If you are blessed with a dog that enjoys traveling and has good behavior, consider yourself lucky. Not all dogs are useful in the car, and managing them can be overwhelming at times. Most dogs show unpleasant behaviors in the car like whining, barking people passing, or even chewing the seats. While it is suitable for dogs to have good behavior in the car, teaching them can be difficult.
Destructive behaviors exhibited by dogs in the car
Imagine driving, and your dog starts crying regularly. Such a dog will distract you, and you will lose focus. Some dogs have even worse behavior and lose their breakfast all over your car seats. Taking pleasure trips with such a dog is almost impossible. The dog will also be adding more stress since you will have to take them to the vet clinic for regular visits.
On most occasions, such destructive behaviors reflect the issues that need to be worked on, like bored, overprotective, and anxious. Other dogs misbehave because they have bad experiences with cars, making them fearful or associating the vehicle with sickness feelings. However, with patience and time, it is possible to create a positive and new association with cars and travel.
Define tasks
If a dog exhibits good behavior in the car, traveling becomes fun, not only to you but also to the dog. However, for a dog to behave well, practical considerations and training like restraining the dog should be made. You aim to have your dog travel when relaxed so that he can sleep and feels content throughout the trip.
Depending on the previous experiences of your dog, defining tasks and retraining might take some time. To succeed in this, find out the challenges the dog has, then make a plan of how you will help the dog overcome each of the hurdles at a time until the desired behavior is achieved.
You might have to avoid traveling with the dog for dogs with horrible behavior until you rebuild its confidence. For dogs with slightly good behavior, you can take them for walks and give them a chew toy on the way.
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It’s starting time
To succeed in training your dog, make a list of the destructive behaviors your dog exhibits in the car, and analyze the behavior and what triggers it. For example, if your dog gets stressed by getting in the car, you should teach the dog how to associate travel with happiness.
When starting, you will need medications to prevent the dog from getting sick during the journey, patience, time, a spray bottle with water, its favorite toy, treats, a food bowl, and enough travel restraints.
Travel restraint methods
Safety- knowing your dog will not interfere with how you drive, and its safety is vital. It allows you to ignore any bad behavior and stop giving it attention.
Travel pods- for small dogs or toys, carry a dog booster seat or travel pod. These are used to slightly raise the little dog so that they can see the events taking place outside the window. This helps in settling the dog because it knows where you are going and prevents motion sickness.
Travel harness- there are a variety of travel harnesses available for both giant and small dogs. When the dog wears the saddle, it gets attached to the seat belt system of the car. When buying harnesses, ensure they are crash-tested. The manufacturers should prove to you that they passed.
Dividers or grills- if you are traveling with a larger dog, a sturdy metal divider will confine them to one place.
Undo Bad Memories Method
Park the car- start simply by parking the car and switching off the engine. Open all the car doors so that the dog won’t see it as a trap and scatter yummy snacks on the back seat. Let the dog take all the time and never force them to find the treats. If he doesn’t enter, try another day and praise him for his boldness.
Feed-in the car- now that the dog is happy due to treats, close not more than two doors and start making him take meals in the car.
Start the engine- you have him eating in the car, it’s time to start the engine. Remember always to praise his calm nature.
Out of the parking lot and back- when he comfortably starts eating snacks when the engine is switched on, reverse out of the parking and back m.
Pleasure trip- if he has successfully managed to go through the above steps, take him for a short drive in the block. If there is a field or park nearby, take him there and start playing with him to realize the car is used to make him explore and have fun.
The Curtain Howling Method
Get rid of stress and anxiety- if you have an inveterate dog, ensure no chances that he is stressed, anxious, or nervous. This might not be the right thing to do if your dog is stressed. Instead, use the method of undoing bad memories.
Equipment- for the training purposes, carry a friend along and ask them to take a spray bottle with water.
Respond to howls- if the dog starts bowling, let your friend spray the water on the dog and say ‘No.’
Repeat without spray- the dog is likely to stop, and as time passes by, get rid of the sorry and say ‘No’ before the jet and eventually no showering the dog. When saying ‘No,’ let your friend hold the spray and give the dog time to reconsider spraying.
Conclusion
For good behavior to be exhibited by your dog, you have to put in some effort and teach them. Also, be patient with your dog and dedicate more time to training. There are various ways to teach your dog to behave well, depending on the problem- stress, previous experiences, or nervousness. Everyone would want their dog to behave well when traveling and enjoy the journey. However, there is a price to pay.
