dog TERRIFIED of the car

falabo

I've got two Cocker Spaniels, Roux who is 13 months old and Maxi who is 12 months old. Both dogs were fully socialised as young pups and are fantastic with visitors, children and other dogs. Both dogs are also very playful, very obedient and full of personality. The only issue we currently have is that one of them is terrified of the car.

Roux is super confident going places and loves to travel by car. We have an estate car and Roux likes to sit up and watch the world zoom by. Maxi on the other hand, cowers on the floor and shoves her face into the corner of the trunk. When she was very young, she threw up on a couple of occasions but this never happens anymore. Only on one occasion has Maxi ever moved around the trunk while we were travelling and that was when my partner was sitting in the back seat with the ski-flap open. Maxi crawled through the flap into her Daddy's arms - where she continued to tremble.

My partner and I find it quite upsetting that the car induces such anxiety and shaking with Maxi, especially when her 'sister', Roux, is so completely at ease to the extent where she sits and watches the traffic and landscapes go by. When we mention the words 'go' or 'car' (even in conversation) Maxi now runs to her bed, crate or the safety of a bed she can hide beneath. If we get her outside without drama, she freezes and clings to the pavement, refusing to move or tries to back out of her collar/harness. Recently at my sister's house, she saw the car through a large window and immediately retreated to shiver in her crate.

This fear and refusal to cooperate when we need to leave means we have to pick Maxi up and carry her to the car. At one point last summer, Maxi appeared to relax a little with the car, but following a long drive on a holiday last summer, she is worse than ever. Her personality seems to change completely when she is put in the car and all of the 'joy' disappears from her completely. Treats and toys do not entice her. No amount of comforting seems to help either. She just licks her lips and cowers in a corner, usually shoving her face deep into the corner of the trunk.

Something that might be of interest is that when I picked up Roux (2 months before we got Maxi) I placed her in the passenger cabin of a different car inside a cardboard box on the front seat as advised by that breeder. However, when my partner collected Maxi from the breeder, he placed her in the trunk of the estate car. Although the trunk was well padded and comfortable - she was not inside a box or crate.

I should probably also mention that we do not take the dogs places by car all of the time, and definitely not on a daily basis. As we live in a picturesque little Irish town with a choice of nice walks, we only take the dogs places by car when we want to go somewhere new for a walk like a forest or beach. We also use the car to take them to the dog-sitter or if we're travelling any distance to stay with friends or relatives for a weekend for example. Our dogs travel by car probably twice a week at most.

Would anyone have any idea where Maxi's anxiety is stemming from? Are we doing something fundamentally wrong? Is there anything we can do to alleviate Maxi's fear of the car or help her to become confident and happy with travelling by car?

Any advise here would be greatly appreciated,

Whispered

Fabalo, I could have written most of that post myself. It's so distressing to see your pet so upset isn't it. And then you wonder where you went wrong.

Harleys first trip in a car without his siblings was a trip to the vet when he was at deaths door. We always thought that this may have a lot to do with his anxiety surrounding the car. A stressed out driver, rushing to get somewhere while you're fading from consciousness is not a very good taster! He also used to get car sick, so this likely only compounded the car=bad association.

For us this turned into a lead anxiety too and a fear of walking along a busy road, so like your Maxi, he would run and cower if he even saw us put on our coat in case we were bringing him in the car. We worked on this first, and we didn't bring him in the car for a good 4 months I'd say, unless totally unavoidable. We stopped correcting pulling and made sure every walk had some off lead ball or swimming time. Bringing another dog along who loves walking helped hugely too. So now he gets excited at the idea of going on the lead, a huge step forward for us.

We've been trying to incorporate this type of approach into going in the car as well. We've been bringing him up to our local kennels, which is only a 5 min drive away and somewhere he loves to go. We go up the mountains at least once a week.

We've tried to feed him in the car, on advice, I didn't feed him all day, then brought him out to the car, all doors open, we sat in the grass and I put his bowl onto the floor of the car, where he could reach from outside the car if you know what I mean. That worked, he stretched in and ate it, so I pulled it back a tiny bit and he stretched a bit more. But he wouldn't go far enough to put his paws into the car.

My little sister has always been a source of excitement for him, so she played a game of chasing in and around the car with him. After an hour he was bounding in and out, relaxing on the chair with her etc. As soon as he saw us, he turned back into a wreck.

We are making a bit of headway, now, when we get to where we are going he'll pop up to have a look out the window, or if we stop to speak to someone he will poke his head up for a look. He no longer has to be carried or dragged to the car, he doesn't like it, but he gets in. The shaking isn't quite as bad as it was. And on our way back from a long day out he seems to not shake at all. Beyond that, I'm not sure where to go from here. I will read this thread with interest to see if you get any more tips that I could try as well

Best of luck.

seamus

Hard to say specifically why the dog is afraid of the car, but I would suspect that when she was brought home, she just remembers being thrown into a dark space, lots of noise and then being bounced around the place (even taking a corner would be unnerving in the dark).

Treats are the only thing that have worked for me in a similar scenario. My dog hates heights, so when we initially wanted to get her out on the balcony, we'd carry her out and she would almost collapse with the fear, scrabbling as hard as she could to get back inside.

So we used treats to get her out. Initially it was one or two paws onto the balcony, treat and a cuddle, then she'd run back in. Eventually we built it up to standing on the balcony (all 3 paws!), and then progressed it to walking out across it, couple of treats and a cuddle. Now when we open the balcony door, she loves bounding out to watch over everything and lie in the sun.

It's all about creating a positive association with the car. I would suggest that at first it's just a matter of having you with the car door open, engine off, sitting on the passenger seat and giving the dog treats while she stands near the car. Make sure she comes to the treat, don't bring her to the treat.

Then build it up to having her retrieve a treat from the passenger footwell (two paws inside the car), then jumping up onto the rear seat to retrieve it and so on.

This can take a few "sessions". I wouldn't try push her too far at any one stage. Consider a session to be finished, when the dog has voluntarily done something which she would previously have been afraid to do.

Once you can get to a stage where the dog will sit beside you in the car, eating treats from your hand and not being completely terrified, then try closing the doors. From there, move onto starting the engine. And from there onto actually moving the car.

Getting her into the boot would be very late on, I would say. Again, you'd need to get her happy to sit in the boot with the engine off, and progress it from there.

The treats need to be of very high value. Meat, in other words. And do it when the dog is due to be fed, so she's hungry.

As Whispered points out, it also helps a lot if the reward at the end of one journey is a place that the dog loves.

Treats and toys don't help when the dog is completely terrified, hence why it must be baby steps. Comforting doesn't work and should be avoided. The theory is that dogs don't understand comforting and only see themselves being rewarded with cuddles for being terrified, and so have no reason to be less afraid.

Whispered

seamus wrote: »

This can take a few "sessions". I wouldn't try push her too far at any one stage. Consider a session to be finished, when the dog has voluntarily done something which she would previously have been afraid to do.

Once you can get to a stage where the dog will sit beside you in the car, eating treats from your hand and not being completely terrified, then try closing the doors. From there, move onto starting the engine. And from there onto actually moving the car.

This is the hardest bit for us. (And most people I'd imagine) because you can spend a month building up trust around the car, then one day you have no choice but to bring the dog somewhere. It completely ruins everything you've built up.

ISDW

Do you use a crate in the boot? You say that she's used to the crate in the house, so I wonder how she'd manage with going into the crate in the boot of the car? If its a place that she feels safe, it may help her to adapt to the car.

pdmc

Just my tuppence worth to clarify...

When Maxi was picked up she was in the boot of an estate car with the luggage cover in the open position, so she had plenty of light and space and wasn't shut away in the dark. However, I do agree that the motion of the vehicle on a journey from Carlow to Trim might've all been a little bit too much for her as a first car journey.

It's my theory that the fact that she could see the car and interior of the car when she was first separated from her mother might be a part of the problem. I can't help but feel that Roux has no memory of the car when she was taken from Cavan to Trim, because she was in a closed cardboard box.

P

tk123

The way I got my guy used to the car was to get somebody else to drive and I'd sit with him and comfort him. We took LOADS of short trips to fun places eg taking him to the pet shop to buy a biscuit, drive 2 mins around the corner to go to the park, the beach, daycare. We went from me sitting with him, to me driving and him belted into the front seat, then he grew and and was blocking the mirror :pac: so he moved into the back seat - again some crying but we stuck to it and he got used to it. Now he has his own "compartment" in the boot of the jeep and he loves it. The second I pick up my keys he runs to the front door. If I take my keys and open the back of the car he gets ready for his journey by going to the loo in the garden before we set off lol :pac:

paulgalway

With our fox terrier X, we followed something like this. We still had a problem with her getting sick the 1st few times, but not now.

Make sure the 1st few trips are short and be careful of going too fast over ramps, potholes etc, also, go easy on the cornering.

Now, we just open the car door and in she jumps, and sits down on the back seat. Sometimes, especially if the windows are open, she will stand on her back legs and looks out at the world.

are you serious

Hi Falabo I have just gotten my 7month old rottie over this problem. I know each dog is different but as was previously said and it is what i done play with your dog lots around your car.. not as easy as it sounds I know my fella just wanted to run away from it!

He at first loved the car then one day he just decided the car was a bad place and wanted to get away from it as quick as possible!

So here's what I done... Every time I walked him on our normal walk I took
Buddy to the end of our local park where there is a car park the only way to get to the park was to walk past at least 5 or 6 cars. I took him purposely that way to realise cars were a "good" thing as he would then get into the park to play! After every walk we went out the opposite end of the park and past the shop again with cars so we would weave through a row or two of cars again, of course with lots of praise. Then we would get home and we would walk a couple of laps of our car, lots and lots of praise and a nice few treats helped I'm sure!

Now he's not 100% over his fear of the car but I have him pulling slightly away right up until I open the back door of the car and he jumps straight in! I think he has associated new places to walk with the car now!!

Hope this helps

falabo

thanks garkane

I started driving to her favourite spot which is only 5 minutes from my house, where she is let off the lead. when we drove down yesterday for the first time she was just the usual but when she realised were we were she nearly had a fit from happiness

I will do this again this evening and everyday until she associates the car with "going somewhere fun"

after running like mad she didnt even mind too much going back in the car. looks like this will be a success but will take time