Hiya, a few questions here....

Our dog is recovering from a very slight cruciate ligament tear, he's progressing though it's a very slow process. First question is we've noticed he's quite jumpy in the car, getting up, lying down, going from one side to the other.  Is this likely to be caused by discomfort in his leg?  He used to do it a bit but only on a long car journey, say after 4 hours (even with a walk in the middle) but now he's doing it after just 5 minutes.

On to the next part of the story....  We have to go to Devon next weekend and as we live in Scotland it's a 9+ hour journey.  If the dog's going to be distressed we don't want to take him, but the only alternative is to leave with him with my mum and dad, and to be honest I can't really trust them to take the very careful care he needs at the moment!!  They have a dog of their own, my dad can live in his own little world sometimes and although they have promised to be really really careful, it would just take one incident of letting them out the back door at the same time, charging about the garden for Salty's leg to take a big backwards step, and it's taken us long enough to get to this stage.  I also don't think they'd be able to give him his 3 x 30 minutes short-lead walks a day, they're just too busy.  Plus they think I'm overreacting to the whole thing as Salty's symptoms are very subtle (barely noticeable stiffness in the evening) so even though I've said he must not have a 45 minute walk, I can't guarantee they won't over exercise him.  Aahh!

My husband really needs me for moral support down in Devon (mother issues) so I have to go.... and someone suggested we get some sedatives for the dog so that he doesn't pace for the whole journey and would hopefully just relax.  Does that sound like a stupid idea? If it is the leg that is bothering him could it cause more damage?  We have a physio appointment on Wednesday so I will ask then but I just thought I'd see if anyone here had any thoughts.  Wow this leg is making life difficult at the moment!!! 

Thanks, Kathryn 

I would contain him in a crate regardless of the injury.  this will stop the moving around in the car which is not only apt to make him feel queasy, but is dangerously distracting.

Combination of crate and sedative during the journey would do the job.

Does he have a really comfy bed in the car? Mine will stand or pace if they don't have their memory foam bed with fleece cover, if they have their super comfy bed they just lie down :-) Also if he's only getting restless after 4 hours is he having his normal walk part way through the journey, with opportunity to go to the loo? I recently drove from Edinburgh to Kent with my lot and one of them won't go the toilet on the lead, so this meant planning 2 stops off motorway with safe areas for free running :-)

Edited to say I wouldn't sedate just for this, as sedation can have side effects.

Also I do agree about not leaving him behind, I wouldn't trust anyone else either to look aftr one of mine at such a crucial stage in his recovery :-)