Morning, my Irish setter puppy is terribly travel sick, even on a very short journey, I have tried ginger nut biscuits etc and a travel sick pill which I gave an hour before travelling but no luck, I'm wondering if its a common thing in Irish setters as I have just read an old setter book and it advises giving sealegs travel sickness pills the night before.......any ideas from setter folk?

I think that you will just have to take it slowly Julie.  One of our girls was like that and eventually, we had to just sit with  her in the car on the drive for a few weeks until she got used to the car and then start with very short trips first.  It is a form of fear of the unknown, I think.  Once they realise that there is fun at the end of a car trip, they jump in the car at the first opportunity!  :)

I used to be terribly carsick myself, we culdn't get to the end of our short street before I was ill  :-(

Sealegs worked, taken an hour or two before travelling.  Actually they worked even if I forgot and took them after feeling sick.

However, they made me feel drowsy, sleepy and so out of it that I couldn't really enjoy the day out.   They weren't supposed to, but this is what I found.     This was when they contained Hyoscine Hydrobromide, they have a different formulation now .

I did find that Ginger, taken either as the powder or as crystallised Ginger worked really well.   No queasyness or sickness and no sleepyness either.    I've seen it work with many children too, who couldn't travel at all.

You need to take the Ginger powder at about a 1/4 of a teapoon, mixed in something nice, and about half an hour to an hour before going in the car.    Crystallised Ginger, it's a nice chunk, chewed thoroughly (may be difficult with a dog)   Ginger biscuits don't contain enough ginger to be of any use ;-)

It may be though, that fear/nerves about going in the car are also playing a part.    Just getting the pup used to sitting in the car without going anywhere and progressing to switching the engine on and going nowhere and slowly building up to very short journeys will help with this aspect.

Hope this helps, it's so miserable for both your pup and you when this happens.

My younger dog found being in a crate in the car (her normal crate from the house) too much and was sick - as soon as she travelled in the car without the crate she was fine :) :)

My friends dog was very travel sick. It was put down to fear. Over several weeks they built up his confidence by taking him in the car to sit, play and even eat meals in there too. When that was successful they took him on short journeys, literallym20-30 seconds and built up the time. It did work but took a lot of time and a few raised eyebrows from the neighbours =) good luck.

Out of interest what's he travelling in?
My girl used to be horrendous in a car but not so much in a van where she couldn't see out of, she grew out of it around 8 months.. Someone said to me to use car sickness pills but I refused to go down that route.

My GSD suffered from it and eventually grew out of it at about 4 yrs of age. Stanley my whippet is also car sick, he loves the car, it isn't a confidence thing at all, he just can't travel above 20 mins whithout throwing up. I tried ginger in various forms and even though he is a human dustbin, he will not touch it in anything. So, I use Stugeron, it does NOT make him drowsy and works very well. I now give him 1/4 of a tablet a couple of hours in advance,  if our journey is over 20 mins. I am hoping that he will grow out of it eventually, fingers are crossed.

Thankyou everyone for you're replies x she has been in the vw Touareg , in the back with the other dogs and in my old golf which I transport Narla to the shows in, she just lies down goes to sleep and wakes up when we get to wherever we are going :) puppy travelled in the back with her threw up on narlas leg, she wasn't impressed ! So literally to shop at end of road in car instead of walk might help very little and often, wish me luck poor girl

I have a Golf too and this is when she would throw up, she did bring up very small amounts while in the van however this soon sorted the issue out. Is she in a crate in the vehicles? Maybe cover them over so she can't see out?

The only car I was continually car sick in was a VW Passat we had it for 3 years, all cars before and after that were not VW and I was never sick.  My Mum was the same, the only car she was ever sick in was our VW Passat we called it the vomit comet :(  Good luck

We had a renault megane prior to the Kia which we have at the moment, so can't blame a VW here!

I genuinely think that some dogs are more prone to this than others (like people).  I also think that whilst some remedies obviously work for some puppies many more just need time and patience to overcome it.  If your puppy needs to travel regularly when older then you simply need to persevere with trips little and often.

Get prepared, give her a surface you can clean easily but one that is non slip. Make sure you have plenty of wipes and a bin liner to stash it all in at the end of the journey - nothing worse than the smell of dog sick in a warm car to get you going too!!

Experiment with crates and covers to see if it helps.  One of mine for instance was noticeably better in a slightly too small crate.  He could brace himself against the sides around corners and was more likely to lie down quickly too which seemed to relax him.

I know some people say you should starve your dog before a journey.  I disagree.  It doesn't reduce the feelings of nausea or the urge to vomit but just restricts the amount.  However it results in a more acid output and a lot of dry heaving which made my pup more distressed.   I just fed as normal at the usual times and just cleared it up as necessary.

By the time he was 6 months old and travelling to shows most weekends he was completely 'cured' :)  Good luck

We've had success with Phytopet Travel to offset sickness

I've been lucky with non of mine being sick until the latest puppy (and only then its been the last couple of weeks)