Car-riding trauma...

Two weeks after we got Cooper from the Humane Society, our son in military school had a Family Weekend in North Dakota. He reckoned it was a good idea to bring Cooper along so they can meet as he may not be able to come home for this summer. That was Cooper's first long trip. We thought it went OK. That was April. We got Cooper March 31st. Then in May we have to go to a fly-in convention. Since we haven't had the time to train Cooper to ride a plane we drove to Tennessee. We thought it went OK too as he was the toast of the old women there and we go back and forth each day for a week to the hotel, a good 10 minutes drive. No sweat. Then we came home (Missouri). The first trip to North Dakota was 14 hours with pee-stops every two hours. The second trip to Tennessee was 9 hours with pee-stops too. When we came home, every time I want to go somewhere and want to bring him with me, e.g., the stupidmarket down the road... ... Cooper will allow me to walk him from wherever he was but when we reach his crate, he would go inside and not want to move.

He can go out via the front door to get the newspapers in the morning, but to go to the garage via the kitchen door to the car, it is not OK. He went up to the kitchen door and when he sees the car door open, he freaks out and goes back to his crate. The only time we can take him with us now is when he has to go to training school, which will be tomorrow...Thursday. Last week's school trip was diverted to going to the airport before school because DH promised to bring back a toy he had given a little girl which he fixed. At the car he was salivating all the time then finally he vomitted as soon as we opened the door for him. I gave him a small dose of pepto-bismol.

I am wondering...can anyone teach me how to make my dog accept going with us again in the car. Maybe I can use the same tips/advice in getting him to go in the airplane with us? I want to be able to teach him how to fly with us as our next fly-in event will be this coming July 28-August 3...at the Oshkosh convention in Wisconsin. Driving there will be about 8 hours.

Help...anyone???? Thanks....

Honey pick up the pup and gently put him back in the auto, go around the block. Just short quiet trips, play the radio, talk to him assuring him it is going to be fun and fine.

Short trips breaks a dog in much better than a long ride. I imported two males pups from German this April 17, they came in late after 8 pm so they had a boarding kennel pick them up. Stayed over night, never fed them as they were told they would be pick up next morning by owners, us. They looked so bad I cried. So skinny, dhydrated, such a long flight of 9 hours from Germany then not to arrive at a nice home, took it's tole on them.

I sold one in a month after watching the one I wanted to keep. He was scared to be put in the van I use. My van to be exact. I got him in and he weighs now near 50 lbs, a big boy, he got so used to going short trips and enjoying it he jumps in and will not let me leave.

Give it a try of course the first one is not pleasant, takes a few, but it will be better than taking to vet when needed to put him in and so now is the time to prepare him for nice rides......

I wouldn't jump right in and make him do it, I think you can cause a lot more damage that way. He's having relatively mild reactions right now, you don't want it to get worse (like, running away when he thinks you might be going somewhere, vomiting as soon as he gets in the car, not even going in the kitchen, severe reactions to the entire garage, etc.).

I'd suggest starting by walking him in and out of the garage. Start with the car doors closed, just put him on a leash, walk in, maybe give him a treat, and walk out. It should be very quick - you're in the garage about 10 seconds - and don't make a big deal out of it. Keep your attitude and body posture very matter-of-fact. Once he's comfortable doing this, open a car door and do the same thing. Once he's comfortable there, start feeding him all his meals in the car. Does he ride in a crate in the car? If not, I'd start that now. Many dogs feel more comfortable in a crate in the car than loose in the car, and if he already likes his crate it sounds like this will be good for him. So feed him his meals in the crate in the car, keeping the doors open so he doesn't feel trapped. Once he'll confidently jump into the car and into the crate, you can start closing the doors while he eats - but open the doors back before he finishes. Then add duration to how long the doors are closed. Then start driving to the end of the driveway and back. Then try longer and longer drives.

Hope this makes sense, I'm kind of in a hurry. Just remember the whole time, you can talk and give him treats, but don't make a big deal out of it.

Dear sheplovr...I like your story...and I like your advice...but picking him up will be a big problem for me as I am only 5' tall. I think I will have to have dear hubby do the picking up for me. Cooper knows how to get in the car. My problem is taking him to the garage. He freaks out when the garage door is open because he knows we will/might be going out for a ride. And oh, he rides in the backseat with us, occupying the whole seat. He has his own car harness. The first time we put him the car at the back, he panicked so we never did that again.

lizzybeth727, I started doing what you adviced once earlier this week. It is very sensible, so I thought, but maybe I did it the wrong way because I took him for a training walk/march (?) up and down the front yard near the street and he was panting in tiredness when we reached the garage. Anyway, before we left, I opened the garage door, but we went out to the front door, did our exercises walking properly and all that. At the end of our walk, I led him to the opened garage door and out to the backyard and ended up our exercise with the intro weaving and pulling the small tire. By the time we entered the house, he was so tired, he slept almost all day... I had not done any follow-up since and I just couldn't make him go to the car now...maybe I should do more sometime today when the weather cools off so I will/may be right for tomorrow's training school...

Thanks for both your advice...I will take it slowly. This is a strange dog...my first Rottie loves going with me so much that I have to be careful when I pick my keys up or he will be in the car way before I realized it...