# At my wits end: Avery and the Car



## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

Avery is absolutely intolerable in the car. I am looking for any suggestions. 

Let me start from the beginning. Avery has never liked the car. When I first got him he used to get car sick. To remedy that, I allowed him to sit in the front seat, somehow that helped his car sickness. But eventually Avery got too big for the front seat, he kept hitting me into neutral and the like, so for safety reasons he had to go in the back.

I let him have free roam in the back seat but he has terrible balance in the car and if I had to stop fast for any reason he would sometimes come flying forward again shifting me into other gears. He also refuses to settle in the car. He would go back and forth, rest his head on my arms/shoulders, he would try to climb into the front seat basically drive me insane. 

So we tried putting the crate in the car. I have a Toyota Corolla, by no means a big car, so getting the crate in there is not an easy task. The crate solved all the movement issues but now he whines. Depending on his mood will depend on the tone of his whine, sometimes its more tolerable other times not so much.Sometimes he whines through the entire ride, sometimes just part of the ride. Sometimes its just a puppy whine, sometimes its an all out bark. Covering the crate did decrease the whining, but it did not stop it.

Now that Tess isn't doing well, my mom had to borrow my extra crate. So now I tie Avery in the back. I only tie him for safety reasons. But this has only increased his screeching whine. Now its to the point where I can only take soo much whining before I find myself angry at him. Then I yell or try to sing over him...basically I will do anything to distract myself from his whine or get him to stop. 

I have tried giving him a stuffed kong when we go in the car...he starts whining as soon as he's done with it. I have tried treating him for quiet times, but that only seems to amp him up more and then he's whining and stopping just to get treats. Plus when your driving its not exactly easy to be dealing with a dog. I have tried ignoring him completely which sometimes worked, but sometimes he gets so into it that he could whine forever. Also he tends to whine worse after exercise, so if we are just leaving the park or going home after daycare, he actually whines more not less, so tiring him out doesn't work either.

I no longer think he's scared of the car, but he is an anxious dog by nature. He has a hard time settling anywhere that isn't home. I really love taking him places but its getting to the point where I wonder if its worth all the stress just getting from point a to point b.

What do you guys think? What other options do I have that I have not tried?


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I don't have any fabulous suggestions but I sure know how you feel. Listening to whining for any extended period can be like fingernails on a chalkboard and totally makes me crazy! 
I'm sitting in my room right now with 10 dogs while my gas meter is getting replaced by the gas company and one of them is a dog I'm boarding. He has not stop whining for the past 20 minutes and I'm ready to strangle him!! 
Okay so I realize my post was in no way helpful but I feel a little better now that I got to vent. Sorry....:redface:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Well, I would get another crate you can use for the car. Get a hard sided one if possible to block out most distractions. 

I would start out by just putting him in there and sitting in your driveway or whatever, and feed him lots of little yummy treats. Give one every other second. Then as long as he continues to be quiet, change your rate of reinforcement to be random, but still very often (like every 5, 10, 2, 15, 5, 10 seconds...). The biggest problem that I see people make when socializing a dog to the car is their rate of reinforcement. Either its not often enough, the treats are sub par, or they drop off on reinforcement too quickly. 

Once he gets sitting in the driveway down without whining and needing constant reinforcement, start driving slowly around the neighborhood. Giving him small tasty treats the same way you did to get him used to the driveway. I would position the kennel door towards your seat so its very easy to give treats.Continue doing this until he can handle it well without whining. 

This make take some time, but I've seen it work first hand. One of the dogs I helped took it one step further and would attack the windows whenever she saw something. It wasn't a good situation. By the time I was done with that dog she would sit politely in her kennel in the car and focus on her mom. It was awesome! Just be patient and don't be "cheap" when it comes to treats! 

Good luck and I hope this helps!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Put him back in the front seat and get him the vest that you can put the seat belt through, this is how my female who sits in the front and male in the back goes on longer trips in the car. They ride very nice and I don't worry about them being in a dangerous way if I hit the brakes. Good Luck!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I have a dog like that also. It was pretty awful at first. I have a very small car and no crate to fit a dog his size.

At first, I gave up and just let him teeter around, whining and never laying down. (and that was fun too, when we were driving up to the dog park and see a dog out the window and totally embarrass me). 

Then we had a wreck - we were rear-ended and both dogs were knocked backwards instead of forward thank goodness - but had we hit someone from behind he would have gone straight through the windshield. 

To me, this became a real safety issue and non-negotiable, like "sit" and "come." But a car was one of his trigger points that would set him off every time and he ignored me completely. When I first got him, he would go into a frenzied state where I might as well not have been on the same planet with him. I couldn't find a seat belt that allowed him to sit and lay - I bought four of them that I ended up donating. 

So I tied him down - put a leash on him, put a knot in it, and closed the door on it where he couldn't stand up. I don't know - maybe it wasn't the thing to do. But it made him safe. 

Yes, he still whined. Alot. It drove me crazy. The thing that finally "fixed" him was a trip to Texas - he couldn't keep up the whine for 8 hours in the car. After about four hours he stopped. The second and third days, I took the leash off of him and he laid down within a few minutes of driving. 

Now, he sits when he gets in the car, and lays down when I ask him to. he doesn't get up until I allow it, even after the car was stopped. He still whines but it's mostly when we are approaching the dog park or another place he knows he is going to have fun - it's not that constant screaming whine that makes you want to take a dinner knife to your eye.

in the end, it was just time - alot of it. But the trip to Texas was what really helped the most. Maybe you have a car trip coming up


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Ah...see now I know what the solution to your problem is...a ROAD TRIP!!! LOL....now you just have to figure out where to go :wink: 

I think a good combination of xelil's recommendations and mine would work well, but I still think a crate is better than tying down. A crate can easily be secured in place with straps.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> Well, I would get another crate you can use for the car. Get a hard sided one if possible to block out most distractions.
> 
> I would start out by just putting him in there and sitting in your driveway or whatever, and feed him lots of little yummy treats. Give one every other second. Then as long as he continues to be quiet, change your rate of reinforcement to be random, but still very often (like every 5, 10, 2, 15, 5, 10 seconds...). The biggest problem that I see people make when socializing a dog to the car is their rate of reinforcement. Either its not often enough, the treats are sub par, or they drop off on reinforcement too quickly.
> 
> ...


I'll definately give this a try. I can't get a hard crate it won't fit in my car, but I can put a comforter or something thick over his current crate. Thank you!



whiteleo said:


> Put him back in the front seat and get him the vest that you can put the seat belt through, this is how my female who sits in the front and male in the back goes on longer trips in the car. They ride very nice and I don't worry about them being in a dangerous way if I hit the brakes. Good Luck!


Avery doesn't sit still and he really doesn't fit in the front seat. The worst he has done in the past is throw my car into neutral...thank god it wasn't reverse or park while I'm going 70 on the highway.



xellil said:


> I have a dog like that also. It was pretty awful at first. I have a very small car and no crate to fit a dog his size.
> 
> At first, I gave up and just let him teeter around, whining and never laying down. (and that was fun too, when we were driving up to the dog park and see a dog out the window and totally embarrass me).
> 
> ...


Avery is actually fine with longer rides. I think he likes the highways and thruways because your generally riding smooth and at one speed. After about 20mins on a highway he lays down and goes to sleep...


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I can relate. Chelsy and Rocky both get horribly carsick. They both throw up within ten minutes of being in the car. The ONLY thing that works for Chelsy is being in a wire crate. We tried letting her ride in the front seat a few times but decided it just wasn't safe at all. Just having to step on the brakes fast would send her flying, or if we were in an accident, the air bag would have killed her.

So, she is always in her crate. Period. Luckily her crate is little and we can just carry it in and out of the house. 

Rocky's problem was solved by buying a 36 foot motor home and letting him ride in the living room area! He just never realized that he was in a moving vehicle and was fine for the two months we were on the road! He actually has only been in a car once since then and he threw up in ten minutes so we're back to square one with him. Good luck.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

My Cayenne doesn't fit in the front seat either if she isn't attached by the seat belt, she sprawls all over the front seat, and yes she has even put my car in neutral way more times than I can count....Lol


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Little dogs are so much easier. I put Snorkels in her car seat, buckle her in, and she can look out the window and do her Cujo impression on motorcyclists.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

i think you should start putting him in the car as much as possable the more hes in the car and driving around the more comfortable he will be if you can take him for 4 or 5 trips a day(small ones obviously) they better sure it might be hard in gas at first got a long drive way? toss him in the car when you get hte mail take him for trips around the block take him to the grocery store,the gas station,the park the mreo trips you can get in per day the better. keep things happy bring favorite toys,treats,a favorite bed even! also everytime he gets into the car himself give him a treat that way he learns that if he gets into the car he gets a treat


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