SERIOUS Car Sickness

[Carol and Truffle]

I take Truffle to work with me, because it's just hubby (who also works full-time +) and I & I live too far away to come home to let her out & not have her crated for long periods of time.

I work full-time but as a supervisor do have considerable flexibility. Nevertheless, it is a 20 minute drive either way between home & work.

When we brought her home from the breeder at 8.5 weeks old , it was a 7 hour drive & she got sick twice on the ride home. She is now 13.5 weeks old.

I had a week off where I didn't have to put her in the car again, except for the day after Gotcha-Day for a 15-minute-each-way trip to the vet.

After that I began driving her to work with me daily. She showed serious car anxiety & the following long weekend (Memorial Day), my husband and I worked hard on desensitizing her to the car without having to take her anywhere.

We made some tiny progress, but she never willingly walks up to the car to get in. I always have to pick her up (and she is clearly very unwilling to be put in the car).

Since then we take 1 step forward and 2 steps back, with her throwing up every few days (and unfortunately 3x this week). 

• She associates the door into/out of my work as related to having to get into the car. 
• She associates me putting the leash on her at predictable times at home as meaning that we are going to the car & she hides in the back of her crate (at least she considers her crate as a safe place).
• She knows the time of day at my office when we would be heading home & she nows goes to the back of her work-place crate to avoid having to head out to the car.
• I've learned not to let her have food within an hour of putting her in the car.
• I've learned to turn the car on & let the AC run long enough to cool it off.

Knowing her hate of the car has seriously curtailed us taking her around town to get experiences (she threw up on the way home from Lowes!).

My choices seem very limited at this point: to continue to have to expose her to car rides (20 minutes, twice a day), or to leave her at home, all alone, crated for 4-5 hours at a time (her housebreaking so far has been stupendous & I think she could hold it that long - but she'd be all alone; folks at my office are true dog people & this week she has finally come out of her shell and has enjoyed playing with people).

I'M DESPERATE FOR SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO ADDRESS THIS! Everyone has helped Stacy & Maggie so much ... I'm hoping to hear some great guidance here.

Thanks, everyone, in advance.

[Carol and Truffle]

... there are no words -- HORROR!

[Carol and Truffle]

Thanks ... slow baby steps

[Carol and Truffle]

LOL well she does want to be with me, but she surely wishes I would stop this particular torment :)

[Carol and Truffle]

Well, a few steps back :(

Yesterday was Truffle's 2nd Puppy Playgroup drop-in session. She had a GREAT TIME. Nothing to eat beforehand

There were 4 other pups, all around her age and for 45 minutes they ran & chased & chomped & drank when thirsty.

On the way home, Truffle looked concerned & was panting but of course it's hot here even with the AC blowing directly on her (which I always do these days).

We pulled into our driveway & she promptly threw up all of the water that she drank during playtime. :( 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Sorry. You have had some improvements so hopefully this is just a glitch in her forward progress. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Here is the first thing that came to my mind ... she romped and played and drank a bunch of water (I use that term lightly as I don't know how much she drank), but she had an empty stomach before she left home and then she drank. Maybe try a few pieces of kibble or like a ginger snap and a little down time before heading straight to the car.  I would also watch how much water she drinks and how quickly she drinks it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree with this.

Guzzling water during or after playing sometimes made JD throw up.

[Carol and Truffle]

Thanks for this feedback. Afterwards I did believe that gulping all that water probably was the cause. Wasn't sure what to do though. I'll try some food (just a little) & some downtime before actually driving away.

She actually does now walk more easily towards the car than before. She won't walk right up to the car door, but she doesn't plant her feet and sit resisting-ly as far away from the car as she was previously. So I need to count that too as a baby-step measure of progress. :)

... by the way - is there any way to insert emoji smileys into a post?

[Carol and Truffle]

Truffle had a vet appointment for her 3rd set of shots today. In spite of the intermittent throwing up, she gained 5 pounds in 5 weeks, weighed in at 18.6 lbs at 15 weeks + 2 days.

She's not an 'aggressive eater' so I've been somewhat concerned about whether she is eating enough (even if she throws some of it up later) ... vet was not concerned at all about her weight.

She actually now will walk to the car without particular hesitation (although she does not yet 'eagerly' approach the car) so that then I can pick her up and put her in the car.

I have to count all of these progressions as baby step successes!!! :)

[Marlo]

Hi there, realize it’s a very late reply but thought I’d relate my story in case it helps. I have two young labradoodles, the second is a rescue with all sorts of issues. Milly would throw up every single time she got in the car. She wouldn’t jump in, so I’d lift her in. She would pant and lick her lips and sit very rigidly. It got to the point where the longest I could drive for without her throwing up was 6 minutes. And that was only if I didn’t take too many corners so I became an expert at finding the straightest routes with least amount of curves and corners! We tried medication but it didn’t help. I then worked with a dog trainer and we got her spending a few minutes at a time each day getting her jumping in and out of the car by herself. (With awesome treats of course). She was just scared. I’m very happy to report that once she realized she could jump in all by herself herself It transformed her. No more panting etc and I even took her for a 4 hour drive and she loved every minute. It was pretty much an instant fix. She now comes with me everywhere I go and I only have to say the word car and she starts wiggling. Phew. Hope you manage to solve your issue as I know just how hard it is.

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Marie, WOW what an inspirational story of "never giving up".  Amazing how the one action of getting  Milly to jump in and out of the car broke her anxiety and fears of 'the car'.  Thank you so much for sharing.  

[Carol and Truffle]

Thanks for this. Truffle's car sickness has not improved. We seem to take 1 step forward with comfort & then something happens and she throws up for a couple of days in a row & so a huge setback. I actually now have to change jobs, beginning Monday & I can't (as of yet but hope for the future) take her with me. Still trying to figure out what to do. 

But she has a german shepherd mix that adores so my daughter & I over the weekend & next week are going to take her to visit my friend with the german shepherd & then take everyone driving around. Hoping that her joy & excitement at being with Charlie will distract her from her anxiety & nauseousness & get her over the hump. Kind of like Milly realizing that jumping wasn't so scary after all.