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Car sickness


INU
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There were more than 2 occassions (maybe 5 or 6 times) she ride with me but two times she got sick.

I have a small manual car and I am probably not the best & smooth driver and making her sick sometimes. I am thinking hard about getting a larger automatic SUV for her and myself.

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Fergie threw up on the 1-mile trip to the library when she was a pup. OK, we use the car for that only if it's raining or really hot & humid. But just that far - or the 2 miles to the vet - did her in.

 

Then I bought a harness style seat belt for her. Immediately, she was fine riding. At 7+ years, she loves to go for rides - the longer the better. But she has to wear her seat belt. She even does her seat belt dance under its hook when we mention "ride".

 

I know I'm like a broken record about this. But I do believe that it's the stability she gets from being secured that settles her stomache. And I don't have to worry about her getting hurt, getting loose outside the car, or 50 lbs of dog flying around the car in case of an accident.

 

I don't let anyone ride in my car without wearing a seat belt - not even Fergie.

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Our Rob gets car sick. But now that we crate him in the car, he is much more at ease and only on rare occasions does he get sick. I think the confined space of the crate and the lack of view really helps. But most important I think have been the regular short trips. We started by just putting him in the car. Progressed to in the car with it running and then short trips. Now we take off to the Sierra's and he does fine on the six hour trip. (potty stops for all every two hours). Briar could care less about riding in the car. She doesn't want to hang out the window with the wind in her hair, but will just lay quietly.

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The harness hangs from a nail on the support of the shelves at the front of the garage. If we mention a ride, as soon as we open the door from the kitchen to the garage, Fergie is out and under the harness. She sort of puts her tail end down, and her nose up, and does a slinking sort of prance under the harness, with her nose always pointing at it. The tail down bit is because she knows she has to sit to get t he harness on. So she's almost, kind of, sort of, sitting already.

 

Fergie is a dancing girl. She has a cat dance, a turtle dance, a dinnertime "apache" dance with her stuffed ball (if you're old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan show), a snake dance.... Then there's the hysterical one when my daughter Mari arrives in the driveway - with or without the grandgirls.

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INU,

Our BC puppy would get car sick every time we went for a ride. We also live in the country on a gravel road. He would get sick mostly on curvy roads or right after the car stopped. He has gotten better and it's been awhile since he has thrown up in the car. I hope your girl does better with this. It is pretty gross to clean up dog puke from upholstery! -MA

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Abra got sick from the very start. The short rides helped some but dramamine took her over the hump for the longer rides. She still doesn't like the car like the other dogs but she is better than she used to be not drooling, and even looking out the window on the longer rides. Plus I vary her trips between the vet, and fun stuff. I even bring her to work sometimes just to combine the car ride and the vet as fun and not traumatic. What we won't do for our furry kids. :D

 

Then I bought a harness style seat belt for her. Immediately, she was fine riding. At 7+ years, she loves to go for rides - the longer the better. But she has to wear her seat belt. She even does her seat belt dance under its hook when we ment
My BC Emmette was in a car accident with me last year and it was awful :rolleyes: he wasn't hurt but it shook him up quite a bit. He now hates the van, and will only ride anxiety free in the Toyota, I'm not sure a seat belt would have helped. But I am sorry I didn;t have one for him when it happened,he might not have been so scared.

 

andrea d

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  • 3 weeks later...

my dog appears to have finally gotten over this

at age 18 months. I belive that it was part

physical and part mental. He got sick quite a bit

on the drive home when I got him, and seemed to

forever associate puking with that car (a pathfinder).

It was most irritating when he

would make it 275/300 miles before heaving! A vet

recommened half a tab of bonine, which seemed to

help with the physical symptons.

 

I now have a new car (subaru) and he is much much

better. Actually wants to go in the car and even

stretches out now when he sleeps. I had heard

from somebody else that when they switched cars

their dog (not a bc) also turned the corner.

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Most pups DO outgrow carsickness, but a few don't; excellent suggestions all around from other members (the seatbelt does keep a dog safer, and the "seatbelt dance" story is hilarious - I can just see it!) If the dog is truly motion sick you can use dramamine for that, as in humans, but I'd maybe hold off on that just a little longer, unless the pup doesn't get over it or is getting worse. I've also heard of candied ginger as a home remedy, but have never tried it (ginger and licorice are both home remedies for nausea - although I hate licorice, so I'm pretty sure I'll never try THAT one! :rolleyes: - but the ginger does work on me, in tea form or otherwise. My dogs will eat candied ginger - as I found out by accident :mad: - but I don't think they'd try the tea...)

 

The short trips/fun trips all are good ideas too, so she deosn't learn, "Hey, every time I get in there I get sick, so I'll save time and start right now instead of waiting til we've been driving for 3 hours..."

 

Sigh. The great thing about smart dogs is that they're smart. The bad thing about smart dogs is that... they're smart.

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I had learned that animals and humans get car sick because of an unbalance in the system. There is fluid in the eustachian tubes in the ears and when the body is in motion, the fluid moves. If you don't look out of the window and see the motion, your brain won't match the motion in your ears. This causes you to have motion sickness. My Ruby had really bad car sickness, especially when we went on a long ride out to the country and dramamine didn't work, but she finally grew out of it because she is now big enough to see out of the window. Also, my friend has an SUV and his pup got sick in it a lot until he outgrew it. Good luck!

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