My dog hates the car

[TheBabyEater]

I have two dogs, one absolutely loves car rides and is very well trained in them. We never even need to strap her in, she can sit in the front seat, and I have a convertible. Perhaps she's so well because she can't see much past the window to chase or anything, but still. My other dog, not so much. I've tried everything it seems, and he's five years old now. I've never had a dog before that didn't love the car so this is still new for me.

Most recently, we tried getting him a harness that hooked up to the seatbelt, but he somehow slips out of that, despite how tight or untight we make it. Before that, we tried just keeping him in the back seat, but he always wanders around and insists on trying to crawl up to the front. SO, we tried just letting him be up front closer to myself, but he still tries to get in my lap while I drive and he never settles down. He won't just sit, and this makes me nervous because every time I need to stop or turn, he falls all over the place because he's so shaky. We've tried giving him treats, but he's never been very interested in food like our Boxers and Lab has been. We've tried toys, but he's much more of a cuddler than a player. We've tried bringing along his blanket from his bed to help him relax, but it always gets knocked to the floor anyway.

I understand that a lot of the time the only reason dogs hate the car is because it always ends in a trip to the vet. But this isn't true for us, the vet is a rare occurrence compared to all the other car rides they get. I work at a dog kennel with daycare, so sometimes I like to take them with me and let them play with others. They've been on long car rides, and short ones just down the street to go to the park. I would love to take him more places with me, like when I need to go to petsmart or other pet friendly places, but he's so horrible in the car a lot of the time I just need to leave him at home, and take the other dog.

Any tips I'm missing? I know I ramble, but I just feel like I've tried everything and not even time and loving care is working. I mean, he LOVES to go with us, he just HATES the carride there.

[Audacious]

The only thing I can suggest is to keep taking him with you. We have a 5 month old puppy who was TERRIFIED of the car, and would never jump in and we always had to pick him up (which is getting harder as he's getting bigger!), but we had to be very consistent. Even if we were just going on a quick trip to and from the grocery store, we would bring him with us and put him in the car. (when we went into the store, the car was on, AC running, door locked etc. we have a punch pad on the door to unlock the doors to get back in, so no harm was done to the dog). We found that after a while, instead of seeing him stressed and waiting at the windows when we came out 10 mins later, he was just sleeping on the back seat. Now, reluctant as he is, he jumps into the car by himself and finds a place to lay down. He enjoys it more when we roll the window down, but someone has to hold his leash when we do that because after a while he decides it would be fun to try and jump out of the car...not fun.

Consistency is everything. How big is your dog? If your dog is little, putting him in a crate while in the car might help him understand that he needs to lay down. But if he is bigger that might not be helpful. Try having somebody else ride in the car with you, in the back seat, and hold the dog close to you. Koda (my puppy) finds lots of comfort in the car when somebody is holding him because the movements make him sick. comforting him and telling him it's okay might help. Lay a blanket out on the other seat and after holding him for a while, put him on the blanket and encourage him to lay down, and LOTS of praise if he does. Again you need another person for this.

Good luck Gir.

[Leah.sings24]

My dog LOVES the car. He walks all over everyone... It's actually pretty funny cause he leaves little nose prints all over the windows<3 anyways, I think maybe you could try holding the dog?