Excited Dog

[quine]

Hi

I have a 17 month old German Shepherd Bitch

Among other problems I am working with I have a major one which drives me potty
when we go out in the car to anywhere the park , the vet , or off for the weekend her barking whining and yelping is driving me to the conclusion that i cant take her out anywhere except local

i have used a restraint, i have installed a dog grill and lastly i have bought a muzzle as her excitement reaches fever pitch and she bites through anything in her way (that includes 4 seatbelts at £100 a time )

can you help me fix this problem

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi there,

Have you try to give him a bone (real hard one) during the ride?
It might entertain for a hour or two. When he is chewing on the bone, he can not bark, whine, or yelp.

[quine]

hi max
no i mustadmit i havent tried that one so i will give it a go and let you know how i get on
thanks for the tip

[quine]

well i tried that and she wasn't interested
what else can i try i am so fed up with her behavior that i have stopped taking her out in the car but i am a bit worried as i go away nxt week with her in the car and besides buying earplugs what else can i do
quine

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi there,

Sorry the bone didn't work.

If the barking is for asking for attention, ignoring is the answer but I don't know what to do this case since your dog's barking is out of excitement. She is just so happy to go for a ride with you!

If you have time and energy, you can take her for a short ride and return home as soon as she starts barking (maybe just around the block) and repeat this so that hopefully she will learn that she can't go for a long ride if she barks but it might take a long time before she figures the consequence out.

Is it very special for her to go for a ride with you? If so, I would suggest you take her out more often so that it will become not too special for her. Again, this will take a long time too.

Another idea is to put her in a cage in the car and cover the cage with a cloth so that she can't see outside at all. However, you should be careful so that the inside the cage gets too warm.

I can't think of any better idea. Hope someone else can help you.

[Matt & Liz]

Did you try walking or running the dog before going on a car ride? This might make the pup too tired to whine?

[Annie]

Hi there,
does you dog see much action outside the car? I`m just wondering if there are so many new things at once wizzing by! Have you tried walking in areas and de-sensitzing him with lots of traffic or places that are very exciting? Possible, the whole combination is too much...
Annie