# Anxiety in car



## spurs (Dec 10, 2014)

Our 10 month golden doesn't like going in the car, after about 20 mins drive she will usually be sick. Last week we started to give her her meals behind our car with the boot open, after a few days we put her food bowl in the back of the car, she will rest her front legs on the bumper and eat from the bowl. After a couple of days we lifted her hind legs (she has never jumped into our car) so she is fully in the car, but half way through her meal she turns and jumps out. Can anyone advise as to what the best action we should take next?. Should we put the meal on the ground behind the car or should we lift her back into the car?
Any. He would be appreciated.


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## Chritty (Aug 17, 2014)

Hey Spurs. 

Our puppy is around the same age and absolutely hates the car. She also has terrible car sickness. We have to use medication for trips longer than 20 minutes. 

As for feeding in and around the car it hasn't worked for us. I just try and make it as least traumatic as possible for her.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Could you try benadryl or another sea/car sickness medication your vet recommends. It could be she associates the car with feeling physically sick to her stomach, and the problem might soothe itself if you could block that sensation. Pepcid?


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## Chritty (Aug 17, 2014)

We use 20mg of maxolon


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## spurs (Dec 10, 2014)

We got to the stage where we couldn't get her in the car she would dance about and then lay down and use her weight to make it hard to pick her up. Our vets practice suggested feeding her in the back of the car several month ago, but we thought it would just get better, now our new dog sitter has suggested the same thing. Once in the car she settles in her cage but if a journey of 20 mins + she gets sick and as I said we are now having problems getting her iN the car, its getting worse. I think it all goes back to her first car journey when we collected her from the breeder at 8 weeks, it was an hours car ride and she was continually vomiting.


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## spurs (Dec 10, 2014)

Meant to add we have got some homeopathy calming drops, but they won't help us get her into the car only calm her once inside.


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## Chritty (Aug 17, 2014)

spurs said:


> Meant to add we have got some homeopathy calming drops, but they won't help us get her into the car only calm her once inside.



Unfortunately homeopathy doesn't have anything to do with medicine. You are most likely just giving her water. The British Medical Association likened homeopathy to witchcraft. It has no effect better than placebo


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## 02pinetree (Nov 17, 2014)

Our golden never liked riding in the car. Dramamine helped a little, but he never seemed comfortable and would pant frequently unless we had the a/c blowing on him full blast. When he was 12 we finally tried a Thundershirt. It made a huge difference and we felt terrible for not trying it sooner. He liked having the shirt put on and rested on rides.


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## SwimDog (Sep 28, 2014)

talk to your vet. You can do all the training in the world, but it's going to take a -lot- of work to get a dog to tolerate car riding if he's expecting to feel ill every time....

Get meds. Minimize car rides while you do training for getting in and out, getting in, closing doors humans getting in, dog getting in humans in car on, dog in human in car on and drive a short way..etc) Use the meds as soon as you start any driving.


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## spurs (Dec 10, 2014)

We did speak to vet about issue and she suggested the feeding in the car. We aren't taking Daisy anywhere in the car whilst we are doing the feeding in the car training. Once she's happy eating in the car with us sitting in the car we'll then switch the engine on and see how that goes. Apparently it's to help eradicate the unpleasant memory of being car sick (which goes back to her first car ride) and replace them with something positive like being fed in the car. We know there's no quick fix, but you have to try. Any advice and support would be welcome.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

You could give her lorezapam or another fast acting benzo 20 minutes before taking her to break the fear cycle/trigger if you think it isnt car sickness. People used to use acepromazine, but it has been found that the dog still experiences the fear. Anything that stops the cycle and allows better experiences reconditions the dog. You can open all the doors of the car and play fetch, tag, all kinds of games with the car itself.


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## SwimDog (Sep 28, 2014)

In your first email you said your dog gets sick after 20 minutes of riding. If your vet was not in favor of giving you meds for the car sickness - get a second opnion. If you do all of this training and your dog still feels ill when you actually move you will undo most of the training - plus it's quite unpleasant for your dog to feel sick.


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

Two of our 3 Goldens would get car sick when traveling, both outgrew it around 1 year of age. During the younger years, we would give them an over the counter pill made for motion sickness. It is called Bonnine (brand name). We like it better then others as it does not cause one to get sleepy. But is worked if we gave it to them at least 3 minutes prior to traveling. 

In time they learned to love traveling as it always took them somewhere fun!

Good Luck


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## Loukia (Sep 20, 2014)

02pinetree said:


> Our golden never liked riding in the car. Dramamine helped a little, but he never seemed comfortable and would pant frequently unless we had the a/c blowing on him full blast. When he was 12 we finally tried a Thundershirt. It made a huge difference and we felt terrible for not trying it sooner. He liked having the shirt put on and rested on rides.


That's something I haven't tried. Thank you for the idea!

Comet HATES the car. He's never liked it. He threw up a few times when he was a couple of months old and that was it for him. I've tried treating him, feeding him, letting him ride in the front seat next to me, and all of these help a tiny bit, but he still drools and foams at his mouth because he's so nervous. I can put him in the front seat of the car with the car on and his mouth gets foamy. It's awful. I've tried dramamine for long trips but I think it's 2 parts anxiety and 1 part sick tummy.


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

Loukia said:


> That's something I haven't tried. Thank you for the idea!
> 
> Comet HATES the car. He's never liked it. He threw up a few times when he was a couple of months old and that was it for him. I've tried treating him, feeding him, letting him ride in the front seat next to me, and all of these help a tiny bit, but he still drools and foams at his mouth because he's so nervous. I can put him in the front seat of the car with the car on and his mouth gets foamy. It's awful. I've tried dramamine for long trips but I think it's 2 parts anxiety and 1 part sick tummy.


By the way, I get motion sick real easy and real bad. I have used this for car sickness, boat sickness (we scuba), and air sickness....it works very well and like I say, it does not make us sleepy. I think we found out about it in our 'dive class' Being ocean sick and diving is dangerous and many drugs cannot be used if you are diving, but this one is ok....

Good Luck


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## 4goldengirls (Jun 10, 2014)

Our youngest was 6 months old when we got her and didn't have much car riding experience up until that point outside of the sick dog visits she'd have at the vet with previous owners, so she had no positive feelings toward car rides. My other dogs absolutely love the car so I was surprised when it was discovered Chloe was terrified. Just walking towards the car she would fall to the ground and refuse to walk towards it. Forget about getting into the car. 

With a lot of positive cajoling with very high value treats I was eventually able to get her to approach the vehicle but I still had to lift her rear into the car. Once in, she would sink down as far as she could go without becoming part of the upholstery. lol We'd start out with trips around the block where the tell-tale about to vomit symptoms would begin. I found that keeping her in the front passenger seat worked the best. I'd talk very upbeat, give her an occasional pat on the heat and pop the high value treat into her mouth. This was her distraction so she never vomited and it also helped stop the slobbering streams of vomit which would usually precede the vomiting. Around the bock this way for many trips seemed to help. We then started on the short trips to dog training classes (which she loves) and I'd continue with upbeat praise, small tidbits of microwaved hot dog followed by arrival at class. Since class is a positive, all these steps worked so that getting in the car became positive. On occasion I would also have her jump into the car with the other two dogs that love the car and go someplace positive (again positive association). She can now ride in either the front seat, back seat or crate without fear or getting sick. She has also started raising her self into the sit position to look out the window.

It wasn't an overnight fix but in our situation it helped tremendously. She now does not balk or panic when it is time to go someplace. She will start out hunkered down but once the vehicle is in motion she is fine. 

Keep working at in in baby steps and hopefully she will then overcome her car issues.


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## brendadavis44 (May 6, 2014)

try a thunder shirt and/or the adaptil collar with meds?


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