Can anyone advise me on the best way to stop my year old wheaten terrier from continually barking while travelling in the car. She barks at bikes, horses, lorries - in fact anything & nothing & seems to be getting worse. I realise she sees the car as her terratory & is therefore protecting it but it can be very distracting to me driving. She travels behind a dog-guard -but is otherwise not a "barky" dog. Any suggestions gratefully received! I wondered about a crate but the ones made to fit the boot are very expensive.

My three wheatens bark in the car, if you find a cure please let us know we would all love to stop them barking.

Sorry I have not found anything to stop them barking and mine travel in crates, friends who have them behind guards find the same thing.  Perhaps she is excited about going somewhere nice, does she bark out of the car ie at tractors or bikes.  Have you been back to your breeder and what does she suggest also e mail me privately and I will send you a couple of leaflets on barking etc

Have a friend sit in the back seat of the car armed with a clean squeezy bottle filled with cold water (put the bottle in the freezer to make sure that the water is very cold). Every time the dog barks, whines, growls, howls or starts at passing objects give the dog a good squirt in the face and say 'No !' very firmly. You may have to do this several times for it to sink in with a well seasoned delinquent.

The squeezy bottle method didn't work with my dogs. It just made them bark more. They thought it was a good game

The only way I stopped my dogs from barking in the car was to take them 200 yards down the road and let them out for a pee at the side of the road in the first lay-by I pass. They then thought that they had been somewhere and would settle down in the car for the rest of the journey. Thankfully only one of mine barks now. I really don't fancy driving for 8-10 hours to get to a show with a dog barking the whole way :D The one that barks doesn't do shows ;)

i believe you can get DAP in aerosol form now, for poor travellers etc. Dont know anyone whose tried it though.

Try putting your dog in a crate and then cover it with a blanket so that your dog can't see all the moving objects which are causing the excitment/arousal in the first place.

Praise her when she's quiet and once she is used to travelling quietly start to slowly expose the crate by peeling the blanket back a little at a time.  Praise her when she is quiet.  Gradually keep exposing more of the crate (as long as she remains quiet with this level of exposure) until you can remove it altogether.

Having the crate low down so she can't see out of windows helps too.  Crating your dog when travelling is the safest way to travel anyway so it's a double bonus if it works!

Crating your dog when travelling is the safest way to travel anyway.  I would always prefer a trained uncaged dog to a caged/crated one ; if someone runs into the back of the car odds-on you will not be able to get your dog out.

But if you are hurt and dog is loose and injured it can become aggressive to anyone trying to help you and it and so hampers rescue.  Also, if windows smash or doors burst open you have escaped frightened dogs running onto motorways etc.  Being crated also prevents them being thrown through windows if you have to brake in an emergency, or hitting you in the head from behind and causing you severe brain damage. 

aboistop anti bark collar is a good way to stop the dog barking. they get a small blast of cold air under their chin and it distracts them from barking. you can get the odourless one it is good because the other one has a nasty lemon smell citroneela (sp?)
you can buy them off Ebay for about £40 and they are very effective, they dont hurt the dog either so they are better than those electric shock collars you get.

I agree with Suzieque's suggestions, also with the DAP idea.
Also try travelling often to boring places with no walks. But the covering the crate idea should do it :)

Re securing the dog: I'm a member of New Forest Dog and an email came round for us all to look out for a dog who had escaped from a car after his owner had an accident and the rescuers let the dog out whilst helping him. The dog was scared and ran off despite his owners calls, and was sadly found dead at the side of the road shortly after (next day i believe).

Lindsay
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