Placid, Orderly Car Travel

[whiskedaway]

We ended up buying a double-duty harness for Akira. We bought it from the vet, but since we bought it I've had a look and found the exact same one on eBay for a LOT cheaper! (Link)

Basically the back has both a D ring that you can use for a lead, but the nylon on the back is doubled and the seatbelt goes through the hole in between the two straps. Akira was fairly placid in the car before we got that harness, but she tended to move around a bit because the lead that clipped into the buckle gave her wriggle room. Now she just sits there and can even lay down and go to sleep.

Edited June 16, 2010 by whiskedaway

[GoldenGirl85]

Im looking at getting one of these for Tess, she twists her harness up but this has a swivel so she can turn around as much as she likes and she wont get twisted up, Ill either get one of the BD car harnesses or use her walking harness with it

[aussielover]

Mindy was dreadful in the car- would poop and vomit when she was in her travel crate. even when we held her in our arms she would bark and cry.

I was recommended by her guide dog trainer to put her in the footwell of the front passenger seat- now she is pretty good in the car. She might have the occaisonal whinge but it lasts for less than a minute and then she curls up and sleeps.

I think it really helps being reaosnably close to me and the area is quite cosy.

If there is no passenger, I put her lead in the door to secure her that way.

This is the position that guide dogs travel in when they are working, so I'm not sure if it would be suitable for you as it is probably not the safest arrangement. But at least the dogs are restrained somewhat and comfortable.

[koalathebear]

Resurrecting my old thread. It took a really long time and so much work but we managed to finally make Elbie mostly settle down in the car.

For a while, he was very anti-harness and once when he was a very young pup (a long time ago) he snapped at my hand when I was trying to restrain him in the car. Teeth met flesh albeit with no pressure but he clearly did not want to be restrained. He never did it again because we put a lot of time into getting him used to being in a harness and restrained.

We tried out different harnesses and straps, worked with getting him in and out of the car without going anywhere etc. Eventually he was fine with being in the harness and getting in and out of the car but still barked like a maniac whenever the car was moving.

Earlier this year, we managed to get him to stop barking but then he would whimper like crazy. About a couple of weeks ago, we figured out that if we rolled the front window all the way down, he would sit or stand on the back seat calmly and just watch the world go by - very quiet and seemingly quite happy even if cars whizz by, cyclists or pedestrians go by etc.

There are 2 exceptions that still make him whimper very loudly and almost in distress:

1. Sometimes when he hears the turn indicator, particularly in certain areas where there are sharp turns. He seems to know/remember the areas where the turns are.

2. In the street or two before we come home. Admittedly there are some sharp turns but we've tried going home via a number of different routes but Elbie has memorised them all and starts to get excited and freak out a little on the home stretch.

Thankfully his behaviour does not affect Hoover who is placid as a cow in the car and will sometimes even fall asleep in the backseat. I realise that Elbie's much more high strung than Hoover and we'll probably never get him to the point of sleeping in the car, but any ideas on how to address the two issues above?

ETA: DAP doesn't work. In the early days, we tried DAP to calm Elbie down in the car and it had zero effect on him. We just had to work with him a LOT so we're almost there now but not quite ...

Edited November 17, 2010 by koalathebear

[Simply Grand]

This may be too simplistic, but have you tried strapping him in down on the floor, in the footwell? I saw this on Better Homes and Gardens (what do you mean I have no life, at home watching that on a Friday night??)

I noticed it because Saxon is really noisy in the car, he gets excited and goes "ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff" most of the time. He's better when the window is open and he gets the wind in his hair. He also gets extra excited when we get near home, or my mum's house, or the dog park, or training... he definitely knows where we are! I have him in a harness with the seatbelt through the canvas loop and clipped in as normal. He also has a booster seat so he can see out (spoilt much?)

I can tune out his noise pretty easily but it's really annoying for everyone else apparently, and now I'm planning a second pup, I'm thinking about how to manage two - one being noisy is ok, but two may be tooooo much!

Anyway, on BH & G Dr Harry met a little dog who was really noisy and unsettled in the car, he looped some chain with a spring-catch thing on the end, like the thing to clip a lead on a collar, around the foot of the front seat, where it bolts to the floor of the car, then clipped the dog's collar on - I didn't like that in case of a sudden stop yanking the neck, but I thought it would work well clipped to a harness.

The dog then lay on the floor and because it couldn't see out it was MUCH calmer. I don't know if that would work with Elbie at all, or if you've already tried that. I think I will try it with Saxon, before or when the new pup comes.

[quickbrownfox]

I must be pretty damn lucky because I've not had any trouble with Stanley in the car.

I drive a Commodore VZ ute and Stanley loves to lie down in the footwell to be near the air con.

When we do long trips, he occaisonally gets up on the passenger seat and stick his head out the window to catch the breeze (don't worry I don't have the window all the way down so he can't fall out.)

I will have to teach him to use the back of the ute soon, which I'm still trying to figure out what would be the best way to do it. I have a wire crate that I can use for now. I thought about a ute lead but there isn't any hooks on the back that I can use, except on the sides of the tray.

[Gayle.]

None of my dogs have ever been a problem in the car.....as soon as the car starts to move they lay down and go to sleep. It's not learned behaviour, because they've done it since they were babies, even from their very first car ride with me. Tethered, crated, on seat, on floor, in back of wagon, no difference.

I think it's just the individual dog. A previous dog of mine was a shaking whining mess in the car, she hated it.

[Nahla + Teddy's Mum]

When Nahla was little she wasn't too keen on the car and would cry and try to get on my lap but as soon as we got Mr Chilla - aka Teddy - she learnt off him!

So hopefully Elbie will take notes from Hoover and realise the car isnt so scary after all! Both now will jump in as soon as we open to door and they stare out of the window with not 1 peep! Nahla even sleeps in the car now so hopefully you will get the same results!!

We usually got to pretty exciting places when were in the car so they look forward to it ( although they do bark once we turn into the vets! )

[Kavik]

With Kaos it was just time. He was crated as a pup in the car, when we first tried the harness he freaked out and tangled himself in the seatbelt. I then got a separate attachment that didn't have as much 'give' as a seatbelt and tied knots in it to make it shorter. When bubs came, the crate didn't fit in the car with the carseat and we had to use the harness. It didn't take too long for him to get used to the harness after that. We do lots of travel to training and trials, and he now relaxes and lies down on the seat. He does get excited and bark a little when he knows we are getting close to our destination but that doesn't bother me. For the most part he is happy to chill

[SpotTheDog]

Ah, the dog in the car, what joy...

My progress with Gus is slow, but it is still progress.

When Gus was surrendered to the shelter where I adopted him, they told me he had been left in the boot of a car, with his brother, for long enough that he was covered in his own faeces and urine in said boot. The people surrendering him arrived driving the car, with the pups in the boot, filthy and severely underweight.

Unsurprisingly, Gus has detested the car ever since. When we were taking him home, the OH drove while the pup sat in my lap in the back seat and washed my hands and arms for the duration of the drive. It worsened over a short time - over the space of about six weeks, Gus got worse and worse in the car until he couldn't be driven for more than 10 minutes or he'd lose control of either his breakfast or his bowels. Every trip in the car involved cleaning puke and/or crap off the dog, or off the car - and often off both.

We've done lots of work on it, and have lots more to do. Getting in and out of the car without going anywhere, treats and food in the car, short trips, bringing the cats into the car (they're curious and relaxed) and seeing if that settles him - but the best thing was definitely driving the car into our yard, shutting the gate, opening the doors and boot hatch of the car, and just leaving it out there on a warm day, all doors and windows open and letting the dog have precisely as much to do with it as he wanted. At the end of that day, after ignoring him for a couple of hours out there, I went out and went straight to the car and sat in the back seat. Miraculously, Gus - who is excited to see me after a couple of hours on his own - voluntarily put one of his paws up on the passenger footwell while saying hello. I can't describe to you just how enormous that is as progress. Normally he won't get any closer than 10 feet from it before he'll sit down and refuse to move.

My next step with him will be to try a harness - up to now it's been a seatbelt clip attached to his collar, and occasionally just a short lead looped around the door handle and then clipped onto his collar - enough room for him to sit up or lie down, not enough for him to get into the front seats or throttle himself moving about.

[koalathebear]

With Kaos it was just time. He was crated as a pup in the car, when we first tried the harness he freaked out and tangled himself in the seatbelt. I then got a separate attachment that didn't have as much 'give' as a seatbelt and tied knots in it to make it shorter. When bubs came, the crate didn't fit in the car with the carseat and we had to use the harness. It didn't take too long for him to get used to the harness after that. We do lots of travel to training and trials, and he now relaxes and lies down on the seat. He does get excited and bark a little when he knows we are getting close to our destination but that doesn't bother me. For the most part he is happy to chill

Heh heh. It's interesting to hear everyone's car experiences. We were worried that Elbie's car anxiety would 'infect' Hoover, but Hoover seems very happy to sit/drop/play with a toy in the backseat and doesn't make a sound. We can't fit one let alone two crates in the back seat unfortunately and putting him in the front footwell isn't an option either.

What helped a lot for Elbie has been getting an attachment that gives Elbie a little more 'give' so that he can turn around, look out the window, drop, sit down etc. His favourite thing is to stand in the back seat and look out the front window - that's when he's calmest. We need to somehow desensitise him to the sound of the indicator. The problem is, it's not every single time the indicator comes on - just some parts of town, presumably where the turns are the sharpest. It's a challenge but he is getting better. Thankfully he has never been car sick and on the trip back from Bredbo, he actually dropped and went to sleep for a bit. It was just when we got back into town and the sharp turns were back that he went nuts.

[SpotTheDog]

Bumping this thread for massive update:

On Sunday morning, Gus got into the car of his own free will.

I could barely believe it - he didn't want to walk towards the car, so I didn't make him. We went around somewhat, then up to the back of the car, I opened the rear passenger door...

Normally at this point Gus starts to back up furiously - his collar is tight on him because he tries to wriggle and fight the lead. Then he drops his haunches and tries to skip away from me. Usually I have to pick him up and lift him into the car. I was dreading that on Sunday - we had a puppy playdate last Thursday and the dogs ran into me and I twisted my knee. I had it wrapped all day Friday and Saturday and while it was better I wasn't looking forward to trying to pick the dog up in case I hurt it again.

He just looked up into my face, and hopped up onto the back seat of the car.

I swear I barrelled in there after him and we had a mad praise-athon in the back seat, me wooling him and making high pitched excited noises and he licking me to death.

One breakthrough does not a solution make, I know, but still. STILL.