On Saturday we took home Freddy, who is a papillon boy age 6 months. He had already been homed by his breeder but was taken back as there were problems, and Freddy has ended up with anxiety causing an upset tummy and weight loss. So we have taken him and are trying to help him overcome his difficulties, and so far he is getting on fantastically with housetraining and is lovely in the house, he is very intelligent and responsive, loves his food and gets on great with our older girl Honey.
However he does have a couple of areas of difficulty which I would be greatful for advice with. One is that he is terrified of being in the car and has bad travel sickness. He is okay in the crate but when the car starts to move he begins whining and can only last a short distance before being sick. I am hoping this is something I can overcome if I take him our for regular short trips eg to parks so he associates it with something positive, I would be interested if anyone has tried to overcome this kind of problem. Also I am finding him generally good on the lead but not very well socialised with anything unusual eg joggers, bikes etc; and he goes nuts if we meet other dogs! It is surprising because he is so good with our girl, but other dogs on walks cause him to shriek and dance about on the lead even if the dogs are obviously friendly and he is hard to calm down. Any suggestions on minimising this would be great. Thanks!

I don't have a lot of experience with travel sickness and dogs -most grow out of it. My oldest Papillon hates travelling by car and whines, but this goes all the way back to when he was a tiny pup and had seriously injured his eye and had to be rushed to the vet in great pain -he now puts every car journey together with that. Hopefully somebody else will have advice here.

But as for the having a go at different dogs etc, I've just been through this. I got a 9 month old Papillon bitch last summer who had not been socialised and she was terrified of bigger dogs, and her way of dealing with it was to attack first. In other words, she would rush at and bite any big dog she could get near, always bite their back or bum and then quickly run off. She had my MIL's Labrador absolutely terrified of her! We asked the  trainer I train for to come and do a home visit, and she told us we must get her used to gradually being around bigger dogs without anything happening to her. Teach her there is no need to be scared. So we started by having her on a lead and just sitting on a chair close to another dog -but it had to be another dog that would largely ignore her. Gradually over time got closer and closer (this took weeks). She was rewarded with praise and treats when she ignored the other dog, if she barked she was ignored. Taking her to training classes at this point was impossible as she would attack anything in sight and would not keep quiet. After hard work she can now go to training club and be in the same hall as lots of other dogs, she doesn't bark, she doesn't try to bite, and if she gets worried by a bigger dog and tries to run off,  I ALLOW her to hide behind my legs (rather than forcing her to confront), so she learns that nothing is going to happen to her. She is getting better for each week and is like a different dog.

The key is really to do it all slowly, so try to stay a a distance from everything at first, be it dogs or bikes or whatever. Reward when he sees whatever it is without doing anything, ignore when he barks. It does work, but it does take a lot of patience.

Hi

I think if you carry on with what you are doing it all sounds good and you percivere everything should b a ok :-) I dont have any exerience with car sickness but it is probably similar to most anxieties, he has related the car with something very bad that he gets himself so worked up on to the point of being sick.  I know they say ignore any fearful type behaviour, as they will learn there is nothing to be worried about, if master is not worried. If you reassure him when he wines, he may see this as a positive thing and carry on because you are combating his anxiety and he isnt dealing with it himself. Like you are doing short trips assosciate them with good things, walkies, treats, game of fetch, even go round the block in the car come home, over exaggerate a welcome with the rest of your family lots of cuddles and good boys when he is out of the car. He will soon learn and you will have a happy healthy little boy

All the best with him, your giving him a new home with a good start

Louise xx

Anxiety in the car.
We had a problem with this after someone accidentally turned the radio up really loud in the car when the puppy was sitting next to the speaker.
After that he would shiver and shake and cry whenever we took him in the car.
Eventually i bought some DAP spray, for this whole training routine i sprayed it round my seat in the car about 15 minutes before the session.
First stage - i got into the car and just sat there with the dog for a few minutes. All whining shaking etc ignored (especially i did NOT try to comfort him or pet him to calm him), every time he took a moment's break from shaking i'd stroke him and tell him good dog, quietly.
After a few days of this he stopped shaking when the engine was turned off.
Netx, i started to get into the passenger seat with the dog, and my husband would drive a short distance round the block, same routine - only praise and fuss him when he stopped crying and shaking so much.
Few days later we started going for little drives to a favorite walk, same routine.
Now we can take really long journeys, no problem.

I've heard ginger biscuits are good for a dog that drools, not sure if this would any use to you???

and having the dog as low down as possible in the car helps

:)

RReeve - I don't know about DAP spray, wondering what it is meant to do? Also, it is useful to hear that I should not pay attention to the shaking and whining behaviour, as I have been trying to comfort Freddy. So I will do my best to ignore that, and praise when he is quiet. It will obviously take time but it is good to know you have had success. I really want to include Freddy on our outings so will do my best to follow this method.

"DAP" stands for "dog appeasing pheromone" and can be found HERE in various forms :)  I've known quite a few dogs which this has had excellent results on whether assisting in calming for travel or helping at Guy Fawkes etc.  Plug-in versions are excellent for indoor use and there are sprays and also collars which assist with travel or anxieties outwith the home :)

Bach Rescue Remedy is also good (and available on the same site) - I haven't price checked these for comparison for you - prices vary quite a bit so worth shopping around :)  RR ideally should be dripped onto the nose leather for rapid absorbtion and also to prevent nausea (it's a type of canine brandy so not ideal to give orally in a dog that feels sick).

Sculcap & Valerian tablets are effective against travel problems/stress as is also Valerian Compound.  Both are available from DORWEST HERBS

Some dogs get over this anxiety but TBH some don't - hence why I have suggested various things you can try along with routine habituation to the car and short regular journeys with a pleasant end result (a favourite walk/run/swim etc).  IME the more quickly you can overcome this situation the better as if it trails on over several months it becomes habit forming for the dog to stress, pant and whine.

Regards, Teri

That is really useful, think I will buy the Sculcap and Valerian tablets as I have had a couple of Dorwest Herbs products before and found them good. I am tempted to buy the DAP spray too - it is quite pricey though, will try to find out more about it and if it is likely to work.
As suggested I'll try to concentrate on this problem quickly before it might be too difficult to overcome.

I know the DAP products are expensive but also know there are good savings to be made if you shop around :)  Personally, having had a dog that has never overcome travelling stresses, I'd be inclined to use a homeopathic remedy and a DAP spray or collar at the same time.

Well I have now ordered the tablets and the DAP Spray, I did find them a bit cheaper and I reckon I had better try everything! Here's hoping it will all help.