Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yoshi hates riding in the car. At first i thought it was because he was teething.. Adult teeth all in now and he still gets so anxious in the car.

I have some ideas on how to work with him on this.. but certainly open to any ideas.

Nikko loved to go on car rides! He was actually disappointed when he got home!

Is Yoshi riding loose in the car, or in a crate? We've just been through this with Murphy. He always hated riding in the car so we have taken him only when necessary. A few weeks ago, we put a Vari-Kennel, with a nice soft standard size bed pillow for a mattress. He absolutely loves it! He would get car sick if we went very far, but we drove him into the mountains, to play in a park with a stream, last Friday. He was fine!

Now, everytime we start out into the garage, he's right there with a hopeful look in his eyes! LOL

Mom, I feel so much safer now! And Dad tied it down so good with those pretty orange straps. It doesn't wiggle at all!
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Anne, Bill, and Murphy

With my 3 we can't say car or ride or even think it without all of then going nuts. What you could also try is just to have Yoshi go into the car sit there for a couple of min giving treats then taking him out of the car. Do this for abit then try with the motor running and after a bit a short ride around the block. Maybe overtime Yoshi will associate the car with good thing. Best of luck.
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David owned by Kona, Kiko & Kaia

He might not be used to car rides yet. so start out very short trip and gradually build up the distance. You can give him a ginger snap to help settle his stomach before a car ride.

A nice secure crate does wonders also.

If he is anything like my two, several rides to McD should solve that problem!

Good luck.

There are a couple of things you could try with Yoshi. The first would be to simply put him the car while it's still in the driveway and let him hang out for a minute or two... take him out and then put him back in again. If he seems fine with this... put him the car and turn it on but only go up and down the driveway a couple of times. Again if he seems fine try going farther each time until he gets used to the car rides. The second would be to use a vari-kennel. If you drive a van or something similar set the kennel on the floor in the middle of the vehicle and put Yoshi in the crate. What this does is to minimize the motion of the car and alleviates the problem of motion sickness. If you have a car... do the same thing on the backseat... put the kennel in the middle of the seat.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

All very good suggestions and i'll definitely give it a shot.

The getting use to the car.. then short trips ... alot of treats is probably what i'll try first..

Poor little guy will be getting neutered soon and i don't want the trauma of having to go in the car to add to it. i'll probably crate him for that one.

Thank you all so much!

If you have an extra crate, or a smaller one, you might try using it for all trips. It's made such a dramatic difference for Murphy we can hardly believe it. Before, he would huddle down in one corner of the back seat, head tucked down, and never move until we reached our destination. Now, he sits up in his crate and looks around to see what's out there. We tied ours down with tie down straps we got from Home Depot and the crate doesn't move at all.

We still had the small crate we got when he was a baby and we figured it would be large enough. We got a larger one after while, as we still use it when we leave him home alone. He loves to go in there (the only time we use it) and has lots of room to move around and stretch. He can stay in there for about 6 hours (we've never tried longer, and it's usually not that long) with no problems at all. Maybe since he likes his "little house" so well, is why he took to the crate in the car so readily.

Well, Mom, duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
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Anne, Bill, and Murphy

Best wishes for Yoshi with the neuter surgery--and the car rides. It's stessful for us when our dogs are stressed!

I use Patrick's small crate when we go traveling by car.
He does just fine in it.

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Bill- Owner of Patrick
http://www.youtube.com/dollarbyll

It's been incredibly hot here in Phoenix. So training for the car has been early in the mornings.

I took all your advice. So will bits of gingersnaps (which i happened to already have. YAY), in hand we went to the garage.

The first few times, we just sat in the car with windows partially open.. he was stressed.. so we came back in.. the next morning i realized.. we stayed in the car too long!
So that date, it was in.. get some cookie bits.. out.. back in the house.. in .. get cookie bits... back in the house.. did this for a few days.. Then I opened the garage door while he was in the car.. more cookie bits.. closed garage.. back in house.. rinse repeat 3 more trips that morning.

Taking it slowly as described above, this morning, we made it around the very small block i live on.. then back in the house..
30 min later... back in the car.. around another small block..

He's getting much much better.. He is associating car with gingersnaps. As i gathered the cookie bits and put his leash on, he started marching proudly to the garage door. YAY

Still a work in progress but he's doing well.

Thank you all!!

As for the crate, i did consider that and will probably use it on long trips. =)

The longer we use the crate for Murphy, the sorrier we are that we didn't start a long time ago. Our boy who always hated to go in the car, perks up with delight when he hears "you want to go for a ride?" And he's so much safer, with no worries about him slipping off the seat, in case of a sudden stop.

Sounds like you are doing a great job with patience and cookies, but I do hope you will consider the crate.

I can relax in my crate and not hang on tight with my toenails!
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Anne, Bill, and Murphy

Shibas and the power of food... it doesn't get any better! Congrats on the progress. Slow... steady and remaining positive should do it for Yoshi! Way to go!!
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Yay Yoshi! Glad to hear progress.

U can purchase those seat belts for dogs. I use them for my guys and I do not need to worry about movement for my pair.

This morning was a huge leap! Normally i go into the garage, open my windows and my garage to let some of the heat escape before we go. This morning, he saw me with the keys, heading towards the garage and he BOUNDED OVER! We went around a few blocks in my neighborhood then came home.. all in all.. only three little bits of ginger snap. YAY!

I do have a seatbelt harness thing which i will be using. The original problem was his sheer panic at the sight of the car and his inability to see it was not a bad place. Figure once he associates it with a good thing, we can work on the harness. and i'm sure while we're working on the harness he will be SCREAMING in the car.. Now thats a visual!

Work in progress.. we continue to move on.

Thank you all again!

That is nice progress! Go Yoshi!

If he hates the harness for the car, use the harness for his daily walks in lieu of the collar before using it in the car. that way he can associate the harness with good times too.