Axel is 11 months now. In most areas he is a great dog. But we are having troubles still with him stealing shoes, couch pillows and tea towels. Which for the most part I keep out of reach so he can't grab them in the first place. But sometimes I forget or my OH forgets. But that I can deal with. What I can't deal with is car rides!!! He loved car rides when he was a puppy. He would just sleep. But once he was too big to sit on our lap or in the front seat we moved him to the back. Which he did well for a bit then all the sudden once we started bringing him to dog parks and doggy day care he just goes crazy as soon as he's in the car. Anticipating the great fun to be had, I think. Pacing and whining, all out of excitement I believe. I started using frozen kongs, chew toys, bones, just to distract him and it works for the first couple minutes then he ignores it. Helppp
This is why I no longer walk with a puppy friend of Oban's, the dog became a menace in the car. Plus the woman always brought her baby and he was in danger from the excitement of the dog. BUT, she refused to try anything to curb this and about the only place the dog went in the car was to walk with us. So, I don't know if any of my suggestions to her worked but here they are anyway. Crate or seatbelt to protect other occupants. This will not necessarily protect the dog in a crash and that's a whole other topic you can read about at: http://www.centerforpetsafety.org/ Make a point of going somewhere boring for the dog where he doesn't get out of the car at all. The corner store to pick up a jug of milk. You probably did this anyway when he was a puppy but try to do lots more now. Even go to where he walks and drive right by without taking him out. Stop the car when he acts up. This is practically impossible to do on most roads though. I'm in a rural area and I have done it a few times on back roads. DRive a different route if you can, so he doesn't clue in to where you are going. Good luck. Hope you get some other ideas from other posters too.
Great advice from @Snowshoe. I used to just stop the car until they quietened down, but that can be difficult to do unless you choose a quiet road and remember to indicate that you are stopping I have also driven past their normal walk place, they soon learn to be settled and quiet.
I had a nightmare with Harley in the car. Nowadays she is much better. I started taking her when I popped to the garage for milk, or to the local shop, or to pick my daughter up from somewhere or even just to go for a drive around. I drove past our usual a walks and went several different routes. She now usually knows if we are going to the shop or to a walk, but has settled much better in the car. I also used adaptil for a while and it did appear to work, but not sure if it was that or she had learned to settle. It wasn't an overnight change, it took months, but was really worth doing this almost daily. I still quite often take her to the shops and she sits nicely the whole time. If we are going to agility or a friends house she will whine when we get really close (within 2 mins of the place). Hope this helps a bit.
Charlie started whining when he got to a familiar walk place, I did the usual stuff. Waited and waited and waited. But it was hopeless. The problem grew into a moaning howl on stopping the car, and then he'd start whining further and further away from the walk spot. It was absolutely and definitely about anticipation for a walk and specific to his walk places, although he'd do the moaning howl in new places too (just in case it was a walk but he was quiet up to arriving at new places). When we are going on a long journey, he knows, and just settles down (for 5 hours if we are going to Cornwall, but will start fussing 50m away from my parking space when we get there ). Stop the car, waiting for quiet before taking my selt belt off etc. just did not work. I'd get whine - stop - wait and as soon as I moved again, he'd whine. The thing that worked was rewarding quiet. I used a remote treat dispenser for this and it solved the problem within a week. I'd start dispensing treats before he whined, and keep it up until we got out of the car. Quiet = treats kept coming. Noise = treats stopped. Worked like a dream. He's not perfect now, but no longer seriously annoying.
Just on this topic, often my routine is to walk Betsy in the late afternoon and park in a small carpark on the Common. About when I'm leaving, an elderly couple are pulling up with a Collie. This dog barks. And barks. And barks. They shout at it. They stop the car and refuse to get out. The dog keeps barking. And barking. Tonight, finally, I struck up a conversation with them to try to tell them about the remote treat trainer. Oh no, she said, she'd tried everything - sprays, rattle bottles, anti-bark collars. None had done any good. Poor bl**dy dog. Probably terrified of the car stopping by now.
I am reminded that at one particular walk which we only walk at weekends, the dogs started howling like wolves, heads up and baying to the moon type howling. I must admit to finding it amusing, they of course didn't do it the whole journey, but when getting near and they always stopped at one particular place about 500 yds before we arrived! I didn't attempt to stop them. I have just realised they haven't done it for the last two months or so! I wonder why?
Harley doesn't whine when Bensons in the car, if she does he makes this bizarre howling seal noise..do you remember @Naya? Had us both giggling..
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will try all of these. Travelling with Axel is no fun. Of course after he has had a nice walk or romp at the dog park then he is perfect in the car. I'm thinking santa may buy Axel a remote treat trainer for Christmas. Any suggestions on which one to buy?
If you can stretch to it, the Treat & Train is very good. But it's about £100. There are cheaper alternatives, which don't have some of the functions, but I've not tried them. It depends if you think you need the functionality of dispensing automatically every <x> seconds, rather than pressing the button every time. If this will be your only use for it, then you're probably better off with a cheaper one. There are a few reviewed here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/electronic-treat-dispensers/
My Cavaliers were terrible for shouting in the car - same reason, excitement. I recruited my son to be a treat-for-quiet dispenser. He'd drop treats in the crate any time they were quiet. It took about here weeks, but it worked and eventually the quiet habit stuck.
