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April 19, 2011

My dog has automobile anxiety and is nearly unmanageable when on board. What would you suggest?

Full Question:
I searched your site and couldn't find anything close to my situation.

My 4 year old Irish Setter has automobile anxiety. She pants, whines, whimpers, drools and is generally anxious and overly excited in the car. She loves to go on car rides and gets very excited when she knows we are driving and even leaps in the car at the first chance. The problem is that she is nearly unmanageable when on board. I have tried letting her roam, as well as hooking her up on a short lead to the car seat D-ring. Same behavior in either case.

She is my forth Irish Setter in over 25 years of having these wonderful dogs. I'm very good at obedience training this breed. Most people are impressed with my Setters because they don't exhibit the stereotypical 'hyper' behavior. In all other environments, other than the car, she's an absolute angel. In fact, she flies with me in my airplane and always settles in very quickly to either calmly watch outside or just go to sleep (I think the drone of the engine helps). My only theory is the fast movement of the things outside the car stimulates her 'chase it' instincts. I've considered blindfolds/blinders or crating her, but haven't tried it yet. I'm hoping you may have some thoughts on the issue.
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
I would definitely go the route of using the crate in the vehicle, if for no other reason than safety.

You can also search our site for more info. I turned up this thread from our forum by typing in vehicle anxiety. Typing in different search terms may find more info as well.

You may also want to try Rescue Remedy before car rides until you get the issue sorted out.

Cindy Rhodes

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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