Car Travel With A Puppy.

[Odin-Genie]

I am going to crate the pup until she is big and ugly enough to behave in a harness.

As I said before, I've found the harness to be really great with my dogs. I've been using these since they were 16 weeks old. Unlike a crate, it helped me pet them (not when I was the driver :nahnah: ) if they got upset. There was one incident of car sickness with the retriever when she was very young, but since then, none at all. Now they simply love car travel and sit quiety in the back seat (as you can see from my avatar photo ).

If you do decide to use a harness later, try getting them used to it every once in a while from a young age.

[Guest june.andnovas]

I am going to crate the pup until she is big and ugly enough to behave in a harness.

As I said before, I've found the harness to be really great with my dogs. I've been using these since they were 16 weeks old. Unlike a crate, it helped me pet them (not when I was the driver ) if they got upset. There was one incident of car sickness with the retriever when she was very young, but since then, none at all. Now they simply love car travel and sit quiety in the back seat (as you can see from my avatar photo ).

If you do decide to use a harness later, try getting them used to it every once in a while from a young age.

thanks for that. will speak to the breeder and co-owner of the pup im getting and see what they have used in the past with their giants. I'm thinking a crate only until she is good in the car and settled.

I have a VW Golf so not a huge car and I don't plan on upgrading for a long time ... I love my car! so she HAS to learn to drive in a harness and behave :nahnah:

[charlies_mum]

our two chihuahuas have a crate harnessed onto the back seat each for travel in the car as they are too small to sit comfortably in the harnesses on the backseat. is it alright to have them both in the same crate?

[Guest june.andnovas]

I'm not a pro but in my eyes i wouldn't see a problem with that .. as long as they get on well with each other?

maybe for a looong car trip i would crate them in their own .. more personal space!

do dogs need personal space? hmm.

[~Anne~]

A harness should be fine. I prefer crates for my lot but they are much smaller dogs. I tried mine in harness and they managed to always tangle themselves up so I went back to crates.

[Tom Walker]

I just lay a nice rug down on the back seat of my car because I have leather seats and find that he slipped around too much. He loves the rug and lays down during most driving if he doesn't have his head out the window and on long drives he even sleeps. I think it's because the rug has my girlfriend and my scent on it so it calms him. Before I put it in he used to absolutely freak out whilst driving, and I'd have to force him into the car. Now he jumps straight up without me saying a word.

[Crest_Fallen]

If you want to use a harness when he or she is an adult, I would start off using a harness when she first comes to live with you. If she is a large breed, you wont have any problems finding one to fit, as there should be small size harnesses for the smaller breeds that would fit. Not sure if you can get adjustable sizings though.

Crates are great if you have a wagon but otherwise I would use a harness.

[Erny]

As per my earlier post (P1 or P2??), I had been crating my pup in the (sedan) car to begin with. I'm a 'loan driver' and didn't want the worry of a baby pup toppling over or doing cartwheels; worrying over its harness or chewing things it shouldn't, whilst simultaneously getting used to car travel. Being in the crate taught Mandela to sleep when travelling, or at the very least, lay quietly (and I promise you, he initially didn't!!).

Of course he began to get too big for the crate and it was also becoming increasingly awkward for me to get him out of it. As I mentioned in my post as my intentions, I purchased a medium sized harness (to suit him at 14 or so weeks of age). I left the crate in the back seat on his first "harness" trip for two reasons :

1. It took up half the seat which didn't give him too much room to try to wander around, if he was going to.
   
2. Just in case I needed it.
   

Turns out everything was great. He layed in the back seat, enjoying the luxury of stretching out, happily and for the most part quietly chewing and playing with "flea" his most favourite toy and other times sleeping. In the last couple of trips he's experimented with the harness and its limitations (nothing major), but has fast learnt that he's not going anywhere in it and seems to have accepted it. Before the first car trip with it, he wore it around the yard and house (supervised) for short periods a couple of times, with no hassles.

In this way, he has only had to learn one thing at a time and not deal with multiple things all at once. Maybe this two step process has been unneccessary. But I think I'd only know that for him if I hadn't tried it and taken a punt that I wasn't doing the wrong thing for him.

Every dog is different and where possible and not inhibitive to the pup/dog I prefer to take the long way around to more ensure it is right, than the opposite.

Just to let the OP know of our progress and that I'm happy with it.

Edited October 7, 2008 by Erny

[Guest june.andnovas]

thanks for letting me know about that Erny. So at what age was his first car trip in the harness only? If all goes well (still waiting to hear on puppies) my pup will be in her crate from the airport so she will stay in that on the way home anyways. After coming out for a wee/drink and introduction firstly!

that's a great idea, teaching them to sleep/behave in the car in a crate for a week or two (depending on the pup) and then change over to a harness. then i can get a harness fitted when she arrives.

puppy update ...

the giant mum is having her 2nd scan today as the one last week showed nothing. the vet only has an older ultrasound machine and she had a lot of gas (to which she apparently let out on the way home!) so they're having another scan today so fingers crossed. if she isn't pregnant then i may get an airedale.

the owner is saying she's showing all the signs of having pups and i saw her about two weeks ago and she didn't look like her normal self, swollen belly and very quiet. so i'm just going to sit here today and wait for the good or bad news. :rolleyes:

[Erny]

thanks for letting me know about that Erny. So at what age was his first car trip in the harness only?

JAN .... I know from your other thread that the mating wasn't successful and I'm sorry for you for that. As I've indicated in the other thread, I've had my fair share of disappointments in the lead up to finally finding Mandela, and a failed mating was one of those.

However, something is out there for you and I know that one day you will make the decision that "feels right" and will come home with a pup or dog to share your life with.

So, in anticipation of that day and to answer your question (above), Mandela was about 15 weeks when I purchased his harness and about 15.5 weeks or maybe a smidgen closer to 16 weeks when he had his first trip in the harness with no crate. In this I had no choice as he had about grown to the stage that he didn't comfortably fit in the crate anymore and there was no way that a larger crate was going to fit in the back seat of my car.