Has anyone got any ideas? Tally is 10 months and barks in the car, she is in the boot with a dog grate thingy, she has her bed and a couple of toys in there. I dont think she is scared as she loves being in the car and jumps in as soon as she can, but then she barks, sometimes she barks at cars passing..sometimes she just barks at nothing, I dont think she is excited either as she barks on the way to the park and on the way back, we have tried talking to her etc to reassure her, puppy school told us to tach her to sit while not looking at her..which should help..but she just barks from a sit position now! we give her treats etc when she is quiet..but this still doesnt help..and she just hasnt twigged..we are now stopping every time she barks..to try and show that we get nowhere when she makes noise..but I really dont think this works!!  anyone any ideas what might be causing this..its slowly driving us round the bend!!

Thanks, Kellie

Have you thought of covering the crate completley?  With a blanket or similar?  DO make sure she's not going to get too hot though...

hi, it is a grate- rather than  crate...just keeps her in the back of the car area..

O dear..umm 'stoping when she barks so she knows you won't get far'..I dont think so!! I think you need to train you dog that going in the car is a regular thing, I would put her in the car for a few  mins at a time on her blanket at home, pref. after a little walk while you sit in the car ignoring her (radio on low if you like look at a book or something),without the stimulus of passing traffic she will  settle down, then take her out and praise. Obviously DO NOT DO THIS WHEN THE CAR IS HOT. You need to repeat this lots of times. If the car is in view of the garden put her in for a little while you mow the lawn or garden! :-) Not where she can see exciting things though like children playing) She will soon get the idea the car is another place to sleep.  :-P At the moment she obviously viewes it as exciting..full of noise,going to a 'walk place' part of the hunt with things moving passed. Hope this works, I always did it with young dogs before they started going to shows as part of their general training.

Then getting a crate may well help....  Stopping the car will only help if she's excited about *going* somewhere, if it's simply all the stuff going on outside the car, then it won't help, because the 'stuff' is still there....

Shape the absence of barking; ignore the noise and as soon as there is silence, click and treat; she wont twig on to this straight away but it DOES work.  I expect she is barking from excitement.

tohme  :-)That sounds very simple and clever..I am too old to have been taught 'clicker training' but it sounds an excellent and quick solution!!!

Hi

thanks for this, we have been rewarding silence..but there just isnt much of it!! will park the car in the back garden tonight and leave the boot open for her to sit in while we do something dull, and see how she goes!

thanks again!

Hi LV ..hope it works..sounds as if you are in for a fun evening :-) if it is not too hot (open windows anyway)  close the boot so you get the 'normal circumstances' Not being  'a clicker trainer' am reluctant to advise but think 'thome' will correct if I am wrong..You could combine the two? After the dog has been quiet in the car for a while click and treat.. remove dog from car..repeat later?

Yep Reddoor....... thats pretty much it.

Reward for being quiet, ignore everything else.

Also making the car a much more normal and boring place to be will help, id suspect its a combination of exciting things giong on outside, and the fact that the car usually m eans going somewhere exciting.

I did have the (mis)fortune to once travel regularly with an OES who barked in the car. He barked once he was sure we were going to the park..... if he thought we were going to the park and we passed the turn off and went to the supermarket instead he had 'EH, WOT' written all over his hairy face! hahaha.

Once you get over the 'car is exciting' part, move on to  'car moving is exciting' by going to realllllllly borrrrrrring places.

Also, cover the crate, so nothing can be seen, then you can easily get to do the 'car goes to boring places' by going round the block and home, etcetc.

Fortunately none of my own dogs bark in the car, since i dont own one, if they did id have the devil of a job training them out of it, adn the thought of them doing it on the bus or train is awful!!!!!

Em