Dislikes car trips

Krazy4Pets · 03-08-2010, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey

We had trouble too

First I would just take Mikey out to stand by the cars (as he would drag us past them or freak out and shake) -and then his reinforcement for 'cooling off' was cookies and no car ride. We did that several times an evening-randomly.

Then we went and practiced-getting in and out of the car-for treats. Then short car rides.

All the while of course we needed to do some car rides to get to the dog park-none over ten minutes-and always to a fun destination.

What really helped as well was taking him for a car ride with a good doggie friend of his-the friend rode well in cars and loved them and Mikey saw that and relaxed.

Just lots of gradual exposure to the car-especially when your not going for car rides-and give plenty of praise and treats (for good behavior only of course-you don;t want to reinforce bad stuff) and you'll be literally 'on your way'

hehe

Agreed with Mikey on how to desensitize the problem but if your dog has a car sickness, I would recommend "A Motion Sickness - Wellness Oil" by Nature Inventory. One of my Yorkie has a bad car sickness (bad drooling and throwing up in the car). I rub this oil under his chin and it helps calm him down. No more drooling and throwing up!

Mikey · 03-09-2010, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Agreed with Mikey on how to desensitize the problem but if your dog has a car sickness, I would recommend "A Motion Sickness - Wellness Oil" by Nature Inventory. One of my Yorkie has a bad car sickness (bad drooling and throwing up in the car). I rub this oil under his chin and it helps calm him down. No more drooling and throwing up!

Oliwa said Snickers is not drooling in the car so very unlikely Snicker's is car sick

But that's a great tip otherwise-I had to tote a pup to an adoption event and didn't know her to be car sick-needless to say I was next spilling breakfast on the side of the road lol

Krazy4Pets · 03-10-2010, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey

Oliwa said Snickers is not drooling in the car so very unlikely Snicker's is car sick

But that's a great tip otherwise-I had to tote a pup to an adoption event and didn't know her to be car sick-needless to say I was next spilling breakfast on the side of the road lol

ouch!!! that's not fun... but speaking of car sickness, I wondered if a puppy can grow out of it or is it a permanent thing?

espencer · 03-10-2010, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliwa

Snickers does not the idea of getting in the car.

Cesar dealt with that same issue here:

Dog Whisperer | National Geographic Channel

**fawkese1** · 03-11-2010, 12:14 AM

it looks like he is just dragging her into the car... the step idea was good tho...

oliwa · 03-15-2010, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by espencer

Cesar dealt with that same issue here:

Dog Whisperer | National Geographic Channel

I watched about 2 minutes of it and turned it off. I stopped at the point where I heard the "click click" of the choke chain and saw the dog lifted off of the cooler with the leash.

Also, did anyone see how the dog's tail was tucked in between its legs?

Bassets particularly do not respond well to force. They have the tendency to shut down and do not cooperate at all. The end result is you dragging them. I did this with Snickers when I first got her, but only because she had a harness on and I was sure I was not hurting her. She didn't like the ramp in my garage and I had no choice but to slowly drag her while praising whenever she made a step. After 2 or 3 times she would run up the ramp on her own, but she was 12 lbs then. She's 40 lbs now and no harness.

She has a regular collar now and it works both ways...she doesn't pull and I can't pull her. I have to figure out how to coax her to do what I want.

Mikey · 03-22-2010, 12:57 PM

Quote:

watched about 2 minutes of it and turned it off. I stopped at the point where I heard the "click click" of the choke chain and saw the dog lifted off of the cooler with the leash.

Also, did anyone see how the dog's tail was tucked in between its legs?

Bassets particularly do not respond well to force. They have the tendency to shut down and do not cooperate at all. The end result is you dragging them. I did this with Snickers when I first got her, but only because she had a harness on and I was sure I was not hurting her. She didn't like the ramp in my garage and I had no choice but to slowly drag her while praising whenever she made a step. After 2 or 3 times she would run up the ramp on her own, but she was 12 lbs then. She's 40 lbs now and no harness.

She has a regular collar now and it works both ways...she doesn't pull and I can't pull her. I have to figure out how to coax her to do what I want.

Yeah that's not a fun video to watch. If the end goal is just to blindly force the dog into the car and not worry about his mental well being ...*eyeroll*

Your obviously working to have Snickers calm and maybe even enjoy the car.

Have you tried fish or steak? I find those can be convincing heheh

oliwa · 03-23-2010, 11:24 AM

Well I've been seriously slacking with the counter conditioning training. I've been taking her for walks every evening and I seem to quickly run out of time.

This past Saturday I took her to doggie day care and she wasn't as adverse to getting in the car as before. She resisted a little bit, but not a lot.

When I picked her up and brought her out to the car she actually approached the car and put her paws up completely on her own!

I was shocked! I don't know if she saw her soft cushy bed and was really tired or if she doesn't think of the car as evil anymore. Only time will tell I guess.

I still plan to work with her some more and would like to get her jumping in on her own.

Mikey · 03-23-2010, 01:14 PM

Sounds like Snickers is doing great!!

I know how it is to slack on training-and sometimes I get home and forget my well laid plans I made during the day and end up just training something silly or playing 101 things to do

Plus you probably don't want to work on something that's scary every single day anyways-taking a break is probably a great thing for Snickers.