# Car Training



## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

Hello all!

So we are really actively training Honey for the car because as of now, she hates it with a passion. Understandable, because we've only taken her to the vet's or the groomer's before now. (note: I did suggest we take her other places but was overruled before). 

However, people suddenly realized with holidays coming up less than two weeks away, we don't want a whining, crying, sobbing, totally stressed dog in the car for a 5 hour drive! Not only would she get sick, but it would drive the rest of us BANANAS. 

So the training has begun. I suggested since she likes walks we incorporate the two. First trip, we drove two minutes away in the car and my friend dropped me off at the corner store and Honey and I walked home. She literally sobbed the way up, was surprised that we got out and went for a walk. Hmmm. 

Second trip, same day, my mom drove me to the bank so I could deposit a cheque. We took Honey, and I took her into the bank with me (so boring!) then got back into the car and drove home. 5min trip each way. She was crying a bit, but not as bad as the first time.

Third trip, today: I went to my dental appointment, afterwards my housemate and Honey picked me up and then we went to Petsmart to buy her a life jacket. She was a bit worried because that's where she gets her grooming but once she realized that wasn't happening then she was a bit interested. Best part? I've also been teaching her "load up" when I want her in the car and settle in her bed. I've had to put her in before. When I told her we were going home I also said "Load up!". For the first time, she actually jumped in the car and sat in her bed! Yay!!! And she didn't cry on the way home.

I think we're going to keep doing this every day, multiple times a day until she gets the idea. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! She doesn't eat treats outside the home, just so you know.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

You are doing a good job, but wow, you don't have much time. Plan to work up to at least an hour drive - or longer to a park or somewhere fun for Honey before you leave on this long trip.

When you do drive 5 hours, plan lots of breaks to stop and let Honey walk around.

Is she motivated by toys? Would she feel more comfortable having some toys in the car?


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

Great idea! She does love her toys so that could be a comfort to her.  

Yes I realize that isn't a whole lot of time. I've been bugging them since SPRING to get going on this thing. I told them (I work at a school) to go pick me up at school with Honey and she gets positive feelings about the car because she LOVES to hang out with me. And I work about 10mins away. Nope didn't happen. Kept trying. Never did happen, no matter what I said. Now the pressure is on, lol. Seriously people...I DID tell you she needed training!!!! 

One does feel bad about it...she got so stressed out when she was sick and had to go to the vet a LOT that she was starting to throw up/poop in the car. That's how hard it was. Now she seems to get the idea a bit that the car can be interesting, if not "fun"! 

The really hard part is to not "comfort" her when she is really crying, because then she'd think that was okay. I do pet her when she is quiet. Hopefully the poodle smarts will kick in and she gets it quick (but of course without rushing it). Horse world saying: if you act like you have 15mins, it will take you all day, but if you act like you have all day, it'll only take you 15mins.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

Hi Blueroan
An additional small thing you could do is even when you arent going anywhere, just take her to the car in the driveway or garage and feed her treats in there, or gently play with a toy, anything to continue building positive associations with being in the car.

good luck, sounds like Honey is making good progress!


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

Sounds like progress Blue!

With Rocky, he went a lot of places as a puppy with my bf at the time and I. Grab an ice cream at McD, pick the other person up from university, just drive around the neighbourhood, go to the pet store. Whenever we were going somewhere that didn't require us to be out of the vehicle for very long he went along. He was a really good traveller, some of it was personality, but a lot was just the prevalence of car trips.

Shae on the other hand wasn't as good of a traveler from the beginning. She never got sick, just didn't appreciate being away from me in the backseat and being in the car in general. The first few weeks of driving to work on Saturdays (I can take her to my second job), which is an hour a way, were pretty painful. She would sit in the back seat and just howl. Making sure I put her crate bed in the back seat along with some toys helped comfort her even though she didn't really play. 

One day (about a month in), I took her to my best friend's house about an hour away and she had a great play with my friend's dogs. After that trip it just clicked - oh car = good and it means going somewhere fun. I was also making sure that I took her to my mom's place to play with her dog every week. Trying to make sure she was going to "really exciting" places after a car ride was my main goal. I really wanted her to think car rides were really special. 3 mos later, she travels like a dream. Couple weeks ago, we made a four hour trip up north to go camping for a night. She made it 3 hours without a peep going up before having to stop for a pee break and she slept the entire way home.

Try to go as much as you can to as many different places as possible - and try to go to as exciting of places that you can find. Good luck, but sounds like you are making progress!


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

I wish you the very best. It seems so odd because all my dogs have absolutely loved going in the car. But I suppose it is because they got to go with me all the time - be it a short errand, a drive through the local park, to pick up or drop off school kids... 7 hour drive to cabin in Minnesota, all day cross country to work with husband.

I will point out that the whole back seat was theirs, or now, is Rio's. As opposed to the situation of his former owner (who told me he doesn't like to go in the car) where "the car" was the farthest back part of her Ford Explorer and crammed in with 2 other dogs, no padding.

He is comfortable in my car's back seat with its (washable) rug covering the seats, the windows to look out of and sometimes smell out of, and sometimes to get a treat from the drive-through bank lady. Etc.

It may be one of his favorite places in the world. And if I ever have to get myself ready and dog is too excited about the prospect of going somewhere to the point of being a nuisance - I can put him in the car and he contentedly waits. 

I hope this can describe Honey soon. 

On the long trips back and forth to Minnesota every summer, with dogs and often with grandchildren, I made it a point to stop every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. There were always small towns with school playgrounds or public parks where both could run and play. I always had with me for the dogs: a long tether, a gallon of water, a water bowl, plastic bags and gloves for cleaning up after them if necessary, and a few treats for reward. 

LOL similar for the grandchildren, with some modifications.

I'm editing to add that Rio leaps right up in to the farthest back part of my husband's Pilot - which would be similar to his former owner's Explorer. Why? because when he was first put there (by lifting and stashing) we went for a 30 minute drive that resulted in playing and cavorting at a local lake. He loved it.


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

First thing I train my dogs about a car is they cannot get out until I tell them. They love going in the bye-bye and get excited, when I stop as they want to be with me and not left in the car. I stop (they are screaming and excited) and I say stay get out ot the door, shut it then open the back door and lift one out at a time. We use numbers with names for feeding, etc so I say Bella or 1 she comes to me, Cayenne or 2 she then comes, and Sage is squirming, then Sage or 3. I have always been afraid they would jump out in traffic, actually a phobia about that.


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## Bevvie (Jun 17, 2017)

Blueroan, if it’s any consolation, Honey’s brother (Copper) was much the same. He would get so overwhelmed in the car that he would furiously pant and then vomit. Short trips with happy destinations helped him a lot. I noticed during the initial car rides that, after happy destinations, he seemed to know he was going home and the panic just wasn’t there. 

I felt that with Copper there were two things at play: 1. association with the vet and 2. puppy vertigo. 

He’s much better now but we have not done any long drives with him so I still can’t say how that would go. Hope you’ll post as to how Honey did on the longer vacation drive.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Hi! Sammy does not like car rides.  He doesn't get sick or defaecate, but he whines and cries after 10 minutes. 

I wonder if a medication would be a way to go for Honey. I will consider medication for Sammy if I had to take him for a 5 hour drive. It's too distracting to have a whiny dog behind you, and I wonder if you'd think about it for your safety and sanity. It could be as gentle as rescue remedy or as strong as a vet prescribed one. Just a thought, since you don't have a lot of time to desensitize Honey up to 5 hours..

Let us know how your trip goes!

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

It might be very good to have some above mentioned rx along on the trip, to use "Just in case". An upset dog can be very distracting and unsafe. 

Remember to stop frequently for potty breaks so that you can rule that out as a reason for fussing.


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## ApricotsRock (Jan 10, 2014)

Good luck! Will be watching this thread to see how it goes. Rookie still hates the car.


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

So today we had a good day! We didn't get her out in the car yesterday but we made a point of it today. My mom drove and Honey and I came along. We drove on the highway (freeway to Americans? lol) to the next town and meandered in there looking about. Suddenly we realized one of the agricultural fairgrounds is there and there were horses about (even if it isn't a barn day I somehow found the horses lol).

We decided to stop and have a look. It was the first time Honey had seen or heard a horse, and was quite taken aback by the loud whinnying from a very gorgeous black horse hahahaha...the face was priceless! She barked quietly, more of a puzzled "what is THAT?!" but settled down quickly. She was very keen to look around...I bet there were a TON of smells etc that she'd never encountered before. I picked her up when we got next to the ring so she could see the horses going about. Then we went home. 

It was....great!! She cried a bit on the way out but waaaay better, and every time she started to be loud, I'd go "SHUSH!" and she would! On the way home, not a peep out of her, and she actually curled up in her bed some of the time!!  

We might actually do this guys! But I like the idea of Rescue Remedy. I've used it on my horse before and it did help her with show nerves.


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

We have been taking her out every day, at least once. The worst trip was when we had all three of us and Honey in the car. She was really worried about that and almost started howling when we were on the highway. We just ignored until she calmed down somewhat. Got out in the next town (a half hour drive away), had an ice cream, a little walk in, then went home again. She was as good as gold on the way back. 

So we have figured out that if we stop at some point, she'll be fine after, because then she's sure that she's not going to "the bad place". 

Best trip was yesterday. Mom and I dropped off my friend back to her house, and she cried a bit then....actually stopped! Every now and then she'd whimper, but not all out crying!! We got out at my friend's house where Honey encountered my friend's pipe-smoking dad...very strange to her!!! Hah. Then fine on the way back.

We're leaving on Sunday so the plan is we'll give her something like Rescue Remedy, leave, drive to get a coffee, let her out for a bit, then she should be okay, as long as we stop every hour or so.


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

Thanks for the updates! Looks like you have made a lot of progress and have a solid plan in place to deal with the upcoming distance trip!


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