car travel - any suggestions please

hi
Ok so up until this weekend Buddy has been in the back seat of the car with a seat belt restraint attached to his harness and a hammock style seat cover to avoid him falling to the foot well.

We made the initial mistake when he was a pup (13months now) of having someone sit beside him , so over the last 5 weeks I have been getting him used to being on the back seat alone so I can take him out and about more with me on my own. He has been ok a few whines and a bit of moving about but ok .

On Sunday I took him training and he was fine, but we hit some traffic and crawled along for about 15 minutes - he went crazy whining screeching running from one side of the car to the other throwing himself at the doors, trying to climb in the front, standing on his back legs trying to get over my headrest - .. carried on calmly talking to him and he settled a little once we started moving - but was so stressed half the training lesson was taken up trying to calm him down - the trainer suggested not brining him any more if he gets that stressed - but this is the first time it has happened and he needs the training as he needs dog socialisation and recall work.

I am not sure the best thing to do going forward - do I start again with car training and just sit with the engine running and then progress to short drives, or put him in the boot so he has freedom of movement and can see out of the window - although I don't like the idea of the boot really in case of accidents . he likes looking out of the window but isn't quit big enough without standing on his back legs which is not very safe when on the back seat even though he is attached to the seat belt he still falls about a bit .

The car boot is not big enough for a crate and if I put the back seats down for one then we cant go out as a family..

Has any one had the same experience with their dogs - do you think it was a one off maybe something spooked him I didn't see ..

I don't want the car to stress him out every time he gets in it -

thanks as always

carol

Misty can be a nightmare in the car as she was never taken in one until we got her at 14 months. My hubby puts her in his boot but personally I am not keen on it as I worry if someone hits him then the boot will just crumple and she will be hurt. I tried a seatbelt clip on her once in the front of the car but she just stood on it and freed herself and tried to clamber on me which wasn't the best when I'm trying to drive and also had an Audi trying to push me along! Then in my old car I put her in the backseat with a barrier thing I bought which covered the gap between the two front seats so she couldn't push her way between them. This worked quite well but the thing I have found most useful is food. When we get in the car I give her something that she can't gobble in two seconds flat. The latest thing I'm using is a bulls pizzle. These take a while for her to eat and she doesn't try to climb up to  as she is far too busy eating. In my new car the back seat has individual seats so it has a divider between the two back seats so I have slowly been getting her used to sit upfront next to me. I don't want to speak too soon but it seems ok. We went out yesterday to a new park about fifteen minutes drive and she sat quietly eating her treat. When that had finished she did try to come over but I gave a firm sit and she sat and watched the people outside the window. I don't think she likes the car but can tolerate it because it means nice treats although I know this means I'll always have to have something nice to give her in the car. Hopefully Buddy can learn that cars mean going to nice places!

I'd go down the food route too, that together with going back your initial training programme. You should find that you can work through it much more quickly that you first did, but it sounds to me that he needs his confidence building up again.

Can you have him on the back seat but somehow rig it up that he has two seatbelt clips? My guess is that the boot would be harder for him as it's further away from you.