I have a puppy that is driving me completely nuts with car sickness. She has been here 2 weeks now and when we collected her she was sick several times on the way home so, I have been taking her out in the car once or twice a day just to take the kids to school so around 5 minutes. She doesnt seem to be getting any better, in fact she seems to be getting worse if anything. She drools like she has rabies as soon as she gets in the car even if we literally just go and sit in the car without starting it up. She gets herself in such a state she then starts vomiting. I have tried giving her a ginger biscuit half hour or so before as someone said it will settle her tummy but, it doesn't make a difference. She has blankets and a favourite chew as I thought that might take her mind off it, she has sat on my sons knee and I have just been taking her to the car giving her a treat and bringing her straight back in but nothing seems to help. She has to get used to it somehow as you can't possibly walk to anywhere from our house. Any help or tips would be fabulous.

Hiya,

Poor little pup sounds very frightened of the car.  You need to stop driving her around in it for the time being while you start working on this as it will only get worse unless you do it at her pace!  I'm in a bit of a mad dash at the mo so have just copied and pasted something I posted for some one else a while back that was having similar troubles and she took things really slowly and saw great improvements.

How long have you spent working up to doing very short trips though?  When you are working on something like this it is really important to start at the level the dog is comfortable with and not go passed this, and if she' drooling, then it's going to fast for her and she will have her negative feelings about the car reinforced.

When I got my girl that was terrififed of traveling, I spent a few days just feeding her by the vehicle, she had her breakfast and dinner by it and then treat time too.  I then moved on to me sitting on the seat with the door open and fed her from there, I did that for another few days and then moved on to popping her food bowl just inside the door, by the time I moved the food bowl inside enough that she had to put her feet in she was quite happy to do so.  Then we spent another few days with her in the vehicle and eating her meals and extra times for really high value treats.

Then I progressed to starting the engine but staying stationary, then I moved on to driving a couple of hundred yards and gradully built up like that.  After a month of work (and not driving her any where in the meantime so they she didn't get her fear of the car reinforced) she went from a dog that was sick, shook and drooled so much that she soaked through bedding to one that would happily get in the car and now snuggles up and goes to sleep in there  .

Not very deatailed but should give you an idea - you need to go much slower at the moment.  Two weeks is a very short period of time and she has loads of new things to deal with, your going to need to be patient and understanding with her - the car can be very scary to a lot of pups and while travel sickness can play a part, im my experience it is usually largely due to fear.  Goodluck.

How old is she? Several of my pups have been carsick at first (so was I as a child, and it's horrible) but they've all grown out of it, with help, by the time they're about a year old, although our labrador could never be taken for a drive for a few hours after she'd eaten.

Take it very slowly. For a week or so give her her meals in the car (engine off!) then take her out of it again. Then for another week you can have the engine on when she eats in the car, before you take her out of it again. Then when she's happy with that you can sit in the car with her, engine off, for a couple of minutes, then out again. Gradually extend the time in there with her, then when she's okay with that, sit in there with her with the engine on. After a week of this you can move the car a few yards then get her out again. Build it up over the weeks and she'll become used to it.

Thankyou

It is really difficult, I can't say I have ever had a puppy that has had a problem with the car. In fact mine have always loved it. The reason I am taking her out for the school run is for socialization and she seems to quite like watching the children coming out of school and having a fuss made of her. It does seem a shame that she will not be getting out for any socialization and to be honest I thought she would just get over the car if we kept perservering with it and she found that it was nothing to be worried about, she is in general quite an outgoing puppy. I cannot walk to anywhere from where I live it is a case of having to go in the car. The vets is a good 15 minute drive from me and she has been for her first jab so needs to go for her second next week. I have been just sitting in the car with her without starting it up and will continue with the treats, etc and stop taking her out unless I really have to ;-)

for long journeys you can give sea legs ask vet as depend on weight of the pup how mcuh you give. No food before travelling any distance.

You are best crating her and covering the crate with a blanket part of the feeling of  sickness or drooling is watching the traffic pass. Once she becomes happier in the crate and she is less stressed begin lifting the sides of the blanket one side at a time over weeks, eventually you can remove it and in time she will not require the crate at all.

I have a bitch who suffered badly with car sickness I tried everything, using the crate was a last resort it worked well and surprisingly quickly.

Dont give up.

Roni

My last dog had awful car sickness like this. I found she started to get over it once she learned to lay down in the car, when they're standing it must make journeys pretty uncomfortable to say the least.
To get her to settle quicker, you could try wearing her out a little with lots of play, then when she starts to get tired, pop her in the car (crated with a would be good) while you just sit with her and read a book. As has been said, lots of positive associations like mealtimes help too. When you do have to take her in the car, try to make the trips have a positive, fun outcome.

Hope she gets over it soon.

> I have a puppy that is driving me completely nuts with car sickness

I don't call what you describe, as car sickness.  Drooling is stress.  I had a Border Collie that suffered dreadfully, he literally soaked me through with drool.  I took months to gradually desensitize him.

my bitch drooled with the occasional vomit but once I learned not to feed her before travelling she only drooled . She wasnt bothered about the car as such jumped in with excitement about going out but after around 5 mins of the car moving  she would start. The advice to use  a crate was  given to me by my dog trainer/behaviourist ..it solved our problem.
Of course you have to decide what is best for your dog.

Our female was the same never was sick but drooled constantly, she too grew out of it in time, i was the same as a child, even so it got that bad i couldnt even get down our drive in the car, used to drive my dad crazy,

I must be a hard Mum!:)  I travel a lot normally and often drive 1000 miles in a new pup's first month here and rarely short trips.  I put them in the back of the estate car in a covered box/crate and just keep going. :)
All of my pups are taken for eye testing at 6-7 weeks and I've found over the years, they do better in covered boxes rather than open crates, when I used to get pees poos and sick.  As adults they's often drool for months. :(  Apart from their distress, it would take me half an hour to clean them up enough to take them into the surgery! 
Once I started to put them in covered boxes, I've never had problems with either end and after that first trip, none of my pups have been car sick since.

same here westcoast covered crate and they are fine.

a few years ago we took the dogs to Windermere for a day out.. a couple of hours away. Put 'travelsick' dog in her crate cover it up etc etc: arrived fine.. got out had a lovely day . Arrived back at the car  for our return journey home to find a large piece of paper under the wiper with the words 'ba*****s' we can only presume whoever left it thought we had left a dog in the car in a crate and covered it up !!!
I often wonder who did it and if they sat and waited for our return ..someone without the bottle to approach us....they couldnt have been more wrong.

Roni

Thanks everyone for your help.

Little lady is now sleeping in her crate at night with no problems and I will start taking that out in the car for her with a cover ;-)
I had her in the car with me yesterday while I gave it a clean and she didn't drool then she was just shaking a little so thats an improvement.

I know what its like as im going through it just now with my young goldie and she is just 6months now....but we are getting there,she is not really sick so much now,but drools for england.
I have done the ginger biscuit and the newspaper and brown paper but it didnt work.
I was in PAH and saw some johnsons travel-eze tablets to help reduce travel sickness, i thought it cant hurt to give them a try and they did help alot with the sickness and are only herbal tablets.....so worth trying i thought.....only a form of ginger.
She still drools but i can put up with that,i just felt so sorry when she kept being sick,she is still a bit nervous of going to the car,but with lots of encouragement she goes.
My other dogs never had a problem with the car....but as with us we and they are all different.

I hope you can solve the sickness soon.

Ive gave this advice before. My old gran used it for children who were travel sick. Ive used it on two dogs before and it worked for me. Put a scrunched up newspaper several layers thick under the dog. I dont know why but it works. My pitt bull sadly gone now and one of my ISBTs were terrible car sick at first. This seemed to work in days. Nothing to lose but yesterdays paper for a trial. I found keeping the dog down in the front footwell helped also. Possibly due to not being able to see and low centre of gravity. Also easier to comfort down there. Good Luck

I had a rough collie that was sick everytime it when in the car short or long distances and also when he went to his first show. Sue Marshal who some of the old collie people might remember said use Sea Legs but only on a long distance journey nothing for short journeys but end the short journey with a run over a park or field. Long journeys give a child's dose of sea legs at 8pm the evening before and then the same again an hour before the journey, we also tried leaving the back of the car open and just sitting in the car with the collie for a short period to let them know that everytime he get in a car you are not necessary going out. The first long journey I tried the Sea Legs on was when we went to buith wells he drippled a bit but was not sick and went into the ring and got placed. We used the sea legs the same way on 3 more champ shows which seems to break the cycle of being sick after that he never looked backed, he was never sick again and he lived until he was 16yrs. We would sometimes find him laying the back of the car asleep this was a dog I thought I was never going to show or enjoy taking him on long distance rides. I kept his sister and she was totally different never sick.