Hi,

I have two Miniature Schnauzers, 5 & 6 and they have always been happy to go/stay anywhere with us, until now that is.

Approx 2 weeks ago, the eldest started panting in the back of the car, with her ears corkscrewed back.  We did the usual things like giving her a drink and taking her for a walk, considered the fact that she might be feeling sick etc. When we got home, she reverted to being OK immediately.  This went on for a couple of days, every time we took her out in the car. Then we had to come home from where we were staying with my mum and thought that a 4/5 hour journey should convince her that there was nothing wrong but no she continued to pant for the whole journey, even squealing when we got out to go and use the loos at the Service Station.  After getting home we decided to leave it for a few days before putting her into the car again (she gets in quite happily) but I am afraid that 60 seconds down the road and she is off again.

After the first couple of times, we have pretended that we are ignoring her when she carries on like this but I am very worried that all this panting must be putting quite a strain on her little body.  Incidentally, the boy dog, just looks at her like she has gone wrong in the head, he cannot seem to see a problem with going out in the car, after all, isn't it the car that takes you to lots of linteresting places for "Walkies"?  We intend to take her to the vets about this, but thought I would ask the real "experts" first.

Jangles

hi
one of the people who I live with has a dog that was fine in the car and then one day she thought it was horrid, even though it took her to nice places like walks.  my friend has used a DAP diffuser from the vets, which simulate the hormones produced from the dam when the pups are young, this has taken the edge off it but will probably take a while, this dog is known to just decide one day that something is horrible, and then it is alright again after a while.  keep taking her in the car with really nice things at the end of it and good luck

I'd suggest that you spend a day or two desensitizing the dog to riding in the car.  When you start this make the rides only a few minutes long.  Then stop, get out and play with the dog.  Make the next sequence a few minutes longer, then get out and play some more.  Repeat this, slowly increasing the length of the ride. 

It could also be that there's some nausea occurring.  I'd suggest trying some ginger to counteract this.  You should be able to find it in a good pet store.  They may also have some other products designed to help with this problem. 

You might also try bringing along some bedding that the dog sleeps on to make it more familiar to him. 

Panting is often a sign of stress and it seems that your dog has found something that's not pleasant about the ride.  If you make the rides more fun, you may change his mind. 

you could try caging her in the car, this might make her feel a bit safer and snug, if she has had a fright, in the car. i.e  like being thrown about if stoped to qiuck,

you could also give her a few drops of resuce remedy ( boots the chemist) to calm her down

jackie

Hi again,

Lou....I considered that she might  be feeling sick but as soon as she gets out of the car for a walk she forgets to pant and looks fine and as soon as she gets home, it's straight for the toys and brings one to us to play with her immediately. Having said that, we will keep trying to desensitise her with short trips then fun and if this continues will also try the ginger

Jackie...I don't think that she has been thrown around in the car (and I am sure I would have remembered it) as they are both harnessed to seat belts but as for a crate, we gave up on that idea a long while ago as she hates them, she used to get crated when she went to the dog groomers and hated it, so now she just splays her legs out so that it would be extremely hard to get her into one.  Will be going to try the Rescue Remedy that you mentioned as she is also terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks.

I am extremely glad that she is not passing her feelings on to our other dog, he is fine with all of this, thunder included, and just sits there looking at her.

Thanks both for your suggestions

Jangles

We had this problem with one of our dogs, like yours the other was fine. We solved it when my husband checked the car over and found an exhaust bracket had worked loose and was causing a vibration that didn't worry  Bill and we were unaware of but really upset Ben. When the bracket was sorted out Ben went back to enjoying his car rides. It may be worth checking your car over in case it is something similar in your case
Jackie 

WOW, JackieS, that might be our problem, there are lots of things going wrong with the car at the moment, small things but enough to make us consider upgrading but we cannot afford to do so for a couple of months. However, I shall ask my husband to have a look as soon as he gets home, I really feel like this might be the answer

Jangles