and out many, many times with nothing bad happening and perhaps a fabulous treat while he's in there or at least when he gets out and see if he won't start to realize that now, in this car, nothing bad happens. I would definitely get him some meds to help take the edge of his panic off and help him to relax and hopefully sleep during most of the trip.
Some dogs like the security of confinement in a car. You might try putting him in an airline carrier - the hardshell kind - and see if he tolerates that, perhaps with a blanket over all but the door end.
Have you ever tried putting his own bed in the car, with his toys and things he's used to?
Usually, with a very nervous dog, medication and repetitive desensitization sessions of frequent but short duration that work up to just backing out of the drive and driving back in it to around the block, etc., can work to help show a dog that it is really not so bad.
Whatever you do, don't try to soothe him vocally during his panic attacks. That tends to just reinforce his scared, nervous behavior. It is better to try to distract him with a squeaky toy, show him your iPhone video or hold a piece of meat in your fist and try to get him to follow it with his nose. But cooing or saying "it's okay" to a shaking, scared, anxious dog will usually just make him think his panic is okay and the thing to do in the present circumstance in the car. It's better to talk upbeat when you are desensitizing them during the short episodes in the car and when they are in there saying positive things like "You can do this!" and "Atta boy" when he jumps out after a little session and "Hero!" when he is quiet for a moment to try to let him see you being positive and upbeat, not sad and sorry for his nerves. He will feed off your energy so the more positive you can make your own attitude during his time in the car, the better he will feel.
Every effort that you make before the long trip to give him short, positive sessions in the car with treats if he'll take them, positive reinforcement with a squeaky toy, ball, upbeat attitude/words, that end in a good rough play session, tugowar, bouncing the ball for him or going to the park, the more it will all pay off on your long trip. |
The weird thing is he'll get in and out of the car willingly, he hangs out in the car with me whenever I clean it, he just sits in the drivers or passengers seat and looks out the window or finds a receipt to tear up. He does fine for short trips- We take him to the bank, the vet, petsmart, to the park and so forth with no problems what so ever. He gets yummy treats every time he gets into the car and we reward him for staying quiet with treats as well. So its not fear of getting in or out, or even short trips- its when he's in there for a prolonged amount of time.
Heres an example of what he does-
When we were going to stay in Indy we drove about 45 minutes outside of the city to a smaller rural town to look at a house and he was fine the whole way there with the exception of a small amount of screeching at another dog, I gave him a treat when we got in the car and a treat when we arrived. He walked around in the house like a happy go lucky little guy, checked out the back yard, investigated the whole house on his own then just walked around by husband. After we were done looking at the house I let him potty then he jumped back into the car, I gave him a treat and we proceeded on our way back into indy. We got maybe 5 minutes down the road and he started crying. I thought maybe he had to poo so we stopped and I let him out- he peed, walked around then went back to the car. I let him jump in the car by himself when he was ready- gave him another treat which he promptly ate then began waggin his little nub. we got about 10 more minutes down the road and he started crying and panting even heavier- I tried to just tell him he was ok, gave him the option of sitting in my lap which he promptly jumped from and went to the back seat. He just kept crying until we got home- which he recognized, jumped right out of the car and ran right up the steps like nothing happened.
It only gets worse when he's in a crate- especially the plastic kind. I don't know if it's because he can't see out or what but he does not tolerate being crated in the car. He screams, bites the crate door and stress chews himself.
We've tried plastic and wire and the wire is only slightly better.
He doesn't have a bed- he sleeps with me. When he did have a bed all he did was chew on it and rip the stuffing out- he does have a blankie tho and I'll be sure to put that with him.
I will stop trying to soothe him- that's for sure. I didn't realize it would make it worse. He seems to be the calmest when our yorkie is with him, so I'm hoping it helps him but I will still get with his vet about something mild to help take the edge off and get him a thundershirt.
This is really a new thing to me, before my pitbull died she loved the car. She would climb in, sit and lean against the window and watch everything go by then after a while she would just curl up and fall asleep so his fear of the car is something Ive never had to deal with before.
I hadn't thought of a car seat- he does like to look out the window, maybe that will keep him up high enough where he can see whats going on.