Hello everyone. I have a lovely lab retriever who is now 11 months old. His name is Bailey.I've had him from 7 months old and is a male. On the whole his behaviour is very good and he is very friendly to all. My problem starts when we go for a drive in the car. He barks, whines and paces around in the back. Sometimes he lies down for a while but then suddenly gets up and starts all over again. The first 2 months he was perfect. Just watches the world go by and went to sleep. We have had no "near misses" with the car that could have shook him up. Here is what I have tried so far. Getting him into the car well before we leave so he can calm down. Letting him have the whole of the back of the car to move around in. Putting his favourite toys in with him. Put his bed in the back. Let him poke his nose out the side window. Giving him a bone to chew on (Partially works) Talking to him Put him on the back seat instead of the back. Sometimes he lies down and there is no problem until we enter a built up area and then he starts again. I dont understand why this behaviour suddenly started, out of the blue so to speak. I really would appreciate suggestions from our members.......Thanks so much.......John
Hi John, that must be really frustrating for you. Pippa has written about dogs who hate the car over on our sister site, you might find some useful tips you haven't tried yet there. I'd also consider talking to his vet about the possibility of motion sickness, in which case there are travel sickness pills for dogs that might help. Good luck!
My pup has also started sometimes crying and barking in the car also. She used to love being in the car but sometimes she barks for no reason and it's LOUD - this just started in the last 2 weeks (She's now 17 weeks and I've been taking her regularly in the car with me since she was 8 weeks old). What I did find, is that one time when she was barking, when we got out of the car and she had to poop, so now I'm curious if that's the reason. Next time she does it, I'm going to pull somewhere and see if she has to go potty and if that stops the barking. I sure hope it stops, it's really annoying. The only thing I can do is give her a stuffed kong or some chew treat to occupy her and she doesn't bark when I do that.
