Car Issues, Anxiety, Fear, Motion Sickness... Options

[mydogbosco]

My lab-Australian Shepherd mix is 6 months old and recently neutered. Since the day we got him,Bosco has never been quiet when riding in the car. As soon as we walk to the car and open the door, he jumps in excitedly. He acts like he LOVES the car! But that excitement is mixed with anxiety and expressed through excessive barking! We have tried taking him for short rides to fun places like the park or pet store. We have tried the commands "quite" and rewarding him for not barking, but he starts barking again so quickly it is almost useless. We do not allow him to sit in our laps, so when there are two of us in the car, he sits in the back seat, but tries very hard to get to us in the front. He is a very smart dog and is easily trainable in other areas. But barking is his main issue. It is somewhat controllable outside of the car, but it is always a struggle to keep him quiet when he is excited/anxious. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[LargeBreedLover]

What you really need to do is desensitize the car first.
You do this by opening the car, he jumps in and you reward him right away for the not barking. Then you get out of the car and you are done.

You do this over and over, lengthening the amount of time you are in the car for (again, you are NOT moving at this point). You can try feeding a meal in the car and reward any calm behavior. Lay down, have a belly rub, give some treats and then get out.

This will help keep the vehicle a fun place to be rather than a stressful place. Sometimes stress and excitement are misread by humans.

If you want, you can also try giving some calming signals in the car like sneezing, yawning, fast blinking, pawing at the ground, lip licking, etc.

There are homeopathic calming aides you can try as well...personally, I've had success with L-Trytophan. I've tried Bach Flowers, Qualicalm (?) it's a spray you put on a handkerchief, and even the calming collars, but nothing has really helped other than the trytophan. I use the Quiet Moments tablets from PetCo but what has really helped him is buckling him in. It seems like if I take away his freedom in the car, he no longer feels the need to be on guard. He settles much quicker than he did before and while sometimes a very serious bark happens, if I give him the Tryptophan about 1 hour before we leave, he's great. This is only in the city though. Put him on the highway and I don't have any issues. Don't ask me why...I assume it's that there are no people or dogs walking along the side of the highway, but that's just a guess.

[allaboutourdogs]

It's important to realize first of all that barking is completely normal. If your dog thinks that barking his head off is the way to get played with or to go outside(inside your car/in the front seat), then this is a lot easier to deal with. Relying on the necessary foundation of basic obedience training, use a command word (or begin to establish a command word) such as "shut up," "stop," "be quiet" - pick one and be consistent. Hope this helps.