# Anxiety in the car



## Jocelyn (Apr 10, 2020)

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone could give any advice or shed light on our puppy, Louie's, terrible aversion to car rides.
He shakes terribly, pants and drools and almost always throw up. We bought him a seat so he can see out the window but it doesn't seem to help. We have tried to take him out just to get him used to it and with having a happy destination (rather than the vet) but again no difference. 
Not sure if this is common? Any ideas on how to help? He's 7 months now but we've only had him for 6 weeks. He may have had some bad experiences in the car before?


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

Several people on the forum have mentioned having car sick dogs including me. My Mia had horrible car sickness and I tried different things to see what worked best. She does better on an empty stomach laying face forward in the middle of back seat secured by a car harness. She does better on straight vs windy roads. She is now almost 12 so figure she is not out growing it but it has gotten LOTs better. She rarely throws up any more in the car and tolerates straight roads very well. She absolutely cannot be in a crate or freaks out completely which is unfortunate since that is the safer option. Your dog is still very young and may outgrow it. Mia did not like car seats either. It sometimes takes some experimentation to see what works best for your dog. I wish you luck. Very frustrating!!!!


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## Jocelyn (Apr 10, 2020)

Thank you for your insight and advice, mudpuppymama! You made me feel hopeful! We will try him in the middle seat like you suggested too!!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

There are a FEW dogs that stay car sick all their lives, and there are meds that can help in those cases. 

However, in most cases, it is a matter of too little exposure, and not early enough. I suspect that in your guy's case. You've only had him for a few weeks. As Muddpuppy said, experiment with different things, keep working on it with SHORT, FREQUENT trips to FUN places. MOST puppies learn to enjoy being in the car.


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

krandall said:


> There are a FEW dogs that stay car sick all their lives, and there are meds that can help in those cases.
> 
> However, in most cases, it is a matter of too little exposure, and not early enough. I suspect that in your guy's case. You've only had him for a few weeks. As Muddpuppy said, experiment with different things, keep working on it with SHORT, FREQUENT trips to FUN places. MOST puppies learn to enjoy being in the car.


Yes I agree with Karen and one thing I did was continue to take Mia in the car vs. avoiding it altogether which is tempting to do. We have a rural property a couple hours a way and could not really avoid going there. Mia also had great fun once she was there so it was a good destination. I did do some fun short trips as well. I do think the frequency helped a lot.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

We have a Golden-doodle who wasn't well socialized when my daughter got her because the breeder had a serious illness when the litter was born. And, my daughter didn't get Lucy until she was around 5 months old. Lucy is a beautiful dog but is or was extremely shy and fearful. She's now 7 years old.

Lucy use to drool, pant and hide her head something terrible when she rode in a car. But, we have family 8 hours away and a vacation home 14 hours away and there wasn't any option Lucy... had to go. I think my daughter may have given her something the first time or two. 

It took quit a few trips, but Lucy finally settled down and no long drools and pants. We just kept taking her on trips and she finally decided every this was going to be OK. She now willing goes and has even stopped hiding her head. 

My husband and I purchased a Havanese almost 27 months ago. Having this little darling has helped Lucy get over a lot of he shyness and fear.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

Perry is 4 and still gets car sick - I think it's a combination of actual motion sick plus anxiety. We now have a regime that mostly works for us - on the day of a long trip (he can generally go 1/2 hour or so without getting sick), Cerenia a couple of hours before (in which case he needs to eat before the pill). He will still get drooly but we (usually) manage to avoid the vomiting.

or no food, then bonine (motion sick pill) before traveling - this doesn't work as well as the Cerenia though but doesn't need as much time planning. 

My vet recommended putting him on gabapentin for anxiety to see if that works, but it requires a daily pill, so we haven't done that yet. We tried the calming chews for anxiety but those didn't work for us.


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## Jeanniek (Mar 20, 2018)

Zumba was a terrible car rider. She’d get sick, she’d poop, and she’d whine. It was no fun. I put the window down one time, and that did the trick. From that day on, I had the perfect little car rider. Except when I forget to put the window down. Then I get whining till I remember.


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## Tategigot (Aug 13, 2019)

Our pup Tate always had extreme anxiety and nausea. I fist tried driving on very short trips...and increasing the distance, but Tate would start drooling and shaking immediately. Our vet suggested I try empty stomach and dramamine. For short trips dramamine stopped vomiting but not anxiety. We also tried prescription cerenia.
Basically what I discovered is that my pup had generalized anxiety, and any travel meant exposure to scary new things. He had motion sickness too, but the fear anxiety was the major issue.
He know takes prozac every day, and I began the exposure to the car all over again. First we sat in car and ate treats.. After he did this without anxiety we started the car and gave treats..then eventually we took short drives..stopped and had treats and play time...and eventually he learn " ride" meant a good time. We used play dates in the neighborhood, or dog park as rewards also. And lots of snuggling .I believe in our situation treating his underlying issue allowed us to gradually overcome his fear with gradual exposure. Just medication did not work.
When we say "ride or car" now he runs to the door. We have increased the distance to 60 miles. 
It's a lot of work, but possible.


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## gsweenie (Oct 17, 2009)

Jocelyn said:


> Hi everyone,
> I was wondering if anyone could give any advice or shed light on our puppy, Louie's, terrible aversion to car rides.
> He shakes terribly, pants and drools and almost always throw up. We bought him a seat so he can see out the window but it doesn't seem to help. We have tried to take him out just to get him used to it and with having a happy destination (rather than the vet) but again no difference.
> Not sure if this is common? Any ideas on how to help? He's 7 months now but we've only had him for 6 weeks. He may have had some bad experiences in the car before?


Wow, good luck with your baby! 
We live in Costa Rica so our babies, both 12 yr (Hav and Mini Schnauzer) have traveled a good bit by car and plane.
Button would "always" get car sick. He was rescued from a terrible puppy mill at 6 mos and has always been this way. Cerenia (pill) helps but not always because he would still throw it up. He has a booster seat, which helped him be able to see out the window. Even on a plane, he has to sit in my lap and look out the window. He was not much for his own seat but has been fortunate enough to have had one on flights that were not full. 
Our vet here in Costa Rica is about 1 hr away on a very windy road. He could give him a shot of Cerenia for the trip home and he would be fine so now he has now provided me with Cerenia liquid, so I can give him a shot before we leave home. This seems to work better for him.

Give Cerenia try and I hope it helps your baby.

Its a dogs life. This is Button at our home in Costa Rica - enjoying his good life.
Button's mom 
(not sure why his pic loaded sideways - it was not taken that way)


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## pvlahos (Jan 2, 2020)

Our Duke is now 7 months old and has had issues with car rides since we got him at 8 weeks. I don't think it's anxiety because he's super playful in the car, no shaking, and seems his general self. I think the motion just gets him sick. He drools a lot and will throw up if we're in the car for more than 1/2 hour, especially if we're starting and stopping a lot or going on twisty roads. 

What has helped us is taking him out of a travel crate and holding him in the backseat, with his leash on, and the window partly open so he can look outside and get fresh air. We bring a toy to distract him and give him a treat every 10 minutes or so. This is not the safest option and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but it works for our trips to the vet and groomer. He absolutely hated being confined in a crate where he couldn't move around well, and I think this only exacerbated his nausea. But this also means I always need to have someone with me when I take him on car rides so they can hold him in the backseat.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

Button ... Now you're right side up.


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

pvlahos said:


> He drools a lot and will throw up if we're in the car for more than 1/2 hour,


I learned from the Vet that drooling can be caused by many things, but it is definitely a sign of nausea in canines.

Fortunately, we don't have this problem with Ricky. But when we are on twisty mountain roads he becomes very quiet and gets that "green" look in his face, but never drooling or vomiting. We find that rolling down the window a bit definitely perks him up. We don't put him in a crate in the car, he sits in the back seat with his chest harness hooked into the seatbelt.

Ricky's Popi


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

pvlahos said:


> Our Duke is now 7 months old and has had issues with car rides since we got him at 8 weeks. I don't think it's anxiety because he's super playful in the car, no shaking, and seems his general self. I think the motion just gets him sick. He drools a lot and will throw up if we're in the car for more than 1/2 hour, especially if we're starting and stopping a lot or going on twisty roads.
> 
> What has helped us is taking him out of a travel crate and holding him in the backseat, with his leash on, and the window partly open so he can look outside and get fresh air. We bring a toy to distract him and give him a treat every 10 minutes or so. This is not the safest option and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but it works for our trips to the vet and groomer. He absolutely hated being confined in a crate where he couldn't move around well, and I think this only exacerbated his nausea. But this also means I always need to have someone with me when I take him on car rides so they can hold him in the backseat.


This is the setup that works for Mia, however I have her attached to my seatbelt so she is restrained somewhat although I know it is not the safest option. I think she hates being in a crate in the car because she threw up all over herself so many times while in it. My husband drives and I sit in the back with the dogs... Once we move to our new house in the country, we will not be driving that much with her. Most of our driving is going back and forth from there. Also wanted to add that when Mia was a puppy I used a mobile vet and mobile groomer to eliminate all stressful destinations. I think this helped.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

*travel*



gsweenie said:


> Wow, good luck with your baby!
> We live in Costa Rica so our babies, both 12 yr (Hav and Mini Schnauzer) have traveled a good bit by car and plane.
> Button would "always" get car sick. He was rescued from a terrible puppy mill at 6 mos and has always been this way. Cerenia (pill) helps but not always because he would still throw it up. He has a booster seat, which helped him be able to see out the window. Even on a plane, he has to sit in my lap and look out the window. He was not much for his own seat but has been fortunate enough to have had one on flights that were not full.
> Our vet here in Costa Rica is about 1 hr away on a very windy road. He could give him a shot of Cerenia for the trip home and he would be fine so now he has now provided me with Cerenia liquid, so I can give him a shot before we leave home. This seems to work better for him.
> ...


It's funny because Perry is perfectly fine on the plane (and we generally spend an average of 17+ hours on planes each trip) - though he has sometimes gotten a little "green around the gills" during layovers especially if we have to walk a long way between flights (I think all of that bouncing on my hip is what does it  ). But he does still gets car sick. Cerenia mostly works for us (he does get drooly but doesn't vomit most of the time) - luckily he's not thrown the pill up (he does get it an hour or two before we travel so I think he's not anxious at that point yet) - but he has thrown up the bonine when we have tried that.

I have two soft carriers for him - his sherpa bag is for the car (as it's not lined so easier to clean) and his lined bag is for the plane. They're the same size when they're in "normal" mode - so the only difference I think is that he has gotten sick in his sherpa so often that he associates it with car travel/ getting sick.

I haven't tried a car harness yet (mostly because he's in taxis and rental cars when we're on the road and I don't want to deal with "maybe he'll vomit and maybe he won't" in a rental). I've tohught about getting a car seat but same issue, not totally useful for us at the moment.


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## Tux's Mom (May 24, 2016)

Even though our vet frowns on riding with window down, that is the thing that worked for us. It took a couple of years and a visit from my son, to insist Tux be able to look out an open window. That did it! He loved it. 
If the window is down, he is fine. If we are headed for home, and window is up, the trembling goes away. 
We went for coffee every day and Tux loved going for rides there. No trembling. Then the Wuhan virus hit and we went nowhere for two months. Even with a drive-thru, it just wasn't the same as Tux being able to visit his girlfriends who made the coffee and gave him a treat every day. We had our first trip the coffee shop a few days ago where we could sit outside and visit. Things are almost back to normal now. Tux is always eager to go. It just can't be in the direction of the vet.


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