NPCER: Does your dog like car rides?

[orangeblossom]

This brought to you by my dog panting heavily in my ear. He is not a fan of the car. He eventually calms down, once we get on the highway and reach a steady speed, but the first 20 minutes or so of a ride are trying.

I feel bad for him, but oh my goodness the heavy panting is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

When I mention he doesn't like car rides, people are always surprised, so of course I have to come to CEP to see if your dogs like car rides.

[miniroller]

Our dog didn't used to, but I think that was because he was only in the car when going to the boarder's/ he knew we were leaving. A friend watched him for 3-4 days & they went on lots of trips; thus, he now Loves the car! Like if the garage door is open, will go sit by the door during walks to let us know he'd like to go on a car ride.
I'm really sorry, OP; I wish I had some advice for you. Our pup doesn't really pant, but sometimes I feel like his heart's gonna beat out of his chest because he's so excited. So I do sort of get you there.

[scout8]

Mine loves the car. If we ask him if he wants to go in the car, he runs around like a maniac trying to bark while he has a toy in his mouth.

[mrsukyankee]

When we say, "Car ride?" to Barney, he goes nuts. He loves, loves, loves the car.

[One Girl In All The World]

Our almost six-month old mutt looooves the car. Because it's usually to go to my MILs house for him to play with his buddies over there, lol. He gets pissed when we are all leaving and he thinks he's coming with us. He used to just chill in my lap, but he's too big for that mess now so he rides in the trunk.

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 7:58:41 GMT -5 miniroller said:

Our dog didn't used to, but I think that was because he was only in the car when going to the boarder's/ he knew we were leaving. A friend watched him for 3-4 days & they went on lots of trips; thus, he now Loves the car! Like if the garage door is open, will go sit by the door during walks to let us know he'd like to go on a car ride.
I'm really sorry, OP; I wish I had some advice for you. Our pup doesn't really pant, but sometimes I feel like his heart's gonna beat out of his chest because he's so excited. So I do sort of get you there.

Yeah, part of his issue is he broke his toe when he was a puppy, and it involved weekly car rides to the vet for wrapping, X-rays or some other sort of medical car. Therefore in his mind car ride equals bad things. 

Sometimes the the thundershirt helps, but he's just kind of a nervous/jumpy dog in general.  I feel bad for him sometimes. 

I'm going to try and see if I can work on making positive associations for car rides. He jumps right in, but that's were any normal behavior ends. 

[Vespasia]

Mine gets sick repeatedly unless she is heavily medicated so no, she does not.

Growing up our digs always loved going for rides..

[pinkdutchtulips]

SS - I've got one of each :/

The older of the 2 jacks LOVES car rides ! Her younger half sister HATES them I'm able to get a short ride out of the younger one but anything over 30 minutes and you're asking for trouble .

[setsail1999]

2 out of the 3 love the car. The newest one used to get horribly car sick and HATED the car. He would bolt when you walked by the car. He's a border collie and does that creepy collie creep when around one and will lay down if you open the door. We compete in dog sports so we travel a lot. After a year of car = fun times he finally chilled out. I occasionally give him Dramamine if it's a long bumpy ride.

[skwcm80]

Colonel mustard is like your dog. He seems upset for the first few minutes then he settled down.

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 9:11:12 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

Colonel mustard is like your dog. He seems upset for the first few minutes then he settled down.

I love his name!

[eclaires]

We crate our dogs for car trips. For short ones we don't - like to the vet and they are generally riled up and nervous for those.

Once we get a minivan I think we are going to get them one of those car seats.

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 8:41:40 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Mine gets sick repeatedly unless she is heavily medicated so no, she does not.

Growing up our digs always loved going for rides..

Aw, poor thing.

[CallingAllAngels]

Hmm, our dog doesn't flip out either way. I think she usually likes where we are going (she loves the kennel, and we go on lots of hikes), but she's not overly excited for the car ride part.

I never thought that riding in a car was a fun thing for a dog. My sister was living with us for a while and decided to reward our previous dog with a trip to the gas station, which is only a half mile away. That dog did not like car rides and the whole thing was a clusterfuck that ended up with a broken foot for my sister.

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 9:21:41 GMT -5 CallingAllAngels said:

Hmm, our dog doesn't flip out either way. I think she usually likes where we are going (she loves the kennel, and we go on lots of hikes), but she's not overly excited for the car ride part.

I never thought that riding in a car was a fun thing for a dog. My sister was living with us for a while and decided to reward our previous dog with a trip to the gas station, which is only a half mile away. That dog did not like car rides and the whole thing was a clusterfuck that ended up with a broken foot for my sister.

A broken foot? Oh my.

[shopgirl07]

No. He has horrible anxiety in the car and won't sit down or calm down the whole ride, no matter how long it is. I got some new medication recently that I need to test out.

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 9:36:10 GMT -5 shopgirl07 said:

No. He has horrible anxiety in the car and won't sit down or calm down the whole ride, no matter how long it is. I got some new medication recently that I need to test out.

I hope it works.

I just said to DH that we may need of drug him. I was only half joking. He's normally calmed down by now, but I'm not sure that'll be happening this trip.

[CallingAllAngels]

Dec 27, 2015 9:26:21 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Dec 27, 2015 9:21:41 GMT -5 CallingAllAngels said:

Hmm, our dog doesn't flip out either way. I think she usually likes where we are going (she loves the kennel, and we go on lots of hikes), but she's not overly excited for the car ride part.

I never thought that riding in a car was a fun thing for a dog. My sister was living with us for a while and decided to reward our previous dog with a trip to the gas station, which is only a half mile away. That dog did not like car rides and the whole thing was a clusterfuck that ended up with a broken foot for my sister.

A broken foot? Oh my.

Yes, I still don't understand exactly what happened, but our dog got out of the car and took off (near a very busy street). Somehow, while chasing her to try to get her back into the car, my sister broke her foot.

[shopgirl07]

Dec 27, 2015 9:38:59 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Dec 27, 2015 9:36:10 GMT -5 shopgirl07 said:

No. He has horrible anxiety in the car and won't sit down or calm down the whole ride, no matter how long it is. I got some new medication recently that I need to test out.

I hope it works.

I just said to DH that we may need of drug him. I was only half joking. He's normally calmed down by now, but I'm not sure that'll be happening this trip.

I normally avoid taking in the car but last year we drove to Florida from New England. I knew I needed something because I couldn't have him suffer for 8 hours a day. The medication my vet gave me was not a good fit. It quieted his body and not his mind, so you could tell he was still uncomfortable but couldn't do anything about it.

So we have a different med this time, one that's supposed to just help with anxiety. I have to test it out soon to figure out dosage, etc. I feel so bad for him!

[zelda25]

He likes it until he doesn't, which is to say that he likes to go places and seems to understand that the car ride is a necessary evil that facilitates getting "somewhere." But he doesn't have a ton of patience for it and any trip over 45 minutes or so stops being fun for all of us.

Anyway, this seems as good a place as any to drop this year's Reluctant Elf pic:

[skwcm80]

Dec 27, 2015 9:16:55 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Dec 27, 2015 9:11:12 GMT -5 skwcm80 said:

Colonel mustard is like your dog. He seems upset for the first few minutes then he settled down.

I love his name!

Thanks! I can't even take credit, that was his name when we met him at the shelter.

[LoveTrains]

Mine used to have horrible car anxiety and cry and/or whimper for the entire trip.

Now he's on anti anxiety meds and he can handle a car ride but doesn't love it.

[redheadbaker]

The pit bull likes car rides; the Aussie shepherd doesn't (she gets car sick).

[orangeblossom]

Dec 27, 2015 9:42:31 GMT -5 CallingAllAngels said:

Dec 27, 2015 9:26:21 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

A broken foot? Oh my.

Yes, I still don't understand exactly what happened, but our dog got out of the car and took off (near a very busy street). Somehow, while chasing her to try to get her back into the car, my sister broke her foot.

Poor dog. Poor sister. 

[sushi]

When I had a dog she fucking loved it. If the weather was cool enough I sometimes took her on errands just because she loved it so much.

When she was an idiot puppy she tried to fall out the window after a vet appt. After that incident, no issues.

Basically my suv was a big crate to her

I'll await my flames

[scout8]

Dec 27, 2015 11:52:53 GMT -5 sushi said:

When I had a dog she fucking loved it. If the weather was cool enough I sometimes took her on errands just because she loved it so much.

When she was an idiot puppy she tried to fall out the window after a vet appt. After that incident, no issues.

Basically my suv was a big crate to her

I'll await my flames

Why is this flammable? 

[starlily]

Yes! He loves to let his ears flap in the wind. But once we hit above 40mph he curls up in the seat.

I've driven with him from SoCal to NorCal dozens of times. The only problem is that he thinks he's entitled to my road trip snacks.

[fumbalina]

My 90 lb dog loves car rides. Of course she also loves walks, being petting, chewing, food, and getting brushed so she is easy to please.

NY 42 lb dog hares car rides. He has been car sick multiple times. He used to try riding in my lap, but he has finally settled on being on the floorboard and hiding his eyes. He will get in the car because I take him to the dog park a few times a week. It is only a five minute drive though.

[wambam]

NMD, but nano absolutely loves car rides. Whenever I go on a work errand, he comes with me. He loves looking out the window and then falling asleep.

[MixedBerryJam]

Mine is meh about car rides in general but she seems to know that an exit ramp indicates the end of a ride. No matter where we are or where we are going, she's fine until I get to the off ramp then she gets all agitated and barky and woofy like, "We're there, Ma. We're almost home!" On ramps do not elicit this response, though.