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Hey all, been a little while... I ended up getting a second BC pup about a month ago. So I now have an 8 and 3 month old, both girls.

 

The new pup, Trinket, was fairly neglected from what I can tell. Purebred and from a working line. She was very underfed when I got her, supposedly she was only eating about 1/2 a cup of kibble per day. The breeder was saying they couldn't stop her from downing water so fast she'd throw up. Best guess is she didn't get enough water and couldn't eat all her kibble. She was separated from her litter and kenneled the majority of the time starting at about 1 month old, and then on for the next 6 or 7 weeks till I got her. We've had lots of issues we've been working through: food, water, potty training, septation, confidence, other dogs, and the list goes on... She's doing so much better then when I got her, and continues to improve almost daily.

 

One issue I've been having troubles working on is her car anxiety.

The moment we get to the elevator to go down to the garage she begins drooling, a lot. I have been able to sometimes contain the anxiety, but it doesn't always work. I've been having her ride in the middle front seat, on a dog bed, laying (almost always) next to me. I'm able to pet her and talk to her. If I can calm her down at the start, the rest of the ride is a piece of cake. We've even done half day excursions in the car without issue. The anxiety seems to have stepped up a notch in this last week. This morning she swallowed so much drool that she puked about 12 minutes into our drive. I'm looking for suggestions on how to help her get over this. She has to ride in the car twice a day during the work week, from 15-30 minutes each ride. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

See picture for example of pre-ride anticipatory drooling.

post-20012-0-53204600-1505358452_thumb.jpeg

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I am so sorry for what your poor girl has gone through, and good on you for taking her on and being so committed to helping her.

 

I have never been in this situation, and the usual advice to take it in very slow steps won't help when you HAVE to have her in the car daily. All I can suggest is practice getting in the car, rewarding and then letting her get out, on times when you don't actually have to go anywhere. Make the car a happy place, where she gets lots of praise and treats etc whether it is moving or not.

 

But I am sure you will get lots of good advice here.

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I am wondering what the reason is that she has to ride in the car every work day. Where is she going? Just wondering if that has any pertinence to the problem, especially as you have had her in the car without a problem and now it is getting worse. Is she going to doggy day care, and could there be a problem there that is causing her to be fearful of going there? Just thoughts.

 

The best approach would be not to make her get into the car at all until you have solved the anxiety issue around the car by going in tiny steps and, as the previous poster said, making the car a happy place. Is there any way that you can not have to make her ride in the car for, say, a week, just to see if in that time you can get her over her anxiety? Often it will take longer than that, but I did cure one new rescue of deep anxiety about the car in only a week of working on it two to three times a day, and it might be worth a try.

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She is going to daycare, its at someone's house. They typically have 4-6 other dogs there besides my pup. They are excellent with dogs, and both my pups love going there. Daycare has solved many of her issues, just being in a good environment where she can socialize and feel safe.

 

I'm thinking part of her not having issues sometimes might be from when she can be calm enough to go to sleep. Even if she wakes up while driving around its fine. One day we went to look at houses after going to herding lessons.... we probably spent 9-10 hours out of the house, driving around. She didn't have problems that day and even ate lunch right before getting back in the car.

 

She will have to continue to ride in the car every work day, except for when I go on vacation in about 3 weeks. My other pup is doing herding lessons, and they'll be staying with the instructor during that week.

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After reading some other posts I figured we should try a kennel. Big issue was I hadn't been able to get it in the back seat before due to size.

 

Friday I had her ride in the front seat in the kennel. She pretty much just laid down and stayed there the whole trip there and back. She did puke on our ride there, but I'm hoping she just had an upset stomach (had puked in the night too).

 

After exhausting my options I was able to squeeze the kennel into the back seat. We also practiced a little on just being around and in the car. Hopefully this week will be much better for her, being able to ride in the kennel.

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