Today was a very stressful day. Actually, my life has been fairly stressful for the past week or so, and today just topped it off. I have been trying to apply to colleges, get a job, etc for a while, and have been slacking off when it comes to exercise and training with Dewey.

Today I got a job and had to go into town to get some paperwork signed. I was feeling rather bad about leaving Dewey home all day again, and figured I would let him tag along. He does get pretty anxious in the car because he associates it with going running, hiking, to training class, etc, so I usually put the bark collar on him so that when I leave the car, he doesn't bark himself into a frenzie. (There were times in the past where he covered every surface of my car in slobber from panicking)

Anyway, I never crate him in the car because he paces and rubs his nose until it bleeds. I have a Ford Explorer Sport, and the back seats fold down to make a nice level trunk of the back of the car. Usually Dewey will just lay back there and whine a little, but not move around much. Today, because he had a lot of pent up energy (my fault), he was squirming around and writhing on the floor. Then his paw (about halfway up his leg) slipped into the space between the two seats that were folded down, and it got stuck there. He was thrashing around and screeching, and of course the collar was shocking him because he was making noise, and he just keeping pulling and screeching and panicking. I tried to calm him down but it didn't help. Finally I just grabbed onto his leg to get him to stop yanking on it, and once he slowed down a little I managed to get it un-stuck.

Now he was really really anxious (understandabally) in the car the rest of the day. He kept trying to crawl onto me and was shaking and his eyes were huge- he was very stressed.

I'm afraid this is something I might not be able to help him get over. I know I shouldn't have brought him with (and he should be crated) but it did happen and now I don't know where to go from here. I'm really sad that this happened. I was under a lot of stress already, and so I started yelling at him (which I also shouldn't have done) and made it worse than it already was.

I'm just feeling like a really bad dog owner today. On top of that, I brought him to play with my mom's dog and her new puppy, and he was hackling and growling a lot, which he never does.

Oh, just very stressed today. Thanks for listening to my ramble.

I don't have any advice but I just wanted to say I am sorry all of this is happening. I know how stressed you are feeling and this must have really topped your day off I think others here will have good advice for your pup, but til then maybe enjoy a glass of wine and a bubble bath hope your week gets better!

Karissa,

Shoulda, woulda, coulda... we've all been there.

Personally, for me, having a dog secure in the car is really, really important. I hear you about him pacing in the hard cage and rubbing his nose... maybe a soft crate somehow secured or an enclosed one like an airline crate?? (Just brainstorming here).

But back to your issue...My thoughts: Dogs live in the moment. The sooner you let go of this issue, the easier it will be for the dog to let go as well. If he sees you get tense every time you put him in the car, then it will feed his fear. It might take a while, but I suspect with marker training, short little trips (just down the driveway at first, etc...) you can get this guy back to loving going for a ride.

Don't even try to take him anywhere in the car - just play "crate games" in the car.

You'll do fine. Relax.

My only thought is to tell you that he will get over it, he will forgive you, there will be better days in the car, and he will remember those.

I wouldn't even assume that he'll remember it next time.
Tomorrow, take a short drive around the neighborhood, and pretend nothing ever happened.

He may be completely over it.

Sometimes our "braced for the freak out" approach is what causes repeat anxiety in dogs. They're not actually anxious about something bad happening until they see our anxiety. We're validating that they have something to be afraid of in the first place.

If not, then definitely use Barbara's crate games suggestion.
If need be, pull the car into the garage and use the car as one giant crate, and feed meals in there for awhile.

We had an internationally-known competitor and SV judge at the club for a trial and seminar last year.

He related a similar story about a young puppy he purchased. The dog was pretty traumatized by the trip home.

To get the dog desensitized, he took a lot of small steps. Open the door, treat. Done. Repeat until the dog is back in the comfort zone.

Close the door, treat / play. Done.

Start engine, back to the end of the drive, treat / play.

Continue expanding the dog's comfort zone until he starts to really look forward to rides.

Eventually, this dog got the point where rides were fun again as were helicopters and SWAT busts.

Thanks guys, you're right! I do need to chill out!

We have the benefit of being objective- it wasn't our dog panicking next to us.

We'd be equally as upset in your shoes.

Also... keep in mind the breeds tendency to be umm...
Dramatic?

I wouldn't assume he was traumatized. He'll follow your lead if you're confident and nonchalant about things.

Go have a glass of wine.

I have a very clumsy dog who's been caught a few times - like the day he decided to run across a rope bridge...d'oh. The best way I've found to stop a dog thrashing around and hurting itself further is to grab his scruff with both hands, apply a little upwards pressure while squeezing tightly - everytime I've done it with a dog they've relaxed almost immediately. Just in case it happens again.

 Quote: Aaron Myracle

Also... keep in mind the breeds tendency to be umm...
Dramatic?

Would you mind going into a bit more detail w/that?