reprinted with kind permission from Tara Todd
Assistant to the Managing Director Delaware County SPCA
555 Sandy Bank Road Media, PA 19063 610-566-1370 X 219
Fax-610-565-1156
ttodd@delcospca.org
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THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES
Carsick Puppies
Lots of puppies get carsick in moving cars, but fewer adult dogs. It’s
likely the immature ear structures of puppies contribute to motion
sickness. Human children have this problem, too.
Many puppies take a lot of car rides to places such as dog parks and
doggie day care programs. Every trip carries the risk that something
will happen to traumatize the puppy about riding in the car. When the
dog is getting carsick on each trip, you may get a conditioned effect
of nausea associated with the car. Either trauma or conditioning can
cause carsickness to continue after the physical reasons for the nausea
have been outgrown.
We need our dogs to be able to ride comfortably in cars, and no one
enjoys cleaning vomit. If you have a carsick puppy, let’s look at ways
to minimize stress and mess, both now and when the pup is older.
Precautions
Start with a careful physical evaluation by your veterinarian so you
can make the dog as comfortable as possible. Particular areas to look
at are ear and orthopedic issues (hip dysplasia, osteochondritis,
panosteitis, injured knee ligaments, etc.).
Dogs hide their pain, and growth itself can hurt! So even if no
specific physical problem is found, don’t rule it out. Keep watching
your dog carefully for symptoms, and take precautions that will help if
your dog does have something going on physically.
To reduce orthopedic pain or fear of pain that your dog might have, fix
every surface in the car on which your dog will rest or move so that it
is non-slip under the dog’s feet. Rubber-backed throw rugs are one good
way to do this—washable ones. Secure the dog whenever the car is moving
so
the dog doesn’t get thrown around.
You can reduce nauseating sensations from immature ears by opening
windows two or three inches to equalize the air pressure inside a
moving car with the outdoor air pressure. Keep the air inside the car
cool.
You can help the dog’s eyes override the sickening signals from the
ears by positioning the dog to be able to see forward in the direction
the car is going. A dog car restraint in the front passenger seat will
do this. Putting a dog in the front seat of a car with air bags is a
risk you need to be
aware of, though. The safest place for a dog in a car is a crate.
Your veterinarian may be able to help you determine the best way to
handle positioning your dog in the car. It depends on your vehicle, the
nature of the trips, the size of the dog, and possibly other factors.
What you might be able to do is use the front seat restraint method
just until the dog
is solidly past the carsickness problem. Then you could switch to a
crate
or a dog seat belt in the back seat.
Looking out the side or back windows of the car will make motion
sickness worse for some dogs. Restraining the puppy in the car will
also help prevent the habit some dogs develop of leaping around and
interfering with safe driving.
Steps to Improve Conditioning to Car Rides
If your dog already has a problem, change the car-riding experiences
right away. In the process, you will change what the dog expects from
riding in cars, take away fear, and clear the way for the dog to
outgrow the problem.
1. Reduce the car trips for now. Sometimes we make a problem
worse by trying too hard to solve it, and taking a carsick puppy on
trip after trip that triggers the physical symptoms is one example. A
week or two of no car trips can help get your re-conditioning program
off to a good start.
2. If you have the option of using a different vehicle for car
trips for awhile, that could reduce your dog’s concerns about your
regular
vehicle.
3. Talk to your veterinarian about medication for car trips.
This will only be needed temporarily in the great majority of cases.
Reducing the car trips will also reduce the times the dog gets the
medication. Ask your veterinarian if ginger or gingersnap cookies would
be safe for your dog—and how much is okay to give. Some people feel
this helps nausea in their
dogs.
4. Avoid car trips that lead to places the puppy doesn’t like.
If you need to take your puppy to the veterinarian and you haven’t yet
conditioned your puppy to love going there, get started on that! Find a
way to include something positive in every trip.
5. While doing positive activities with the car (see ideas
below), build the car exposure gradually. You can break it down as much
as necessary, using these stages. Keep it at a level that allows the
dog to stay relaxed and not worry about the car.
Start at a distance from the car and gradually, over multiple sessions,
move the fun closer. Eventually move it into the car, but don’t rush
that.
Move away from the car for the interactive activities with the dog
again, and have someone start the car. Over multiple sessions, move the
activities back inside the car. At first have the car already running
by the time you and the puppy get in, and then work up to having the
puppy in the car when it is started.
If you don’t have a helper, you may be able to tether the dog (in your
sight in a safe place and safe manner!) and move back and forth to the
car to start it yourself. Remember the constant objective is to keep
the dog from getting upset in the least.
When the puppy is comfortable in the car with it being started and all
the doors shut (remember to keep it cool), move the car a few feet.
Over a series of sessions, move the car a little more and a little
more. Keep up the pleasant activities. If possible, have someone else
drive while you work with the puppy. Or you drive after having shown
your helper how to properly work with the puppy. If you don’t have a
helper, stop the car each time you play with the puppy—someplace where
you can pull out of traffic and stop safely.
Pick straight, smooth routes. Twisty roads, bumpy roads, dusty roads,
or doing donuts in a parking lot would be counterproductive to the
goal!
Going up and down hills can contribute to carsickness, too.
This may sound like a lot of work, but it’s pleasant and goes quickly.
It’s much more enjoyable than cleaning up after a vomiting dog.
6. Observe what works best for your dog as far as meals before
a car ride. Some may do better on an empty stomach, but since dogs need
water, that may not actually be feasible.
A heavy meal is obviously not a good thing for controlling nausea. You
may find that light feeding or perhaps having been fed a couple of
hours or so ago works well. If you use food in this conditioning, then
of course your puppy will not have an empty stomach. You certainly
don’t want to stuff the dog, though. Keep treats tiny and do not use
hard-to-digest foods. The safest treats are pieces of the dog’s regular
food.
Positive Conditioning Activities
1. Use mealtimes to improve how your dog feels about the car.
Feed multiple small meals a day instead of one large one. This gives
you more opportunities to use food for emotional benefits, and also
keeps the dog from being stuffed at any time. By feeding all the meals
during your progressive conditioning steps, the sessions fit smoothly
into your daily schedule. Even
feeding one of the meals a day this way will keep the process moving
forward.
2. Gradually start including your normal preparations for a car
trip in these fun sessions. That will help your puppy learn to
associate these
preparations with good things instead of nausea. It also gives you the
chance
to shape your puppy’s behavior for controlled happiness rather than
leaping
all over the place. Give the treats, praise and other rewards when the
dog’s
behavior is exactly what you are looking for.
3. Play games with your dog along with the distance steps, the
car-starting, and moving the car. We don’t want wild behavior in a car,
so these games need to be controlled.
One possible game would be to have the dog get into the car and sit for
a treat, stay until you give permission, and then hop back out of the
car. Use a ramp if the pup or dog is too small for this to be a
completely safe jump. Or just set the dog on the seat, give the treat
for sitting, have the dog stay, and give the dog a cue to take position
for you to lift the dog back out.
Another game can be played with three small upside down lightweight
cups. Put a treat under one and let the dog find and eat it. Do it
perhaps three times so the dog has fun but doesn’t get tired of the
game or overexcited by it. This type of scent game is more appropriate
than having the dog search the car for a treat or toy, because that
would be dangerous when driving.
4. Give the dog chew items in the car that are not available
all the time. This can develop later into a habit for the dog to flop
down in a crate and chew to fall asleep.
5. Train your pup on the basics—sit, down, stay, come, walk on
a loose leash—and use them all around and inside the car. Keep it calm
and pleasant, because that behavior works best in a car and is your
goal.
6. You might want to give your dog a massage near or inside the
car. Even scratching behind the ears is good—whatever your dog likes
that will fit into the situation.
7. Give treats and games and fun things before and during the
car sessions, but stop the fun when you arrive home. Make this a
neutral time. You don’t want the dog to think the end of the trip is
the good part. Let that just be a quiet, relaxed opportunity for the
dog to think about the nice time you just had together. A little later
you can do something else fun.
8. Aim for fun destinations as much as possible when you get to
the point of taking the dog for rides again. Fun at the destination is
reward during the ride/trip, so it doesn’t make the dog think getting
the ride over
and getting back home is the goal.
A trip through the fast food drive-up window is dog-pleasing as well as
being a good puppy social experience. If the pup likes walks, you could
drive even a short distance, get out and go for a little walk on leash,
and then back home. This is also a great way to arrange the daily
socialization
outings a pup needs once immunization is complete (ask your
veterinarian
for that timing). Virtually every outing can be fun for your pup with
your
good work.
Puppy-To-Go
Dogs who are not disabled by fears of car rides, new places, new
people, etc. can find going out with you to be one of the greatest
pleasures in life. A good training class will get your dog looking at
you with starry eyes,
as the amazing person who is able to lead this expedition!
Developing your puppy’s enjoyment of car rides is time well spent. It
opens so many doors to training, trust, bonding, and a high-quality
life.
Date Published: 6/19/2006 10:37:00
AM
Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs:
Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles
available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your
veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate
medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your
veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior
or a local behaviorist.
Copyright 2006 - 2007 by Kathy Diamond
Davis. Used
with permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright 1991 - 2007, Veterinary
Information Network, Inc.
This work was originally published by Veterinary Information
Network, Inc. (VIN) and is republished with VIN's permission.
*******************
like the face of a watch, start
the circle at 6 o'clock, then move
clockwise right around to 6 o'clock again, then continue on to 9
o'clock
to complete the 1¼ circle. You can use the ends of the fingers
to make tiny circles around the muzzle; use the pads of the fingers to
make small circles about the size of a 10 or 20 cent piece; or use your
whole hand gently cupped to do large circles over your dog's body. Use
just
enough pressure to move the dog's skin.
muzzle, take the ends under the muzzle,
crossing over under the jaw then back up behind the ears and tie in a
knot. The elastic should fit
snugly without being tight (I would be especially careful of this when
using
it with teething puppies). The dog can still eat, drink, yawn, etc. but
every time he opens his mouth the feel of the elastic helps him become
aware of what he is doing (changes an unthinking behaviour into a
thinking behaviour). I use soft 1" (25 mm) elastic for large dogs and
1/2" (12 mm)for small dogs/puppies. If your dog is uncomfortable with
the nosewrap, do some small TTouch circles around his muzzle as
preparation before putting the nosewrap on.
