A Turramurra Vet Article
Happy Car Travels with Your Puppy
Happy Car Travels with Your Puppy
by Katie Bedrossian, Pet Behaviour Consultant
Whether your puppy travels in the car for vet visits and puppy classes or they go wherever you go, ensuring your puppy is happy and safe while travelling makes future car travel a breeze.
Here are Katie’s top 5 tips for car travel with your doggy companion:
- Ensure your puppy is safely contained. Just like there are laws for travelling with young children in the car, there are laws for travelling with dogs. Your dog needs to be in a secured crate, in a car harness or in a cargo area of the car that is separated from the passengers such as in a wagon or SUV.
- Ensure your puppy enjoys their travel containment. Using the crate at home for feeding meals, taking naps and other positive opportunities, such as tossing treats inside, helps when they go in the car.
- Practice in the car without going anywhere. Set your dog up in their crate, harness or back seat view and give a few special treats or even a meal while they are in a non-moving car. This is super important for car sick puppies to re-establish a positive association with the car.
- Use pheromones to reduce anxiety in the car. Adaptil spray is a pheromone available over the counter at the vet, that has no known side effects. Sprayed onto a familiar blanket 15 minutes prior to your puppy going into the car and placing the blanket in with them can help some puppies relax when travelling.
- Prior to travel, ensure your puppy is well-hydrated and toileted. If your puppy will be crated for the journey, bring along a favourite soft toy.
If your puppy gets car sick, our veterinarians can help find a solution to ease nausea and Katie can help your puppy feel more positive about car travel in a behaviour consultation.
Happy travels!