Will pup (now 13mos) ever stop being car sick?

[notimefortv]

Puppy Bichon Poo hates the car! Is really quite stressful to take her anywhere(and we get in the car most days to drive to field for walk). I had hoped she would just hop in enthusiatically like her brother does (my friend owns him) and get excited about where we are going. Instead she stands up salivating for a lot of the journey and after about 10 mins is sick.

She's mainly on passeneger floor but have sat her several times on passenger seat where if I'm lucky she'll be sick on her blanket and not all over the handbreak (gross).

I was hoping she would have grown out of this by now - she really resists getting into the car - poor girl.

She is ill at the mo so loads of journeys to the vets which are horrible as I know she is gonna be sick each time.

Any suggestions? The boot is not a good place as I have 3 kids young so is full of buggies n stuff.

Want to take her camping with us soon too - which then I guess I can use some sickness tablets but it't the shorter journeys that are hard.

Have you tried a very gradual approach with her? Will need you not to go on proper journeys for a little while - ie walk her on the local streets for a couple of weeks if necessary instead of driving to the park. Start with just putting her in the car for a minute or so and then going back indoors, don't start the engine. If you notice she is anxious you need to repeat once or twice a day until she is more settled with it. Once she is comfortable with that then get in and start the engine, don't move the car, just let her get used to the noise a little at a time, and then back into the house again. Next stage drive the car up the street and back again, but not too far. Extend this further as she gets more settled with it all.

She needs to be finishing each stage on a positive so that she does not associate the car with negatives. Right now it sounds like she gets in and will be sick pretty much any time. For her it is probably imprinted in her mind now that car = sick. She may not have any control at all over it due to the anxiety she has by knowing this. The aim is to prove to her the car is actually a good thing. However, having said that some dogs just get car sick and will need to have medication at times for longer journeys. Ask your vet about Cerenia tablets for travel sickness.

I read once that many puppies associate their first car journey with being taken from their mothers and siblings, so the sickness is a fear reaction which takes them a while to grow out of. Apparently it helps if you make sure that the initial car journeys they go on result in lovely endings, ie, a fun walk or visit.

I had the same problem with my now 3yo dog until he was about 9 months old, although never actively worked to stop if you see what I mean, he just seemed to grow out of it (although it could have been because car journeys usually involved lovely walks on the beach at the end or visiting my dad where he'd be spoilt rotten). It was around the same time as I got my second puppy actually - maybe he thought it was time to set a good example?

Other than this, I have heard that it can help them to be able to see out of the window, because the static view of the car interior can aggravate an already queasy feeling due to the focus on the - probably strange, to a dog - movement. Perhaps give him a booster seat if he is too little to see out?!

We have a Maltese (who are similar to Bichon) and she used to be sick every car journey. As was her brother who lives in the village.

Our dog is now very rarely sick, and her brother is sick even on very short journeys.

I tried to make her as comfortable as possible, did short journeys to begin with but the breakthrough came when we started doing longer journeys as she eventually learned to relax and tolerate the journey. She is still not keen on the car, but it is preferable to being left alone at home so she copes with it.