# Car Riding Anxiety/Excessive Salivation



## marialydia (Nov 23, 2013)

Pericles had a very hard time in the car at first. When I picked him up from the breeder, within 45 minutes he had chucked up his entire breakfast. I stopped and sat with him in the back with him for a while; drove more, and he was salivating all over the place. This continued for the entire trip which was very long indeed (13 + hours).

For his first six weeks with me he kept getting car sick. He hated the car. And like you, I wanted to take him places and for him to enjoy it.

I took him on short trips to walk him in interesting places he likes; to the pet store; in other words, places other than the vets. 

He's now almost seven months old. Over Thanksgiving he rode from NJ to Cleveland with no problems! So it does get better with time and a bit of positive conditioning. Don't despair, it will get better.


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## Poodlerunner (Jul 4, 2014)

I had a dog that had high (off the charts) anxiety in the car and the bath and he acted the same way in the car as Bentley. There was nothing else in life that bothered him. I avoided the car with him as much as possible and it was fine because there was always someone home to leave him with. The bath, he just had to deal with and I tried all kinds of things to soothe him, except for anxiety meds. He is long gone  but if I could do it again, I would get him anxiety meds. At age 5 he was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. I don't know if the anxiety caused the disease or the disease caused the anxiety but I wish I had given him medication to alleviate the anxiety because the anxiety is bad for Addisonian dogs. 

Of course, I am not suggesting that your boy has AD, but be aware of the disease and watch him. I would also not keep stressing him out with the car, with the stress to the degree you are describing. 

You could try to desensitize him to the car slowly. Maybe, hold him on your lap sitting on the car hood, feeding him the very best treats. Then you could open the car door and see if he can happily stand next to the car with the car door open, feeding him the treats and go slowly from there until he is sitting in the car eating treats... then turn the car on, then just go to the corner and back. You can also talk to your vet about anxiety meds as a last resort for when he has to go in the car. 

pr


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

I'll definitely keep working with him. We are a very mobile family so hopefully I can get him comfy and not dehydrate on trips! Thanks for the advice!


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Well, I had never heard the Addison's coincidence...that said Sailor has tested out borderline Addison's since he was six months old. He has never needed meds, has always been on the best diets and closely monitored. He will be nine years old this month and has led a very healthy and busy life. For the first seven months of his life he was like Bentley with the drooling on car rides. Sailor never threw up, he just drooled so much that he looked like he had been hit with a fire hose. In desperation, I made him wear those toddler's one piece zippered pajamas so that when we got places I could just peel the wet suit off of him. I made sure I always got places a few minutes early so Sailor had time to get over feeling queasy, too. I tried everything in that time period from pumpkin /ginger/carsick calming supplements and trips of varying durations. I tried crating the pup, not crating the pup, letting him look out the window, having someone hold him... nothing made any difference. Then gradually after he was seven months old his salivating started getting less and less and by the time he was a year old he could hear the car keys jangle from across the house... and would come running! I will add that all his life he has had acid reflux and he either takes one ranitidine pill per day... or a single Tums. I wonder now if a Tums would have helped when he was in his car drooling phase. Hmm, it would have had the added bonus of calcium. Best of luck to you, don't give up. It will get better. Those little one piece jammies meant I had a pretty puppy when we arrived at our destination instead of a drowned rat.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I went through this with Sophy when she was a puppy - I worked through it using desensitisation and counter conditioning. Several times a day I took puppy, books, CDs and chicken out to the car, and just sat there reading, feeding her occasional tit bits of chicken. At first we just sat for a few minutes, then gradually for longer times as she began to become more interested in the chicken than worried about the car. Then I briefly started the engine. Bit by bit we worked up to rolling a few metres back, and forward again, and then to driving as far as the road. Sophy was car sick through motion sickness as well as anxiety, so the two things fed off each other. Lots of other things helped too - not feeding her before a drive, ginger biscuits, a crate on the back seat, driving very carefully and smoothly, her growing past the teething stage (it seems that like children puppies' immature inner ears are more prone to travel sickness), lots of very short trips to nice places, lots of short, boring, stress free trips, etc,etc.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

BentleysMom said:


> Any suggestions from anybody who may have experience with this symptom? Thanks!


A crate and lots of towels!

Honestly, though, this is one of those weird little traits that gets passed down. I've seen it in one of my dogs and his daughter. It did resolve on its own in both cases by around 9 months.


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

So glad to know there is hope! I will have to get him some pj's that sounds adorable!!


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Might want to pick up some Rescue Remedy, available at Whole Foods, and I am sure on Amazon, too. It's all natural, takes the "edge off" and you can put a couple of drops on his tongue before the ride -- that may help and then he'll realize after several times, that there's nothing to stress over.


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

Thank you!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

My Molly behaved just like that too when she was a pup....but she outgrew it too! No more soggy towels!!!


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Rescue Remedy is for people, too! Anxiety before speaking in public, etc., or air travel, etc., so it might just help.


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

I got my rescue remedy in the mail yesterday, excited to try it!


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## Feelingdoc (Feb 18, 2014)

Noel would get car sick and drool excessively as a pup...she is 3 now. She loves to go for rides but on long rides (my family lives about a 3 hour drive) she still turns green...a short break and no breakfast helps.


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

Well he is nearly 11mo now and Yep we still have the drooling issue. He did vomit once. Hopefully he will outgrow this...


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## BentleysMom (Dec 14, 2014)

Still having this issue some. Dramamine sure helped on our long trip to the beach. He didn't drool at all and was soooo calm! Best trip ever! My daughter, me, her baby and poodle! Wonderful trip and the baby and poodle had lots of love time together! He's so sweet!


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