Stressed Out When Travelling In Car

[luvsablue]

A friend of mine has a super young malinois, with high drive and great focus.

Her education is progressing well, but there is a glitch which has just happened.

She is totally stressed while travelling in the car. It is not motion sickness, but

a kind of stress. Last weekend they went from Melbourne to Adelaide, and the

dog stood up the whole way and panted non stop. But when the car was not

moving along she was quite relaxed. So the poor little dog was exhausted.

So I wanted to ask if anyone has experienced a similar problem, and what ideas/

suggestions they might have.

Thanks in advance,

luvsablue

[Diva]

When I had a dog like that I taught her to travel in the passenger foot well, when she couldn't see out she relaxed and eventually she outgrew the reaction anyway.

These days when they are expected to be better secured in vehicles a crate with a limited visual field might help.

[luvsablue]

When I had a dog like that I taught her to travel in the passenger foot well, when she couldn't see out she relaxed and eventually she outgrew the reaction anyway.

These days when they are expected to be better secured in vehicles a crate with a limited visual field might help.

Thanks for your response Diva.

Yes she's in a crate with limited visual field. But they tried covering the crate so she couldn't see out: she still stood up and panted for that trip too.

Your remark about her outgrowing the reaction is what the dog's owner is hoping will happen. The dog is about 14 months old.

luvsablue

[aussielover]

A friend of mine has a super young malinois, with high drive and great focus.

Her education is progressing well, but there is a glitch which has just happened.

She is totally stressed while travelling in the car. It is not motion sickness, but

a kind of stress. Last weekend they went from Melbourne to Adelaide, and the

dog stood up the whole way and panted non stop. But when the car was not

moving along she was quite relaxed. So the poor little dog was exhausted.

So I wanted to ask if anyone has experienced a similar problem, and what ideas/

suggestions they might have.

Thanks in advance,

luvsablue

Yes, my labrador puppy had the exact same thing, to the extent where she would crap herself from the stress.

My suggestion would be the same as Diva- travel in the footwell of the car.

It worked wonders with my girl, who was previously travelling in a crate also.

She can now travel in any part of the car very happily- including the previously hated crate

I would also recommend doing lots of work while the car is on, but still stationary and gradually build up from there.

You may also like to consider a sedative if she has severe anxiety.

I've also heard ginger is good for travel sickness.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I think it's useful to work out if she is feeling ill from motion sickness combined with the confined air of the car, or if she has a nervous reaction to the motion of the car.

I know if it's been going on a while it can be hard to separate as dogs tend to make associations. However, where it's motion sickness I've had some success with ginger tablets given half an hour before, and ensuring that there is a source of fresh air. If i can't do that (ie, travelling at 110ks), i make sure that I don't have the car heavily heated or on recirculated air. It seems to help my unhappy traveller.

Edit: The model of car and the "ride" can have a big difference. Our car unhappy dog does much better in our old Ford, which is a big boat of a thing and automatic. The ride is smooth and the car is large and airy. Our small manual Euro hatchback tho', our car unhappy dog dislikes it a lot and the other dogs don't seem as comfortable in it as the Ford. This puzzled me for a while until I rode in the backseat of the hatchback one day as we had a guest with us. Horrible ride, all the gear changes you can really feel in the back and it's jerky and much more hermetically sealed than the old Ford. I can see now why my car unhappy dog hates it. If you were hungover and being driven in the back of that thing you'd puke for sure!

Edited September 21, 2010 by SkySoaringMagpie

[Staff'n'Toller]

Might be worth trying DAP spray as well.

[corvus]

Or a bit of TTouch might help. It did for our pup. He had been car sick a few times, but our old girl had also taken exception to him sharing the back seat with her and had let him know a few times. He was quite anxious in general about the car and that just seemed to make it worse. We set him up with a soft bed with sides and settled him into it with some massage. We did that for a few minutes before every trip and the problem evaporated. It was a pretty easy fix for him in the end, but he's an easy dog to calm. No idea if it would help any other dogs.

[Nekhbet]

it's excitement. My Malinois was the same except the whining that went with it O_o

what happens if you offer the dog a toy or something in the crate. Start with just having the car on and short trips, I find if my Mal could redirect her stress onto a toy she would lie down and just play with it instead of acting like a loony. I would cover the crate by maybe put a fan in, fresh air can help settle them as well

[Aidan3]

it's excitement. My Malinois was the same except the whining that went with it O_o

It's certainly excitement for my GSD. If I'm planning a long trip I'll stop somewhere early into the journey, take a quick walk or play some tug, then pop her back in her crate. I guess she thinks we've had our fun, because she settles immediately after that.

[Nekhbet]

you can try that if you just want to arc up a working Mal more Aiden I tried that theory, she just played a little then OMG WHY ARE WE STOPPING MUM MUM MUM TOY MUM TOY TOY TOY TOY WHERE IS IT

conversely I sacrificed my car interior to her. It shut her up for a few trips at least

[luvsablue]

Thanks everyone, especially the bit about TTouch and the toy in the crate. The dog's owner is sure it is not

motion sickness, but excitement. She is certainly a full on working Mal. She was told that Mals start certain

behaviours and sometimes simply grow out of them. Has anyone experience of this?

Prior to this dog she had GSDs; she's noticed a lot of differences!!

luvsablue

[Nekhbet]

they can if you dont perpetuate them. The best thing is to put the dog in the crate, cover most of it, insert average toy/bone into crate and ignore the dog. My bitch still gets excited if loose in the back but if tethered she's fine. Almost 7 years of working Malinois, trust me the 'growing out' bit takes a while :rolleyes:

they are not GSDs, they dont behave like them either so take any ideas you have with shepherds and throw most of them out of the window Malis are a special bunch of dogs. You need to have patience, they want to learn but if you're too slow they'll just do their own thing. Just like their physical speed their mental speed is incredible. I havnt seen many working Mals that will just fall asleep as soon as they hit the car. Most know SOMETHING is going on and they HAVE TO KNOW EVERYTHING NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

my maligator in her formal wear