Dog's first holiday

I'd just persevere with taking the dog in the car.  When we bought Lizzie, we travelled quite a distance to get her and she found the journey difficult on the way home.  Now she can't wait to get in the car - it's the only place she can be left on her own.  For long journeys she just curls up and goes to sleep.

David 

We just got on with it , travel sickness for a while but they soon grow out of it , they know once the caravan is hitched up happy dogs .

Hope the holiday went well, and you can go again soon.

Lola was carsick as a youngster, drugs helped (talk to vet!) but herbal/homeopathic treatments didnt. I tried to ensure that every journey went somewhere nice, so that she got the idea car travel gets us to nice places (beach is 15min away  ) Regular travel also helped, became more routine to counter the toddlers over-excitement effect. I also had to moderate my driving style and finally change cars for something smoother around corners and on rough surfaces. We travel to get to a destination, not for the fun of driving.

So aged 7 how does she travel? Estate car, rear seat down, custom dogbed covering load area, laying with her head 500mm from my left shoulder (please no safety lectures, I know the risks). Food? If I tell her tonight that we are doing a long journey tomorrow she will not touch her breakfast! The important thing is that she is with me, and is uncomfortable rather than sick- as I say to her "Loyalty is what defines us, without it we would be cats". 

On a connected but slightly different tag, we have had no problems with Lizzie travelling in the car.  The big problem came when we came to have our first night away.  We had just got her used to sleeping in the kitchen when we took her away in the van.  Friends of ours suggested making up a bed for her in the shower.  That failed!  At the expense of the decoration in the washroom and her scratching the door to bits we let her in with us.  She ended up on the foot of our bed - she's slept there ever since.  Sometimes she goes in her bed at home, but frequently ends up on the foot of our bed sometime during the night.

I blame it all on the van.  Once she realised where we slept at night, we couldn't get her to go back to the kitchen - she was a complete nightmare, and got so stresses and worked up.

Fortunately see is only small.

David 

have you tried starting  the tablets one week before you go and get the dog used to the car whilst it's stationary

We just got on with it , travel sickness for a while but they soon grow out of it , they know once the caravan is hitched up happy dogs .

yes we only to start getting the van ready and ours is eager to go

Thank you all for your help.

just a quick update Leo Gsd is now 7 month's old now the Ginger biscuits seemed to work was only sick a little when we went away for the new year . since then we have been going away each other weekend and he Love's it not a problem at all may have just grown out of it or perhaps just got used to traveling . he sleep's in the awning in his cage that has a cover bit like his own tent in the awning which he likes tried him in the caravan but he couldn't settle and is much happier in the awning . I think he look's forward to going away he seems to get excited when I start loading the roof box . he has taken over the car's boot .

Glad all seems OK now Youngphil. Thank you for letting us know how you got on.

David 

Good to know things have gone well. We always take our dogs out every day in car, right from being small puppies. Luckily never had one proper travel sick, more unsettled. We found he hated the motorways worse, must have been the noise. Giving a dog a good walk prior to setting off will tire them as well, so they tend to nod off.

Delighted  to  hear  your  pet  has  settled down  ok  in  this  caravanning  life  !  Also  pleased  you  have  let  us  know  how  you  are  going  on,  some  folks  never  tell  us  if  the  advice  given  was  good  or  bad,  So  Ta  Muchly