Hi,

My 16 week old Lab is getting car sick each time we take him out in the car for longer than 15 - 20 minutes at a time. Is it just a case of him getting used to the motion of the car (I'm really hoping)? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks Lauren.

My dog suffered badly.  She wasn't actually sick but the drool would be everywhere and she cried a lot.  She seemed to outgrow it though and this might be because she got big enough to be able to see out of the window

Our puppy was very car sick and she's grown out of it.  We found she was better on the back seat after taking her in my car (astra hatchback with lots of stuff in the boot) rather then the dog car!  She still drools abit but is much better :)

I've been told on this forum that ginger biscuits work a treat. I haven't used them yet as my dog is growing out of his car sickness slightly (he's still not thrilled about it but he hasn't hurled his kibble for a few months now). I also let him get closer to me early on and found this helped. I have an estate and if I put the back seats down so he could sit right behind me he was better. I think the biggest help was taking very short trips to fun places so he could associate being in the car with good thoughts. Things like driving 5 minutes to dog school instead of walking. Good luck; it's fun isn't it.

I tried that and ended up cleaning ginger biscuits from my car ;)

Homoepathic remedies such as cocculus, bryonia, petroleum, sepia, tabacum, nux vomica depending on the type of travel sickness.

Ginger or Scullcap and Valerian

Cherry Plum Bach flower essence

Seren-Um

Hi Lauren, I wouldn't worry too much at 16weeks.  My youngest lab is now 14months and has gone from being very travel sick to fine now.  Last year she would bring up an entire feed even though I fed her hours before travelling.  This was always on shorter journeys.  We travelled to Scotland which is about 12 hours and she was fine.  She just seems to have grown out of it, hopefully yours will.

Just a thought which may not apply to many dogs :) When we collected Tara she travelled home in a cat travel carrier, several hundred miles and was not sick at all. Her breeders had taken the litter out a lot in the car. However, as soon as I started to take her out, she was car sick (drooled a lot, not actually sick) and hated the car. This went on for a long while. One day, I took her in the car without the crate and she wasn't sick at all. Our theory is that she hated the rattling of the crate (she is a nervous dog anyway) and this made her very upset. Now she doesn't travel in a crate she loves the car and gets very excited when we are about to go out :)

Daisy

We have the same problem with our SP puppy (now 13 weeks old). Right from the day we drove home with her, she drools a lot and gets a bit upset. Even a few minutes to the vet in the car has the same result.
I've been sitting in the back seat of the car with her for 5-10 minutes each day, and keep a few treats in there, giving her one just before we get back out. I tried it with the engine running yesterday and she was still ok, so it would seem to be genuine motion sickness rather than auto suggestion on her part. I'll do that a few more times, then drive up the road and back gently. Just got her a car harness today.

Serene UM hasn't worked for us, so I'll try something else.

my little chinese crested bitch looked sick as soon as you put her in the car, and the only thing we found helped her was not feed her before a journey and put her in her crate and cover it, this helped her loads, as she could not see the passing of things out of the window, now the next time i came across a sick dog was our now 10 month old border collie, he was horrific, tried the ginger biccies and homeopathy , but he still drooled and dribbled and threw up, but all of a sudden he stopped, we don't know if it is because i now have a van and he can't see any movement at all due to the fact he is in the van with nothing to see out of, i am not saying buy a new van or change car but try covering him up and see what happens.
carol

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry it has taken me so long in responding but haven't been online. We have an estate so he can see out of the back and he just sits in a dog bed in there. he is fine getting in the car and doesn't get upset - just sick!! Poor little mite i do feel for him as i suffered from travel sickness when i was young and its horrible. I could be brave and fold down the seats to he could get closer but don't know if i fancy kibble down the back of my neck. i think I will keep the distance short for a while and maybe try some of the homeopathic remedies.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. Lauren

I think it really depends. Some dogs just need to get used to it. My youngest dog went through a stage of throwing up in the car but its since stopped. She didnt get stressed out or anything - she'd just all of a sudden vomit.

We rescued a rottie who would start drooling as soon as she got into the car. She'd throw up even on short journeys. We tried everything - ginger biscuits, tablets, food suppliments - but nothing worked. She didnt appear to be stressed out - just drooly. It was more of a psycological problem as previously shed been taken out in the back of a van whilst the owner was working and had bad associations with cars. Its taken over a year but shes now much better and only drools occasionally. She goes out for training, for hydrotherapy, for walks - so she knows the car is a good thing =)

Neither of mine get travel sick, but my friends dog does and she's 5 now :rolleyes: even if its 5 minutes up the road she will drool from jaw to floor. Travelling to shows she is sick, we hadn't even left our own town last week when she threw up! :rolleyes:
(I have suggested she put a nose bag on her, save my carpet :P :P :P ) only joking :)

lovely!

Thankfully we have a mitsubishi animal truck now so the dogs are totally seperate from us. The bedrug flooring is oil/paint resistant and velcroed on so you can just whip it out and pressure washer it if need be - dont know what I'd do without it.

my oldest girl was car sick from a small pup I was advised by my trainer to crate her and cover the crate gradually lifting up the covered sides over a period of time (days) we made small journeys at first it was amazing and worked a treat she loved being in her little den .We then took out the crate and she now travels in the boot section of our Jeep quite happily she does dribble a little on longer journeys I dont feed her before travelling.

HTH

Roni