Taking dog on car journeys.

[amytrisha]

We're planning on taking Buddy (our dog) to southport beach later, it's about an hour from where we live.

The only time he's been in a car since we've had him was bringing him home from the house we got him from. He was crying like crazy and threw up too, but we had never met him before, he didn't have a clue where he was going & he was obviously scared/excited.

Dya think he'll be any different now? I know he'll love the beach just don't want to have to turn back around because he can't handle the journey

Any advice appreciated

 

[KayBea]

ide start with shorter journies if hes not used to the car & also buy a doggy seatbelt, dont just let him roam loose in the car or in the boot (very dangerous for everyone). and it will also calm him down more. xx

 

[Scoobys mummy]

Keep the car very cool,can you sit in the back with him? When we got ours we took them on little short trips every few days, always to somewhere nice so they got used to it and it wasn't always the vets! Good luck, they are worse than kids!

 

[amytrisha]

Ideally we should take him on shorter journeys first but because we're planning on a trip out later I really don't want to leave him stuffed in the house while its warm, I'd prefer to take him

I can sit in the back with him, do you thinking taking him on a 10 minute journey to my dads & seeing how he reacts to that will help?

Thanks for the good luck

 

[Scoobys mummy]

Yip, that would let you know how he feels. Also don't be nervous yourself as he will pick up on it and react. Plenty of praise and excitement when you get there x

 

[amytrisha]

Thank you ill see how he reacts. If not ill just take him to the park lol! X

 

[Pirate]

Thankfully our dog is a dream in the car and travels with us pretty much every place we go but it can be quite stressful if your dog isn't good in the car.

If you can fit a crate in your car, that is the best and safest way to go, but most cars can't fit a crate. Definitely get some kind of harness or barrier (we a similar barrier to this in our hatchback: https://www.amazon.com/Highland-200...id=1373468007&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+car+barrier) to prevent the dog from getting in the front seat with the driver if he freaks out. You should try a short trip or two to see how he reacts. If he pukes, the advice that I would give is to withhold food until you get to your destination. If he is really anxious you can give Benadryl (dosage is 1mg per pound) which should make him drowsy.

Good luck!

 

[amytrisha]

We have one of them guards that separates the backseats & the boot so that isn't a problem, it's more the crying (makes me wanna cry!) and the sick..

I didn't even think about starving him for the trip that sounds like the best idea.

I've arranged to take him on Sunday instead, so were gonna do a short journey with him once a day til then to get him used to the car

Thank you for the advice ladies x

 

[KayBea]

dont buy a crate or one of the guards
they are very dangerous. x

 

[amytrisha]

dont buy a crate or one of the guards
they are very dangerous. x

:O why? X

 

[KayBea]

if you have an accident *touch wood you wont* but if you do...

the guard:

the dog may hit the guard which may come free injuring yourself (if the dog or guard lands on you or anyone in the car). and it doesnt stop the dog rolling around/ jumping about in the boot distracting you.

crates:
again i wouldnt want to be smacked in the back of the head by a crate if you had an accident or the dog if the crate came open in an accident.

the way i think about it is if i wouldnt put my child in that possition i wouldnt put my dog in it..

there are harnesses you put on the dog & feed the seatbelt through so the dog can only go as far as the seatbelt allows him too & the belt will lock in an accident like it would for a human. xxx

 

[Pandora11]

Our dog loved the car until he was about 2. he used to lie on the back seat and chill now he crys pretty much the whole time and we have to get him in there with treats. Sitting in the back with him makes him calmer, also i have to make sure he doesn't escape his harness.

we were given a crate thing from MIL, it contains him but i never thought it was very safe in case of an accident, he wouldn't have been able to get out. We had a grate for the boot but the dog would try to squeeze his head through the tiny gaps at the side. Even if he was contained, it was dangerous having to stress about him and keep checking on him distracting the driver.

Treats are the best distraction and stop for lots of breaks to relieve churning stomachs and nervous energy.

 

[Pirate]

if you have an accident *touch wood you wont* but if you do...

the guard:

the dog may hit the guard which may come free injuring yourself (if the dog or guard lands on you or anyone in the car). and it doesnt stop the dog rolling around/ jumping about in the boot distracting you.

crates:
again i wouldnt want to be smacked in the back of the head by a crate if you had an accident or the dog if the crate came open in an accident.

the way i think about it is if i wouldnt put my child in that possition i wouldnt put my dog in it..

there are harnesses you put on the dog & feed the seatbelt through so the dog can only go as far as the seatbelt allows him too & the belt will lock in an accident like it would for a human. xxx

Respectfully, I disagree with you about the safety of crates and barriers. A crate that is properly secured in a car will not move or become a projectile during an accident, even a rollover accident, and it is unlikely that a dog will be able to get out of the crate after an accident which means that they will not have the opportunity to run into traffic. I know many people who are involved in dog shows and hunting/field trials and nearly all transport their dogs in crates (these are all champion studs/bitches worth a lot of money). The barrier, again, if properly installed, doesn't move either. I was rear ended with my 70lb dog in the car and the barrier didn't move an inch and my dog was fine. Further, we have traveled extensively with our dog and he has never once jumped the barrier or moved it in any way. The type of barrier (trombone style) that I showed in the link may not be the best style for a smaller dog or a particularly jumpy dog, but has always worked fine for us. Harnesses are far and above the least safe option (https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2...-dog-harnesses-show-100-percent-failure-rate/) and is only safer then leaving the dog unrestrained. I would never, ever use one for my dog. In my opinion using a harness in a car for a dog is about the human equilavalent of putting a two year-old in a car with only a lap belt on and I know that none of us would ever do that.....

However, like you said, the possibility of getting into an accident is very slim, so I'm sure the OP and her dog will be just fine. The main thing is just to keep the dog restrained in a manner that he can't get to the driver and to stress out as little about the trip as possible and have fun.

A bonus of forums such as this is that there are a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds who can give you a lot of good ideas to kick around.

 

[amytrisha]

The guard we have is good for our dog, he's a big dog so there's no way he'd get through it. The fact that he is a big dog means we wouldn't be able to put him on the back seats either as there wouldn't be enough room (after looking at doggybelts they need to sit in the back seat right?) so that isn't an option.

I think I'm gonna just see how he is in the boot, blanket, toys with the guard & ill sit in the back so I can put my hand through and stroke him/treat him.

Definitely gonna ease him in over the next few days.

Oh and I pray to god we don't have an accident!!

I didn't know there were so many ways/opinions on travelling with a dog, so thanks for educating me hopefully the trip will go well xx

 

[Lauraxamy]

My dog loves the car, he jumps in mine constantly because he wants to go out I just started taking him on short trips in it every now and again and then gradually took him further. He was a little uneasy when he was younger but he soon got used to it. Hope all goes ok

 

[calm]

I've taken my cats on a long journey in the car, 5 hours, and its happened quite a lot in the past months as I've had to go to my parent's due to my dad's bad health. The worse thing is that they said "Miaw" 1000000 times. They love it at my parent's house though, because they have loads of place to go out and explore, all they do here is sleep lol I would try and keep them active before the trip so they would be more likely to sleep (it only worked once) and I would take some wipes and things in case there was an accident. Oh, and we once gave them a tranquillizer prescribed by the vet but it was 10 times worse, cats apparently get aggressive when sedated and want to stay in control so he would miaw very loudly with his eyes tight shut, I wouldn't do that again.Hope you all have a happy trip