So we bought the car booster seat thingy for Nelly , and she seemed to be alright in it , spoke too soon ! For the past couple of days she has cried pitifully , real heart breaking cries when put into it and I cant bear it . We don't spoil Nelly ( well not much ! ) she is treated like a dog , a real small dog so its not a case of having a Diva complex because she isn't like that at all . She is normally a very happy friendly little thing , and apart from her deafness and OCD ( slowly getting there with this ) she is as much a dog as the biggest of them , so to hear her crying is awful . As I had put the same photo of her in her car seat on FB , as I put on here in photos , I posted today that she was now very distressed about the seat and one of my so called friends implied that I was far too soft with her, then sent me a message saying that I should just stick her in , and put up with her crying, shout at her ( deaf ? ) and keep forcing her to lay down by sitting next to her for a while to force her in , and stop being so damned silly with her ! Apart from being annoyed , I now feel rotten because I did discover that Nelly had to endure long periods of time in a crate alone during the day , and I mean long periods , all day sometimes , and so I reckon she feels the same feelings of fear and entrapment with this box type seat , or I am truly losing it ? ! Needless to say , I will not be following this deluded persons advice !
A deluded ‘friend’! How was Nelly travelling previously and was she happy with it? Could you just go back to that? If you really would like her to travel in the new seat then I would think it’s a long slow process of counter-conditioning-put her in, feed, take her out etc.
She was always very happy in the car with a harness fitted to the seat belt , I only bought this seat because I thought she would be more able to look out of the window, but she obviously hates it and so really, its not worth messing about , I`ll give it to a dog charity !
Would a child's booster seat help her see out the window? She could still be strapped in with her harness. As I like to say about awful people "at least the trash took itself out". Time to unfriend that horrid "friend". There's a way to disagree with people and it's not that!
Poor little Nelly, I wonder what turned her agains the seat? Maybe her legs hurt her? It looked such a super idea, but I agree, no point in forcing her, there must be a very good reason she finds it upsetting x
Sometimes 'friends' aren't actually 'friends' and you are better off without stupid advice like that! If Nelly was happy before, I would go back to that system. It's not being soft, it's treating her as one of the family which she us x
If you'd like to keep using it, I'd start playing "hop in, hop out" games with it in the house, and extend the duration. Just normal boundary games. It might actually be a relatively quick process to get her happy with it by using this approach. But if you don't think it's necessary, then by all means, just use a booster for the same effect
Friends who talk like that aren't friends it wasn't helpful. I do spoil my dogs terribly and I am totally unrepentant about it. They didn't choose to live me so I make sure they are happy. Nelly clearly finds it hard to be in the carrier so why upset her.
I tend to lean towards the 'it was't broke so why fix It' way of thinking. If Nelly was happy in the car with a harness on the rear seat I would revert back to that. I would do some treats in the car for calm and then a short journey. FB can be a useful tool but I would probably 'unfriend' a friend that gave such unhelpful advice. Your instints are fine Kate so go with what feels right for you and Nelly xx
I think the advice was given to you with the best intentions, however misguided. Don't be too hard, just be glad that you could see it was not the best.
I’m sorry to hear Nelly now doesn’t like her seat, but I’m sure you’ll find the right solution - and I know you won’t follow that ‘advice’!
What a shame Kate. Sophie actually bought one of these for her puppies after seeing your photo of Nelly - hope they like it! Sometimes you just got to not your head (as if you are listening) then ignore and move on. It's a valuable tool.
