Whining in the car

[Holly Doodle]

I was wondering if anyone else has had issues with whining in the car. Holly has always loved car rides, we even took her on two 14 hour car rides to and from Colorado with no problems. Just in the last month she has started whining profusely every time we take her anywhere. It doesn't seem like a fearful whine, it's almost more extreme excitement. It's 10 times worse when we take our trip to doggie daycare every Wednesday. We've started to put her in her kennel in the back of my husbands SUV but that hasn't seemed to help. We also tried ignoring her and then praising her when she stops, but as soon as we praise her she starts to whine again! It gets really bad, if she's not in her kennel she tries to stand up and turn in the seat, but her harness keeps her in place. We always make her sit and wait before leaving the house and before getting in the car so she's in a somewhat calm state, but I need some ideas to stop this bad habit before it becomes permanent. Thank you!

[Ellen]

Is Holly very food motivated? If so, you may want to consider praising her with treats if there's two of you in the car. Does she whine only when you take her to daycare? Or does she whine every time that she's in the car (e.g., when you take her to the vet). If it's only when you take her to daycare, then I bet she knows that she's going to daycare and that's why she's so excited.

Riley whines only when he goes to daycare or when we accidentally mention "dog park" (so, now we spell out P-A-R-K -- he hasn't caught on to that one yet!). He knows that he goes to daycare a couple of days a week and that we always leave early in the morning, so even if we don't say Woofs (the name of his daycare), he just seems to know that he's going there (and he LOVES Woofs). He'll start whining about 2 blocks from home, and the whining intensifies as we get closer. Since he has a pretty good "settle" (which means lie down for him) we'll ask him to settle and give him treats in the back seat if he stays in a settle position and remains quiet. That works fine when there's two of us in the car because the passenger can feed Riley the treats and can repeat the command if he pops back up. But it's harder when I'm driving by myself. Riley will settle down for about 30 seconds and then he'll pop back up and start whining. So, I have an open bag of treats right next to me (like Zukes' bite size chicken treats), and I'll toss a treat back to him if he's quiet. Since I live only about 15 minutes away from daycare, and there are several traffic stops on the way over there, I'll just reach over and toss a treat to him at every traffic stop so that I'm not distracted while driving. He's somewhat figured out that if he whines, no treat at the next traffic stop. It doesn't work all of the time, but the whining is significantly less. I'm interested to know what others have tried....thanks for posting this question.

Good luck!!

[Holly Doodle]

Treats are a great idea, we use them for everything else so I don't know why I didn't think of treats for this! I think the hardest part may be getting her to be quiet long enough to get one :). It's funny how Riley knows where you're going, I think Holly must too, these doods are too smart!

[CElizabeth Stevenson]

All of you "human pets" of your doodles are going to get a kick out of this--- I also had the whining
problem in the car. Last weekend I had to take a trip to see my sister in Red Wing- a trip of about
60 miles. As soon as we got in the car, here comes the "whining"... after about 7 miles I decided that
I needed the car washed. Ha! Cady had never been in a car wash and didn't like it at all. But. After
that car wash, NO WHINING the rest of the way. It reminded me of that old adage "the old folks" used
to tell us----'If you want to whine, I'll give you something to whine about!' LOL. Well it did the trick.
Furthermore when we were coming back the next day, NO WHINING. Now. Has anyone got any
wisdom about jumping up and biting on you like you're another dog wanting to play???????

[Holly Doodle]

That is too funny, I've gotta try it!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca often whines, or I call it whimpering, in the car. I think it usually means he wants to get out and walk or ply or anything. It is very annoying. He'll stop briefly if I reprimand him.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Webber whines when the car slows down at our destination...the pet food store, Ronald MacDonald House, a doggy play date, the Dog Park. It is because he knows where he is going and is excited. I haven't tried to stop it, as it is only brief. Going to new places, or long, long rides there isn't any whinning. I don't know how you stop anticipation unless you treat it like alert barking. Say no and praise.

[Adina P]

We had this problem with Thule. She was just way overexcited to go ANYWHERE...never solved it.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

perhaps try the crate again with a sheet over it so she can't see where you're going? You could also give her a bone or some other treat so she has something to focus on while in the crate.

[CElizabeth Stevenson]

Yup, I've got the whining problem also with Cady. I think it started when she was really little and then
I would hold her when in the car. Now since she's in the back she thinks she's alone. Sometimes
these doodles are very weird- I say that in a smiley way.... We took a long road trip last weekend and
she was sandwiched between my daughter and I and she was perfectly happy!! She loves to be rubbed
and petted. I personally think she's lonely in the back of the car and perhaps fearful???

[Holly Doodle]

Thanks everyone! It's good to know I'm not the only one who has this issue :). We'll try some of your suggestions and definitely let you know if we find anything that works!

[Ann Kendig]

My Sheba does this too. We have taken her to Florida, Utah and Canada from Ohio last year. Now she has started whining in the car. I think she just gets excited about going somewhere! I have noticed though it seems she whines less in the back of my jeep than what she does in the back of my husband's car. I think she feels more comfortable in the jeep but, she still whines. Most times I am able to stop her by saying "No Sheba". While I say that I snap my fingers.
I wish I could offer you some good advice on how to stop this behavior. I look forward to reading the responses when I get done with my post. I need help with this too!! Good luck to you!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Gracie Doodle only whines when we are nearing a familiar place like the park or the beach. She gets very excited and stands up and looks out the windows dancing around waiting for me to park the car. Otherwise, she rides silently.