Whippet puppy - car sick

[Wellnowlookhere]

We picked up our whippet pup yesterday and she is lovely. Her breeder said that previously her and her litter mates did not travel well when taken to the vets, and she struggled again yesterday with a 1 hour journey. There was wee, the biggest poo I've ever seen out such a small dog and she vomited. She's fine now she has settled in a bit more at home and she was brilliant overnight, but I'm looking for advice on getting her used to the car. She will be coming to work with me in a couple of weeks which is a 20 minute journey, so I need to get her used to car travel. We were thinking perhaps short trips round the block and then build it up over the fortnight, but any other tips gratefully received.

Stugeron travel sickness tablets from the chemist. Just don’t tell the chemist they’re for your dog!

And yes to building up small, even just sitting in the car for a few minutes without going anywhere initially.

It will help if she can see out. We had one who was a vomiter in the car as a puppy - upchucked within five minutes of leaving the breeder - but who was fine as an adult.

Try different travel methods , we had a whippet cross that was ill if she travelled in the ‘boot ‘ part of a hatchback / estate but was fine sitting on the seat .

According to the trainer who helped us
It depends if it is a physical thing (rare apparently) or a stress thing (very common). If the latter he recommended taking the dog to the car, sitting with it for a few minutes giving treats, then out and off for a walk or something nice. Build it up and then start doing short drives and again something positive afterwards. It worked for us. I guess if it's really persistent you can talk to the vet? I agree about letting them look out. That helped with ours but did mean he was very excited if there were interesting things to look at!

Our pup threw up twice on the way home from the breeder. We trained her over the next couple of weeks by first sitting in the car for a few minutes with the engine off, then with the engine on, then a short drive around the block, and then gradually increased it. She ended up being a good little traveler.