Desensitising to Car Journeys

By Vidhyalakshmi Karthikeyan, The Unlikely Tricksters

The first thing to to consider when your dog is afraid of riding in the car is whether she is experiencing car sickness. For this, you need to speak to your vet as there are medications that can be prescribed to reduce motion sickness. If she is feeling sick, it’s going to be hard to change her emotions about the car until that has been managed.

Assuming that your dog doesn’t suffer from motion sickness (or, if she does, that it has been addressed by a vet), then here’s what you would do:

A Brown and White Long Coated Dog Resting on a Black Surface
  • First, find the distance from the car at which she is aware of the car trip, but not showing any fearful behaviour. Think alert but not afraid. This is the distance where you start training
  • Every day, place a portion of her meals (or some small treats) in a big pouch. Sit in the car with the engine off, the door open, and even your legs facing the outside touching the ground, but no plans to go anywhere whatsoever
  • Have her on a harness and as long a line as you can get. This is just for safety. If the area where your car is parked is secure, then she can be off lead if preferred
  • Then toss each piece of her food just behind her, one at a time, so she increases space between herself and the car to get it. This relieves any pressure on her to get closer to the car
  • Do not lure her to the car. She must take every step to the car by herself, of her own volition
  • Eventually, she’ll be close enough to the car to get in. Do the same for jumping in. Give her a ramp if that’s helpful
  • When she’s at the stage where she’s sitting in the car, which will be far down the line, do some other training with her in the car
  • Feed meals in the car. Make sure that everything nice happens in the back seat, or wherever you want her to settle
  • The next step is to have the engine on, but don’t drive anywhere yet. Rinse and repeat
  • Put into gear, let the tyres roll forward half a metre. Rinse and repeat. This part might also take a while.

You’ll be spending a lot of time around the car without moving an inch. So, make sure you don’t force her to get into the car and drive with you until she’s ready. That’s going to mean staying within walking distance of your home, if you’re not already.

Dog on a Car Seat