My German Shepherd whines a lot in the car, especially when we stop or slow down. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi Cindy - I have 2 German Shepherd dogs - a 20 month old recently neutered male that we got as a pup, and an 18 month old intact female we have had since September. Both get daily obedience training and play at home, and professional training (obedience and scent work). Plenty of exercise - between 3-6 miles of walking daily. Both are attentive, eager to please and have pleasant demeanors. Male is more boisterous. Dogs ride in back of our SUV in a 2 dog crate with a divider. The male loves rides, but he also whines A LOT in the car, especially in town at slower speeds. On the highway, whining generally stops. When parked or at a stoplight, the whining stops, but starts again when the car starts moving. Behavior started long before we got the female. Crate is covered with a blanket. “Leave it” command has been unsuccessful. Male is on a prong collar. No whining at all from female, but she is starting to be affected by verbal corrections to male. Any suggestions?

I like the idea of crating him in the car, even if we aren’t going anywhere and the car never leaves the driveway. I have not tried that yet. I will give that a shot. He gets to go for rides from time to time but I will increase that number of times he gets to go with me, to anywhere I go.

I am at the very beginning phase of working with an ecollar so if I go that route with him, we will certainly look at addressing the “whining in the car.” Our trainer has been looped in on this but we haven’t started to work on it with her.

Thank you very much for your quick response, and sorry for my slow reply. I just saw your answers and suggestions this morning!!! I need to log on to the Leerburg site a little more frequently!!!