My dog HATES the car - help please!

calicocat

UK0106 wrote: »

I made the mistake of tryingto soothe him when he was trembling and groaning when he was younger and I think that made him worse so I definitely don't make that mistake anymore. I don't even look at him when it happens now (easily done because he's in the back seat anyway).

I think it's the motion he doesn't like simply because of the groaning and squeaking he does when we're turning and/or when I pull away from traffic lights too fast.

I suppose he could be scared of the noise too. TBH, he's pretty much scared of his own shadow sometimes. He's the dog that sees a large rock or a carrier bag on a walk and won't even walk past it!

:rotfl: bless him.



I used to put classical slow music on low....then turned it up a bit and would hum along as if I didn't have a care in the world....probably looking a bit crazy...:o. Mine was bothered by noise though.

He didn't like speed bumps(the ones that rumble) and was petrified of those, so everyone sang really loudly going over those so he didn't notice........:rotfl:

However, to frank I did the same with my mates dog that I used to look after that was petrified of everything....very short distances at first. I would also drive down the the garage with him...park outside the window of the garage and leave him in there to realise he wasn't going to die..

There would be me and 2 or 3 staff spying on him out of his sight, eventually he stopped shaking and would be up at the window wagging his tail as he eventually got it that it meant a food treat or a nice walk.

In the end both would jump and go ballistic if I picked up the car keys to come with me, and mine used to bark to be in the car even if I wasn't going anywhere and would sit in it sunbathing on warm days when he was old. (with windows down before anyone assumes not)...he loved it, and would the bark to come out when he'd had enough.


You will get there in the end...it's just a long process unfortunately.

calicocat

UK0106 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I put him into the dog seat this morning and clipped the harness to his collar (which caused no end of problems when he tried to hop out of the seat when we reached our destination, realised he was linked to the seat and flipped out!).

He didn't seem to tremble or groan as much as possible but it could be just wishful thinking on my part.

I've been giving him a treat as soon as he gets into the car, at a couple of the traffic lights and once I've parked and turned the engine off.

I wish I could figure out what made him stop wanting to get into the car in the first place. As I said in my original post, after his initial issues, he used to hop straight in and wasn't half as nervous up until a few weeks ago.

With mine it was a car crash...but to be fair it could be anything, you just have to work through it in time.

Took 2 years for mine to not freak at diesel taxis, so you probably aren't going to fix it immediately.

UK0106

tesuhoha wrote: »

There are also support groups for overeaters, such as overeaters anonymous. Maybe there would be one in your area and it would help you to meet people who feel the same way as you and actually get what you are going through.

http://www.oagb.org.uk/

Um...... huh?

UK0106

Cyberman60 wrote: »

Are you sure it's the car and not your driving

It's entirely possible :rotfl:

I have been accused of being a little bit nippy, shall we say...

UK0106

calicocat wrote: »

:
However, to frank I did the same with my mates dog that I used to look after that was petrified of everything....very short distances at first. I would also drive down the the garage with him...park outside the window of the garage and leave him in there to realise he wasn't going to die..

BIB made me laugh. Sometimes when I tell him "no", I then have to reassure him that I'm not also going to kick his head in as well, he acts so terrified. Crazy animal

When I do leave him in the car, he's straight up on his hind legs peering out of the (tinted) rear windows checking where I've gone and/or whether I'm letting him out. He's also previously slept (shock, horror) in the car on a 10 minute stretch up an A road so he's clearly not scared of the car itself.

Katiehound

In the past I had a travel sick dog.
He would have tablets which the vet said would not let him be sick! (don't ask me how- something about the reversal of peristaltic movement.) All was fine with smooth motorway driving- so we had done over 200 miles and then came twisty country roads and roundabouts.. and then he would be sick... it happened every time. I'm thinking maybe your dog feels sick if you whizz around corners etc, perhaps for the time being try controlled gentle driving when you have bends etc. (That dog wasn't nervous stressed etc he was plain travel sick and as a sufferer myself I sympathised.)

My dogs (much larger than yours) have a purpose built double crate in the boot. They have a doggy duvet in there and a water bowl on a holder which fixes to the side of the crate. As ex-racers they are used to travelling but I am wondering if something on a smaller scale would work for your yorkie. You could introduce the crate indoors first (lots of advice on line for that.)- the dogs can stand up, walk about, lay down.. whatever- and see out. They are not always going anywhere nice straightaway- sometimes it's 14 hours with walkie breaks!!

I think there may be a Bach flowers remedy- even rescue remedy which might help.

sheramber

A firend had an accident with the dogs in the car and they were very unhappy in the car after that and barked all the time.

She found that as long as she spoke to them they quietened so she spent the journey singing nursery rhymes and hymns to them.

She did get funny looks when stopped a traffic lights and people sawher singing away to herself as they thought.

arbrighton

Ours is just coming up to a year old. She was put in the boot initially but there was a lot of crying, shaking and general distress.

Then travel sickness started so she's been on the front seat (restrained) or in one of our laps if we are in both of the car and she's settled much better, gone off to sleep and gradually got less and less sick.

She will hop up into the car on her own now as she's learnt that we often go somewhere for a walk in the car but does still get quite unhappy if left in the car or we don't get out soon after stopping but is getting better and it might be time to move her to at least the back seat again

Johnny_Dangerously

teddysmum wrote: »

You could spend time just sitting in the car with him, then progress to running the engine very briefly , then progress to short journeys; all done very gradually.

For what it's worth, I agree with this. I think the bulk of the work you need to do is disassociating the car with driving at first. It takes a lot of time, but your main goal should be to have him getting in an out of the car by himself. Not sure how much free time you have, or whether you have a safe enough driveway to do it, but for me that would mean playing around the car with doors open etc and see if you can encourage him to enter during play by throwing a ball in or something. If you can get that, you can gradually build up through stages of keeping him in the car very briefly with you, and extending from there.

Alternative cheating option can sometimes be to find a dog friend he has who really likes the car and see if it can help him view it differently. That can be the quickest route in my experience.

tesuhoha

UK0106 wrote: »

Um...... huh?

I deleted it. Was replying to another thread. Have no idea how the post got here but have just noticed it. Sorry.