Dog/Car Anxiety Woes - Help?

Alix and Meryl · Jun 3, 2014

My Frenchie girl is 1 year old, adopted two months ago, otherwise healthy but TERRIBLY afraid of the car. She becomes totally panicked and unresponsive to touching, my voice, her favorite treats, etc. i even drive slow with no music on. I read all these suggestions about "gradual disensitizing" but have had no success. Anyone have experience with this?

2bullymama · Jun 4, 2014

Hi , my English Bulldog, Banks is 9 yrs old and we have had the smae issue with her since she was about 1 yrs old. She just has never liked it and never had a bad experience... crazy as it is, there are some dogs that HATE the movement of the car. We actually have to give Banks Xanax or a sedative for long rides.

Cbrugs · Jun 4, 2014

Jax gets anxiety in the car as well and he is 1 year old. His first couple of car rides when we got him were fine and then he started getting car sick and now he just gets anxiety and will drool like crazy while in the car. He still throws up every now and then. He will usually calm down a bit if he is able to stick his head out of the window.

davidh · Jun 5, 2014

Hazel doesn't like the car much either. One thing you can try to do is get by the car and give a treat and stay by the car for a little while until she calms down and then give another treat. Once that goes well try just putting her in the car with it not running and do the treat thing and plenty of praise and just sit there with her until she calms down and just keep doing this. Once she gets used to that, put her in and start it up, and just sit there. Then if that goes well go for a very short ride and praise her the whole time. It will take a while to do this so be patient.

Alix and Meryl · Jun 6, 2014

davidh said:
Hazel doesn't like the car much either. One thing you can try to do is get by the car and give a treat and stay by the car for a little while until she calms down and then give another treat. Once that goes well try just putting her in the car with it not running and do the treat thing and plenty of praise and just sit there with her until she calms down and just keep doing this. Once she gets used to that, put her in and start it up, and just sit there. Then if that goes well go for a very short ride and praise her the whole time. It will take a while to do this so be patient.

I have actually tried that many times. She refuses even the most coveted treats when she goes near the car. It's like she's having a Vietnam flashback and doesn't pay attention to me. She spits them out or doesn't even open her mouth to receive them. The other day we sat in the car for 30 minutes in my driveway without even going anywhere and she was shaking so terribly... I don't get mad AT her, but I get mad that she can't enjoy some of the activities I want to do with her (dog park etc) because she is STILL like that (or generally off) for an hour after getting out of the car. She did actually have .25mg of Xanax for a 20 min car ride and it didn't affect her at all... Anyone have any success with the thunder shirts?

lkclark · Jun 6, 2014

Maybe a nice cozy booster seat/bed would help.

Jakeyjake · Jun 6, 2014

Our Jake is 16 mos old and ever since we got him at 9 weeks old he has had issues with the car. He would get very nervous, drool and sometimes vomit. We started making sure he didn't have a meal before we took him the car, which helped. He has gotten better and it helps if we have my daughter's dog in the car with him. She's very calm about car rides and enjoys them. (She doesn't live with us but visits). Our little Stella (7mos old) gets very nervous and sits very close to Jake which helps. Jake now enjoys putting his head out the window with his lips flapping...we get a lot of smiles from people. So he has gotten better over time. I wouldn't give up and just continue to be patient. She will hopefully overcome some of the anxiety. Come to think of it, Jake even used to drool and vomit a little when we first started taking him for walks! My daughter used a thunder shirt for her Am. bulldog that she rescued because she would lick herself like crazy when she was gone and she said it helped. Maybe worth a try.