You love your dog and want to spend some time with him on a car ride. But what if your dog suffers anxiety during a car ride? Know how you can help dogs treat anxiety.
Are you planning to go out on a car ride and don’t want to leave your pet? If your dog loves to travel with you in a car, it’s all good. The case is not the same for all pet owners. As said on Midss’s articles, some dogs may resist taking up a car ride because they may get anxious. The travel anxiety can make him drool, pant, and even vomit, making it a miserable journey for your dog. You can help him heal from the feeling of fear or phobia by slowly introducing him to the new experience. It will take time, but your pup will learn to deal with it. There is a solution that can help your dog with travel anxiety.
Reasons Of Travel Anxiety
There is no solid reason to support the cause of travel anxiety in dogs, careful research will help you to understand the reason of his travel anxiety.
- Car Sickness: Humans experience car sickness so do dogs. A car ride can make them stressed and cause nausea.
- Unknown Feelings: Cars have their smell because they are locked most of the time. And the smell can be disturbing, which can cause giddiness. When they are not used to it, inexperience in such a situation can lead to stress.
- Experiences: If you take your dog to a vet in the car, he may associate the car ride with the vet. It may associate every car ride with one destination that he doesn’t like visiting.
What Can You Do To Treat His Travel Anxiety?
You don’t want to impose your decision on your friend. To help your pet with travel issues, give him a more positive experience with car rides. Here are points that can help your dog to take up a car ride positively.
Start Slow
Never try to push your dog into a situation that he is unaware of. Try to make him aware of things first and let him get comfortable with them. You can let him hop in a parked car. You can also let your dog sit in the car with you without starting the engine. Don’t close the door in the starting as he may get a feeling of getting trapped, which can cause anxiety.
Move Further
It will take a few sessions to get comfortable if he is entirely new to a car ride. If he has a bad experience with the car, it can take more time to settle. You can motivate them by giving them their favorite treats. You can also bring his favorite toy inside the car as you slowly upgrade on switching on the car engine to get him comfortable with the engine noise. For a quick fix, you can give your dog treats with CBD oil to calm him down.
Experience
Try to give him a real short car drive after your furry mate is comfortable sitting in a car with the engine on. Take it slow and back up in case they panic. They may try to get off the car, pin their ear at the back, or drool. This behavior during a car ride shows they are anxious.
Prepare For A Good Experience
After completing the process of your dog getting comfortable, start giving him an actual car ride. Try to fill those ride experiences with positive and happy things to help him associate it with a treat or fun time. This will make them forget anxiety and relate to it with the best experience.
Conclusion
Car rides can give you anxiety, and it’s not new for a dog who doesn’t have any experience with the car. It will be easy to convince a dog to take a car ride if he has experienced it before. If he is entirely new or has had some awful experience, it can push him to resist a ride. You can turn his frightful experience and associate it with a good experience. It will take time to fix his experience, but he will eventually overcome his travel anxiety.
