Whining in the car.

Bug seems to have developed a slightly annoying habit. When I first adopted her I didn't have access to a car, so she was with me for 6 months before getting in one, on arrival she would "attack" cars and bikes, and seemed very nervous getting in - we took it slow and made it fun and she's loads better.

Fast forward to the present - now that she seems to enjoy going out in the car more (as 99% of the time it equals fun stuff) she whines for the entire journey. It starts as a low, continuous whine and gradually gets louder. Ignoring her/talking over her/turning the radio up only equals a louder whine! We have tried the usual "stop what you're doing now" command, which for us is "enough." And that generally works for all of 2 seconds, so we no longer do that. I'm 99% sure it's attention seeking - she's on the back seat with her seat belt clip on her own. If anyone's in the back with her, she rather wobb-ily balances on their lap and it quiet until we get to the destination.

Hoping to brain storm a little - has anybody else solved this problem? I've tried to distract with food/toys also but the food made her sick and she ignored the toys. Any ideas?

Sorry Rach cant help there, Katy loves the car. I hope someone else has experience of it

Me neither rachel have you thought of something with your smell on and her cuddly toys noticed she does like them.

Would a chew make her sick? That's what I've used in the past.

Where is she travelling? Millie was a bad traveller when we first got her and I had to have her on the front seat with a seatbelt clip onto her harness for a few weeks. Not ideal, but she was getting herself in a right stew. As she learned that the front seat was ok, I started doing short journeys - just a few minutes - on the back seat with the clip, all the time with a chew. Now she's in the boot, with the others or on her own, and is fine, but it took probably 3 months to get there.

Bobbert was even worse and never got past the back seat, but in the end even he managed to lie down there with his chew. So don't feel there is no hope, just get your brain round how to make it as easy as possible for her and you'll get there.

Does bug like a crate perhaps you could have the crate with her teddies and something with you or hubbys scent on . Perhaps she doesn't like the seatbelt anymore as she realises it restricts her perhaps if shes used to a crate she may prefer that .

Thanks you guys she does have some toys and her binky ted in the back but she's not so fussed about them when she's out of the house. Good idea Crystal about the scent thing! My car is teeny tiny I don't think we would fit her crate in the back - and her main happy time is sniffing through the crack in the window! So I think she would miss that if she was more contained.

We have tried her in the front Liz but she will still whine unless she's actually on your lap. My partner has her in the front when he comes to get me from work and I can hear her before I even get in the car lol! I'm not sure if it's because we're talking between us and she's not involved in what we're doing.. She's a very insecure little thing. I've run out of chew options at the moment as she's had a bit of a skin flare up recently so trying to only give bones to chew. What would you usually give that was long lasting/car suitable? Once she has had her walk she's a lot quieter on the way home - may be excitement too. We tried walking her before getting her in the car but it didn't make a difference. She just wants to be involved with everything lol!

What about a flavoured nylabone you get all different flavours and they dnt make much mess and easily digested .

Maybe short journeys round the block and build it up. Our old dog was great in the car until he got a smell of the sea then would do the usual Stafford song until we got him out. It could be because like you say when she's in the car you're usually off somewhere good.
Pete

Gizmo was great in the car until we started going to training lessons 20-30 minutes away. Then he started crying even though he was still on my lap. My Dad's stuck up a grate thingy and banished Gizmo to the boot due to a) Giz being a giant lump now and b) licking my Dad's ears when he's driving.

He cries, sings, whines, pants and completly ignores all toys and food. I even gave him dragon to chew on but he didn't even sniff her before continuing his yowls. This is on a 5 minute journey to the park.

I have a customers weimaraner that barks continuously in the car, I suggested a vibration collar one with a remote so they could nip the starting whines in the bud before they turned into full on barks, and that worked well for them, hope you get it sorted rach x