Episode #148 Helping Dogs Overcome Car Anxiety

Imagine transforming your dog's car anxiety into a joyous ride. That's the promise we are making to you in this episode of the Puppy Training Podcast. Your host, Amy Jensen,  explores the underlying causes of your pet's discomfort during car rides and offers  solutions to mitigate it. With proven strategies such as desensitization, positive reinforcement, and creating a calming environment, we ensure your dog's travel fears will soon be a thing of the past.

Chapters

• 0:00 Helping Dogs Overcome Car Anxiety
• 8:29 Overcoming Dog Car Anxiety

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Trading Podcast, episode 148, helping Dogs Overcome Car Anxiety. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Trading Podcast, and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hey everybody, I hope you're having a good week. Today I want to talk about car anxiety. Sometimes we get asked questions about dogs who aren't very comfortable in cars. Maybe they are nervous to be in a car, maybe they feel a little sick when they're in a car. So today let's talk about car anxiety and explore some of the strategies to help dogs overcome their fear of riding in cars. If we can understand why our dog is nervous or anxious in the car, then we can start to implement appropriate techniques and we can help them feel more positive and enjoy themselves more in the car because we're using positive techniques. So let's create positive, enjoyable experiences for our dogs during car rides, and today I'm going to tell you how. Now, before we dive into today's topic, I want to remind you about the classes and courses that we offer and, specifically, let you know about our barking class happening this next week. If you'll just jump onto our website, baxterandbellacom, you can check out our classes and courses page for details and how to register. So just remember all classes and courses, both live and recorded versions, are included in your membership. We never charge you again. I know it's pretty awesome. We had a really great response to our barking class the last time we taught it, so we will be teaching it live More often. We'll just try to keep it on our schedule. So check back regularly if you want to attend it live via Zoom. If you have questions about barking especially, check it out and then, once you are logged into our site, click the classes and courses, select barking and you'll see the button to register. All right.

Speaker 1: 2:00

Today's topic of car anxiety. Car anxiety in dogs can stem from a variety of factors. They could be negative past experiences. Maybe the dog feels motion sickness or just lack of exposure to a car. Maybe our dogs don't spend very much time in them. Now there are three key strategies to help our dogs overcome their fear of car rights. So today we're going to talk about desensitization, positive reinforcement and creating a comfortable environment. Now, using these methods, our dogs can gradually build confidence and develop positive associations with car travel.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Anytime we're trying to change a motion in our dogs, we want to get to the root cause. So figure out why are they feeling this towards the car, and then we can help them. So let's dive into these three different areas and ways that we can help them. First is desensitization. So this involves gradually exposing dogs to car related stimuli in a controlled and positive manner. We are just trying to get them to associate with it in a positive way. Now, breaking down the process into small steps, we can help our dogs become more comfortable with each stage of car travel. So, for example, how I would start is simply just sitting in a stationary car with the engine off, allowing my dog to explore and associate positive experiences with the vehicle itself. Now, gradually, we can progress to short drives around the block, extending the duration as the dog becomes more at ease and comfortable. Now, patients, inconsistency are key during this process. Do not rush it right. So start slowly and only push forward when you can see that your dog is in fact enjoying the experience.

Speaker 1: 3:37

Now here's an example. Let's consider a dog named Max who exhibits car anxiety. Max's handler begins by putting treats or food and toys inside the car, which encourages Max to explore and associate positive experiences with the car itself. And then our hope over time is that Max becomes more comfortable and will willingly enter the car. The handler then starts taking Max on short drives, gradually increasing the duration Through this desensitization process. Our hope again is that Max's anxiety goes down or diminishes and he starts to enjoy car rides. So make sure you take that step by step right. It's not rushing into it. We might be sitting in a still car for a few weeks and that's okay. It's probably not going to happen in five minutes or 30 minutes or one training session or five training sessions. We might be doing it a couple times a day for just a few minutes for several weeks before we start to see Max's excitement about the car improve. Okay Now, secondly, we talked about positive reinforcement.

Speaker 1: 4:40

This is a powerful tool in helping dogs overcome car anxiety. By rewarding desired behaviors that our dogs give us, such as calmness and relaxation, we can reinforce positive associations with car rides. So, like we did with the desensitization treats, praise, affection these can all be used to reward our dogs during each step of the desensitization process. This also adds to the reinforcement of my dog's confidence and reduces their anxiety. So here's another example for you. Let's say Sarah, a dog handler, uses positive reinforcement to help her dog Bella don't you love the name, I love the name Bella overcome her fear of car rides. So Sarah starts by rewarding Bella with treats and praise Whenever she enters the car voluntarily. As Bella becomes more comfortable, sarah extends the rewards to include calm behavior during short drives and then eventually, our hope again is that Bella associates these car rides with positive experiences and her anxiety gradually goes down or diminishes. So that key component of putting these two together I guess I should say like the desensitization and then putting it together with positive reinforcement, are really powerful tools in helping our dog overcome any anxiousness that they feel in the car All right.

Speaker 1: 5:53

So you might need to play with a hierarchy of rewards as well, if you know your dog really well and you know what they love. I would just jot down a little list. And these are maybe some low value food rewards. These are some high value food rewards. Maybe these are some low value toys and here's some really exciting happy toys for my dog. That way you have a range of things that you can kind of play with and introduce to your dog based on what we're trying to achieve in the car. You know, if I'm trying to get my dog to just enjoy relaxing in the car, I might not want to employ the most exciting toy while we're in the car right, but something a little lower on the scale that my dog does love and feels rewarded by, but they're not overly excited by it. So there will be some of that in there. And this might be something where you know I'd love for you to get some coaching with our trainers, you know, week to week, so that you could check in week one. We ask all of our questions, you give us answers and we create a plan for you as far as this car anxiety goes. And each week you're checking in with us and we're offering more coaching and advice to help you progress. And then we can answer these questions like well, I'm trying this reward or that reward or which reward should I try? And on the topic of rewards, remember that affection and praise are powerful to it. It doesn't always have to be food or toys, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:10

Number three creating a comfortable environment for our dog. So anytime something or someone is anxious, you know you really want to look around, like take a step back, look at the environment and how can I make this better for them. So we do that with car anxiety as well. It's important to create a comfortable environment within your car that your dog can relax in. Now they should have a designated space, such as a crate or a secure harness. There's lots of dog beds on the market that your dog could sit in, but make sure that they are in a harness. We want them to be safe. And then, additionally, introducing familiar sense or playing some soothing music, and then making sure they also have proper ventilation. The windows are down so that it's not too hot or not too cold, right.

Speaker 1: 7:56

So anything that involves the atmosphere in the car, we want to make sure that it's comfortable for our dog. So here's an example. Let's say there's a guy named Mark, he has a dog and his dog suffers from car anxiety. We want to create a comfortable environment for his dog. Bingo during car rides, right. So he sets up bingo's crate in the car. Maybe he lines it with some familiar bedding and some toys, and then he turns on some soft classical music which has a calming effect on bingo and by creating a safe and familiar space, bingo's anxiety gradually subsides and he begins to enjoy car rides.

Speaker 1: 8:29

Now my guess is you'll have to pair this comfortable environment with what we talked about number two, positive reinforcement. And then the first thing we talked about, desensitization. Right, these three tools go hand in hand, really, in helping our dog's anxiety decrease. So helping dogs overcome car anxiety requires patience, understanding and consistent effort, and that consistent effort is important. It's going to be a while. You know, it's easier to change behavior than it is to change a feeling, and it takes time to change a feeling. So it's no different with our dogs.

Speaker 1: 9:03

In order to change how my dog feels about the car, it's going to take time, but by using desensitization techniques, positive reinforcement and creating that comfortable environment, we can gradually transform car rides into enjoyable experiences for our dogs. Now, remember, every dog is unique and it's essential to tailor these strategies to suit their individual needs. That's why I want you to set up a one-on-one video session with our team of trainers and then just check back every week and we can give you tweak the tips if needed, or give you extra additional suggestions to help with your dog's unique situation. But using these techniques, you guys, we can help our dogs conquer their fears until the car becomes a pleasant experience for them All. Right, you guys. I wish you the best. Have a great week and happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training session, visit my site BaxterAndBellacom to contact me.