getting puppy used to crate in car

[ValedictoryMessage]

We've had puppy in a harness attached to seat belt in car but she's methodically chewing through it and the seat belt.

So how best to settle her in a crate. Was thinking of two of us, one to drive and one to feed treats. She is a bit whingy in the car and really just wants to sit on your lap. Isn't going to work when there's just one of us taking her somewhere though.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

If you feed a nervous dog treats, you can be inadvertently rewarding it for being nervous. (Feeding my noise-averse terrier treats during fireworks did not help at all...)

In your shoes, I'd pop the puppy in the crate with a toy, drive a very short distance - literally about 2 mins - to somewhere, anywhere, exciting (the park, a playing field) or where you can do something exciting with her (play tug, lark about), and then drive home again and repeat the performance at home. That way the car becomes a prelude to something fun, but you are not rewarding the actual whining and/or anxiety. This is pretty much what I did with my current young dog, who was toughed up in the crate by the older dog (not bitten or anything, just told to stay the fuck away from HIS two-thirds): the car => walkies. She loves the car now, can't wait to get in.

You can also feed her in the car, so again the association is with something positive, this time before she even thinks about being bothered.

[Snufflesdog]

Dpup was very whingy in the car, and chewy.
It was unbearable at first and we couldn’t imagine it ever getting better.

We taught response to name and settle

One of us would drive around and the other would feed treats whenever dpup settled

Or do response to name training if dpup needed to be distracted from crying/chewing.

Now ddog immediately lies down and goes to sleep every time we get in the car, completely relaxed.

This is with a harness and seatbelt not a crate but I imagine it will work the same. I’d be tempted to ‘crate train’ in the car first though if you want a crate in there