Hi, we got our 12 month old collie cross about 4 weeks ago with the idea that he would go to work with my husband during the day, but he is sick every time he goes in the car even for short trips.

We've tried getting him used to the car by feeding him in it, taking him just up the road, and then a few streets away over several days but he never gets any better.  Also, the trouble with this is as soon as he has to go somewhere further, e.g. the vets, he is sick and it's as though it then puts him back to square one. We've got DAP spray that we spray in the car, ginger and valerian squirt for his mouth and after reading some posts on here I bought some Kwells travel sickness tablets a couple of days ago and one of those made no difference at all. 

He has also had diahorrea on and off since we got him and is on James Wellbeloved complete food for sensitive tummies but I don't know if the two things could be linked?

We are getting to the point where we feel we may have to try and rehome him as it's not fair on him being left in alone all day and it's not fair on us either as we feel really guilty.

Any advice appreciated x

I think you may be taking things too fast. I'd suggest you try feeding him in the car for a week, without the engine on. The next week, feed him in there with the engine idling. The next week try moving the car fowards a few feet them back, then feed him in there with the engine still idling.

Give each step a week to become accepted before you move on to the next one. After a couple of months you should be able to take him on a short trip (a few minutes), let him out for a good walk, then back home.

Our old lab never truly got over her carsickness - we had to make sure she hadn't eaten for about 12 hours before any journey. :(

Thanks for the reply - this is what worries me though, that we will spend months and months trying to go slowly only to end up either with a dog that can still only travel very short distances or to find out as with your dog that it is something he will never get over.

It could be that your dog has never travelled much in the car or that when it did travel the experience wasn't good so he may be anxious in the car which will increase the car sickness

I get my dogs used to sleeping/relaxing in the car even my rescue X breed who was around 9 years of age when I found her.. I always crate me dogs in the car for their safety & mine.

I wait until they are on the verge of being sleepy & pop them in the car & sit in with them until they fall asleep or totally sttele Then switch on the engine & don't move the car. When the engine noise no only worries them I then do the same & drive up the drive & then back down. When that doesn't bother them, I then increase the distance etc until they see they car as just another place to be with me & also to chill out in

I haven't used any travel sickness type tablets for many years, did one train a friends dog on brown wrapping paper & ginger which worked It did take longer that a month though but this dog used to get sick as soon as she was in the car !

Edited to add the upset stomach will not be helping & perhaps just the sitting in the car should be your course of action until it is totally settled.

Do you really think that any dog can overcome travel sickness using this method?  I am more than willing to put the effort in if so, as we really don't want to have to rehome him, but I just think if we spend 6 months trying to get him over this and then he is no better it will then be worse for all of us if he has to go to someone else after all that time.  The previous poster said that her dog never really got over it even though she used this method.

there's also the problem of him having to go somewhere in the middle of this as he has had to go to the vets because of the diahorrea so this spoiled all the hard work we'd put in before this.

I think if it is a phobia / not being used to the car then this method should work eventually, but surely some dogs are actually travel sick.  If this is the case, every time they go even a short journey the feeling of travel sickness will reinforce their fear of the car, however much you try and relax them first.  Then again, the travel sickness tablet didn't work either....

What do you do with the brown paper?!

I appreciate the replies, it's really difficult to know what to do for the best for all of us.

True, Bella never really got over it, and never really enjoyed travelling, but hated not being with us even more! By not feeding her before a journey she stopped actually vomiting, which was an improvement and made journeys (even long ones of several hours) possible.

Mind you, I haven't really grown out of car-sickness either! I'm glad I haven't been rehomed because of it! ;) :D :D
:)

Oddly enough you sit the dog on the paper don't ask me why though as it is a very old fashioned remedy !

It shouldn't take 6 months though & it might depend on where in the car you travel him, my puppies & my old X breed were travelled in the middle of the car rather than the front or back as I think this part of the car moves less around bends etc & of course is in the middle of the suspension

I take it that you could not walk your dog to the vets ? In that case I would not feed him before you travel other than a ginger biscuit or two an hour before travelling  & do some T Touch massage to relax him before you travel

Lots of things make dgs & people get travel sick, I travel really poorly in the back of a car & I cannot travel in mini buses at all for soem reason, yet I have been on ships & planes in terrible storms & never been sick at all !

I like my dogs to sleep or at least lie down when travelling as I think seeing the trees etc move outside can trigger off motion sickness

I can't really restrict his food before trips - I took him on a journey which was less than ten mins on Monday he foamed at the mouth etc on the way there and then was sick on the way back at 5pm when he hadn't been fed since 7am and also not feeding for 12 hours wouldn't be an option if he was to go to work with my husband every day.

I have a bmw mini and my husband has a big van - do you think we will have to go through all this with both vehicles?  I think we'll start with the car rather than trying to do both.  I think it might be worth trying a crate and covering the crate so he can't see as he likes to look out of the window which probably doesn't help like you both said.  I'm not sure whether I could get a big enough crate in my car though!  Do you just buy a normal crate and put seat belts round it or is there one specifically for cars?  I could put brown paper in the bottom of the crate too. 

The size of the crate depends on the size of the dog as long as he can lie down & turn round comfortably it should be big enough. I have a soft cage I use in themiddle & the back one has to be custom made because of the odd shape of the luggage section of the Impreza. You may not get a mesh crate small enough for your car though I'm not up to speed with the size of the inside of the new minis tho' I always have the back seat down in my car

It sound to me as if he simply hasn't been in a car much which if he is a rescue isn't unusal. I have found this which gives you another idea to try

Thanks for the link to the article...am just paranoid that Max is one of the 5% that this won't work for but hopefully I will be proved wrong!  He does say in the article that a trip to the vet found that a dog it didn't work on had a balance problem but doesn't say whether this was treatable.  I think as the previous poster and yourself said that we have been going too fast - I think I may even take a few days or a week off work and take him out a few times a day over several days as suggested here.

Could you tell me what you mean by a soft cage for the car please and where I could get one?  Do you put the seat belt round it? 

Thanks again :-)

Here are some links to sites with the fabric cages

Here & here, here on e bay ! & here

There are a good few people on here who have them & they do vary greatly & yes  you shoul be able to put a seat beat around it for extra safety

They are not as rigid as the mesh ones but if you also put it up at home so he gets used to it with the door open as a place of safety it should help as well

I would consider doing the T Touch as well even if you are not taking him out in the car I know the rescues i've used it on loved it & chilled out after using it