Behaviour
Drooling in the car park, sick at the third bend, refusing to get in. Car sickness lives partly in the inner ear and partly in the head, and you work on both.
Worth knowing. An adult dog who used to travel well and suddenly starts getting car sick, especially with a head tilt or a wobble when walking, may have an ear or balance problem. See your own vet first, then start the car ladder.
The puppy is four months old. By the time you are out of the car park there are long strings of drool hanging from his lips, and at the third bend he is sick, every single trip, like clockwork. Or you have a three-year-old who has never once vomited in the car but shakes and presses himself flat to the floor the moment you open the door, because his last five journeys ended at the vet's. Car sickness comes from two places: the inner ear and the head. In puppies the first one weighs more, in adults the second. In most of the dogs we see, the two are tangled up: nausea brought fear, and the fear makes the nausea worse. Pull them apart, work on each in turn, and you can get to the woods without a pile of towels.
The part of the inner ear that tells the brain how the body is moving (the vestibular system) is not fully developed in puppies. The eyes see the inside of the car standing still, the ear feels every bend and every brake, and the brain settles the argument with nausea. Children who are sick in the car until they are about ten and then never again go through the same thing. Lots of puppies grow out of this part by a year old, as long as they have not learned to be frightened in the meantime.
The car has meant feeling sick ten times in a row. Or vaccinations. Or the boarding kennels at holiday time. The dog links the car with what came after it and starts drooling before you have even started the engine. That is nausea in advance, just at the thought of the trip. In adult dogs who are "car sick" without ever having vomited, nearly all of the problem lives here.
The car has been sitting in the sun, the windows are shut, and the dog is on the back seat with no air moving. He pants, drools, vomits, all before the first bend. That is mild overheating, it comes back every summer, and the fix is air conditioning switched on before he gets in.
A big meal an hour before setting off is a near guarantee of vomiting in a sensitive dog. In some dogs, though, a completely empty stomach brings on nausea with yellow bile. The plan below covers what works for most.
A dog looking out of the side window sees the world rushing past. A dog lying on the floor sees nothing and feels everything. Sitting facing forward, high enough to see the road through the windscreen, the eyes and the ear disagree less.
Sharp braking, corners taken fast, mountain hairpins. A car-sick dog feels every change of direction. Driving as if there were a full glass on the dashboard helps him more than any supplement.
An adult who has never been car sick and suddenly starts, especially with a head tilt or a wobble when walking, may have a problem with the ear or with balance. That is a job for the vet, not the trainer.
The long drive "so he gets used to it" gets nobody used to anything. Three hours of nausea just adds another bad memory to the pile. Dogs get used to the car through trips so short that the nausea never has time to arrive.
Telling him off for being sick is unfair. He does not choose to vomit. Scolding adds fear of you on top of fear of the car, and next time he drools and watches you. Get the towel out and say nothing.
Feeding him just before you leave, "so he is not hungry on the way", means he will be sick on the way. Move the meal a few hours earlier and keep it small.
If the car only ever takes him to the vet, to a place with needles, he has every reason to drool in the car park. The ratio is what counts: ten trips to good places for every trip to the surgery.
Human medicines are a trap. Many of the travel-sickness tablets made for people are dangerous for dogs or dosed completely wrong for their weight. There are options for dogs, and your own vet prescribes them after seeing him. "Natural" supplements bought online fall under the same rule: ask first.
When you lift him onto the seat while he braces all four legs against it, you take away the last scrap of control he had. Next time he starts bracing in the house.
The plan has a practical part for every trip and a car ladder that you climb one rung a day. If he vomits even on short trips, start at step 1. If it is fear without vomiting, go straight to step 2.
You cannot get a dog used to the car while he feels sick on every attempt. Each rung would only prove to him that the car means feeling awful. Your own vet can prescribe something for the nausea to cover the training period. With the nausea switched off, the dog has a chance to find out that the car is fine. After a few weeks of good trips the treatment is stopped and the habit stays. With a puppy, tell the vet his age too: for some, they will suggest waiting for the inner ear to mature, with very short trips in the meantime.
Repeat each rung until the dog does it without hesitating and without drooling, usually two or three days. One new rung a day, never two. If he drools or braces on a rung, drop back one and stay there another day.
From rung 7 onwards, trips grow by five minutes at a time, always to good places and always with the walk at the end.
For every trip to the vet, ten trips to the park. For a puppy, twenty drives of five to ten minutes in the first months, while he still does not care about the car either way, do more than any training later on. For an adult with long-standing fear the rule is the same; it just takes longer.
Only after ten short trips without drooling. Break it into 30 to 45-minute chunks with walking breaks, the same preparation as in step 2, and a good walk before you leave so he gets in tired. Your first holiday by car is not the moment to find out whether the plan has worked. Find out on an hour's round trip.
| Day | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1 | If he vomits, ring your own vet and ask about cover for the training period. Buy a car harness or fix the crate in place. |
| 1–3 | Rung 1: door open, food on the sill and seat, two minutes, twice a day. Meals moved to three or four hours before any trip. |
| 3–5 | Rungs 2 and 3: he gets in by himself, then sits restrained with you in the driver's seat, engine off. |
| 5–7 | Rung 4: engine on for thirty seconds. If that goes well, rung 5, ten metres. |
| 7 | Note whether he drooled and on which rung. From there you decide whether to move up or spend another week on the low rungs. |
Ordinary car sickness only shows in the car and for a short while afterwards. The signs below need a check-up with your own vet before any training:
Even without these signs, if he vomits on every trip, the vet is your first stop. Anti-nausea treatment during the training period is what makes getting him used to the car possible.
For many dogs, the drive to training is the first time the car takes them somewhere better than the vet's. At training we see dogs who arrive in their first months with a towel on the back seat and who, a season later, jump into the boot by themselves when they hear the keys. The credit goes to where they end up: after the drive comes the best part of their week, forty minutes with their nose to the ground. If you do not do a scent sport, any place where the dog can sniff freely for twenty minutes does the same job at the top of the ladder in step 3.
For fear of the car without nausea, the assessment starts from what the dog does when you pick up the keys, and the plan usually comes together within a few weeks. For nausea that does not give way to anything, the road leads back to the vet.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer.
No. Many tablets made for people are dangerous for dogs or dosed completely wrong for their weight. There are options for dogs, both for nausea and for nerves on the road, and your own vet prescribes them after seeing him. The same goes for "natural" supplements bought online: ask before you give anything.
Many do, by about a year old, as the inner ear matures. The catch is that they must not learn in the meantime that the car means feeling ill: very short trips to good places, a cool car, a nearly empty stomach and, if he is sick on every trip, a chat with the vet about getting through the growing months.
A small meal three to four hours before. A big meal an hour before is a near guarantee of vomiting in sensitive dogs, while a completely empty stomach gives some dogs nausea with yellow bile; for them, half a dry biscuit ten minutes before leaving can help. Water any time. On a long trip, stop every 30 to 45 minutes for a walk and a sniff.
On the back seat or in the boot, restrained: a well-secured travel crate or a car harness clipped into the seat belt, facing forward, high enough to see the road through the windscreen. Not on your lap and not in the front seat, because of the airbag. A dog who looks sideways and gets sick gets a sunshade on his window.
Because he knows what is coming. Drooling in the car park is nausea in advance, at the thought of the trip, and it shows that the nausea or fear has become attached to the car itself, not just to the motion. This is where the ladder comes in: door open and food on the sill, getting in without starting up, engine on for thirty seconds, ten metres, one rung a day, until the drooling stops.
A behaviour that appears suddenly or changes for no apparent reason can have a medical cause. For full details, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
He hides under the table at every doorbell or trembles at lorries. Exposed "to get used to it", he got worse. Confidence comes from distance and his own choice.
White foam on the floor, yellow bile on an empty stomach, or four bouts overnight and a chin on the floor. Not equally serious, and none is treated from the cupboard.
Shaking in the waiting room, growling at the nail clippers, hiding from the brush. Fear of handling can be learned from a single experience and unlearned in small steps.
Needle teeth, torn sleeves, crying children. Play biting is normal in a puppy and it passes, but not by itself: you teach him how hard he is allowed to bite.
An assessment session tells you where you stand and which plan makes sense for your dog. The behaviour programme then works step by step, reward-based only.