# Scared to be in car...all of the sudden



## Lively (Jun 9, 2007)

Lucy is about 11 months old. She has ALWAYS ridden in our cars with us without any visible signs of fear except for at night. We noticed after dark she will pant and we attribute it to the lights shining in and out of the car. We do our best to avoid her riding at night so this isn't to big of an issue.

All of the sudden this week she has started to shake and pant during the day while riding in the car. It isn't constant throughout the whole ride, it usually starts with shaking after about 10-15 minutes and leads to panting. 

She still shows lots of enthusiam when we say our usual phrase "want to go truckin" before we take off on a short trip into town. So I think we are in the very beginning phase of a fear she is building. Lucy rides in the car almost daily. She is a regular at doggie daycare, 2-3 times a week, the other days when my BF works from home if he runs into town she goes along with him. It is easy to say she rides in the car at least 5 days a week on some short trip.

Does anybody have any advice to rid her of any fear she may have taken on with riding in the car? I told my BF to not pet her or show any affection so she doesn't get the idea that her reaction is acceptable. We LOVE to take her on rides with us and I really want to get this controlled before it gets out of hand.


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## CinnCinn (Mar 30, 2007)

Couple questions ~ Does she ride in a car seat, or booster seat? Does she like to be up so she can see out window, or does she curl up and go to sleep?


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## Lynn (Jan 2, 2007)

I have a question for you...is Lucy spayed?? 
I ask this because my Missy started doing something very simular when I took her to work this month. She has been going to work with me for over a year with no problems. But when she was getting upset this time it was during her heat cycle.


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## Lively (Jun 9, 2007)

I know this is bad but we let Lucy ride on our laps. She usually takes a nap but sometimes stands up and stairs out the window. I bought a booster seat for her just last week that I'm going install today and see if she likes that better.

Lucy is spayed, we did that at 6 months. It was a requirement at her doggie daycare.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Bella does the same thing. She has always done it. I feel so bad for her. She doesn't shake & pant much when we go for local drives, but as soon as I hit the highway and higher speeds, she starts to panic. If I hit a bump or rough road surface, it sends her into a complete attack. She will jump into Scudder's car seat and ride on top of his back. I think the security of him helps her. I am very happy Scudder is so passive and allows her to do this. We just went to the beach last weekend and she was on his back for almost 2 hours! It's been 4 years and I still haven't found a cure


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Nicole, somehow Lucy probably had a bad experience in the car. Something upset her or she just felt a little ill on a previous trip. And now she might be associating that past experience when she goes out in the car now. Try a little classical conditioning to once again make it a pleasant experience. Keep trips short with pleasant things happening upon arrival to your destination. Perhaps the bright lights at night bothered her and now she thinks that might happen again. If you have to travel at night with her ,keep her where the lights don't bother her so much. But the main thing is to make these trips very appealing with big rewards at the end.


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## CinnCinn (Mar 30, 2007)

No, you're not bad. I'm guilty of the same on occassion. Hopefully Lucy will like the security of being buckled in to her seat and that will relieve some of her stress. OR, Linda gives great advice, get another Hav for support. Go Brother Scudder!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Nicole , here is a good article by another Nicole, Nicole Wilde, that explains what to do when her fear is happening. It is sort of like what you do with children when something happens that is freightening. 
Responding to Fear
September 30th, 2008 by Nicole Wilde 
There is an old misconception about canine fear issues that responding to a dog's fear by interacting with the dog in any way will "reinforce" or "reward" that fear, and possibly make the dog even more afraid.

Let's look at a human example of a potentially frightening experience. A child falls down and skins his knee. His mother becomes visibly distressed and makes a fuss, nervously examining the child while repeating in a high-pitched, worried voice, "Are you okay? Are you alright?" The child, taking his signals from his mother, realizes there is something wrong, and bursts out crying. Now imagine instead that the mother calmly examines the scraped knee, ruffles the child's hair and says, "It's fine, kiddo, nothing to worry about. Go play." In the second scenario, the child is apt to have a much calmer response.

While dogs and children are never a perfect comparison, the aforementioned example translates quite well to dogdom. Dogs look to us as a safe harbor, a trusted friend, a leader. If a potential fear-provoking stimulus appears, yet we do not appear concerned, there is much less of a chance that the dog will react fearfully. Of course, our "appearing concerned" or not involves not only our physical actions, but what we say, how we say it, our body language, and even our respiration rate. The calmer we are, the calmer our dogs will be.

If your dog were to react to something in a fearful manner, and you did an approximation of what the flustered, nervous mother in the first example did, you'd probably cause your dog's arousal levels to escalate. But should you ignore your dog completely? Probably not. There is a vast difference between scaring your dog further through your own nervous behavior, and being calmly reassuring. Some owners of small dogs attempt to reassure their dogs by picking them up and stroking them rapidly while telling them in a nervous voice that it's okay. This is not calming to the dog. When I taught puppy classes, there were usually one or two fearful pups in each class. The pups would paw furiously at their owner's legs, wanting to be picked up and reassured. Once the owners learned to let the dogs stand on their own four paws, they blossomed into confident dogs.

This is not to say that dogs shouldn't be picked up if a real danger is present, or if the dog is in distress and the reassurance is administered calmly. Calm reassurance can involve speaking to your dog in a soothing tone of voice. Long vowel sounds are helpful, as is an even, low-key monotone. "Goooood boy," is effective, as opposed to a high-pitched, excited, "Don't worry, it's okay! Really, it's fine!" Petting is fine, too. Slow, long, even strokes can help, especially when sent with the intention of calming. Taking slow, even breaths while doing this will help you to calm your dog, and yourself as well. Anecdotal evidence describes many dogs doing better during thunderstorms, for example, when reassured in this manner than when ignored.

If your dog is ever truly in danger, of course you should remove him from the situation as calmly and quickly as possible. But when fear strikes and no real danger is present, be a calm example for your dog, and encourage him to respond calmly as well.

My book "Help for Your Fearful Dog" (www.phantompub.com) explores specific ways to react to fear-inducing situations and techniques for helping your dog to overcome his fears.


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## Lively (Jun 9, 2007)

Great advise! To get started I think I will take her on some short trips around the block this weekend and rewared her when we get home. 

I appreciate the article. I knew that I didn't want to praise her behavior but I wanted to reassure her in some way. I wasn't sure exactly how to do that but the article does a great job describing how to sooth her without rewarding her behavior. It such a fine line and I want to make sure I don't confuse her.

I knew I would get the advice I needed. I love this forum!


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