Yelping in the Car - Help

Please help.

I have two lovely staffis, both so completely different. Maisey is only 5 but very laid back and takes life at a very leisurely pace. Roxie, although 4, is extremely boisterous and excitable (we got her as a rescue dog when she was 8M old).

They are both thoroughly adored and although we both work, they are taken for long energetic walks every day as we are lucky enough to live next door to miles of fields and a canal. We like to mix it up a bit at least 2 / 3 days a week and take them to the beach, the lakes, local forests and parks and every year we have a doggie week away where we dedicate our whole week to taking them to all the local beaches in Devon, which they both love.

Here is the problem. Roxie gets so exited everytime she goes in the car she emits a high pitched yelping basically for the whole of the journey. Bearing in mind they travel regularly in the back of our estate car, I thought this problem would slowly go away but if anything, it is getting worse. Travelling home is no problem, as all is quiet. When we get to our destination, both me and my husband are feeling absolutely frazzled.

We have tried lots of small journeys, a quick run before getting in the car, me sitting in the back so I am near them both but no, she still emits this high pitched yelping. Incidentally, she also does this when we are out and about and either Dave or myself go into a shop, she won't shut up until the other party is back and when we are in the vets or just standing talking to someone whilst she is on the lead, she makes this noise.

We can put up with her knocking over all the visitors in her excitement but this is making taking them out not as enjoyable as it should be.

Any suggestions would be appreciated or I might just have to enlist the help of a behavourist.

Suki will still do this as she is excited to go somewhere she can be exercised. Have you worked to teach her the speak or quiet command?

At home we only have to say quiet and she stops barking. No I have never tried the speak / quiet command, do you think this would help?

It could help. You could also try giving her something to chew on during the trip

We have a similar problem with Rocky in the car, he will make a strange noise for the whole of the journey. For longer journeys than to the park we use the Adaptil (DAP) spray and it does work for him. It uses pheromones to calm the dog down during times of stress, good for the firewok season too. Just spray it onto their bedding or a blanket in the car, leave it on for 10 minutes before the dog goes near it.

Please see link below, it sounds expensive but the bottle lasts quite a while. This place has free delivery at the moment:

http://www.medicanimal.com/product/~adaptil-spray/~product_id=103098;jsessionid=51FA1ADF20A7759A79BB46B7B560143C.jvm1

Thank you so much. I have just gone on-line and ordered the spray. I will update you with how it works.

I really hope it does work for you too. please let us know how you get on with it.