How to discourage a dog from barking in the car?

[Coidzor]

So... I'm at my parents' house right now visiting them with my new dog. Really an overgrown 10 to 11 month old puppy. And I'm currently dreading returning to my place with him in the back seat because of the horrible noise he made on my way out here.Ordinarily, there'd have been someone at home to watch him so I wouldn't have had to make the hour long drive out here with him alone in my back seat so this would all be irrelevant, but some bad juju went down and so I was stuck with the option of leaving him alone for almost 12 hours in a crate when I hadn't finished crate training him or taking him with me.

Things were going ok for the most part until about 15 minutes into the drive when he started making this horrible, high-pitched, near constant keening whine that started echoing inside the car and started to give me a headache as well as do unpleasant things to my equilibrium and balance as well as to my ear drums. So I broke down and let him out of his crate into the back seat with the crate taking up the other half of the backseat and preventing him from jumping up into the front seat.

So then he decided to start periodically barking for no reason when he doesn't normally bark except in distress or at another dog but he's got plenty of room and has a chew toy and a couple of rawhide strips to chew on with him back there.

And so of course he decides that it's much more worth his time to try to break the seat-belt catch by trying to crack it open and succeeds in putting some horrible bite marks into it as well as make a horrible, loud, distracting sound right behind my head while I'm trying to drive on the highway.

tl;dr: Dog is loud and distracting me from driving, how do I get home safely?

[thubby]

crack the windows.
dogs rely a lot more on their other senses than we do. they lose a lot when they can feel the car move but dont get the sound/smells/etc.

also, how does he act while you drive? does he lay in the seat, sit up, try and walk around?

[Savannah]

You could try getting a big bag of small (no bigger than kibble sized) treats and sticking it where you can easily get at it while driving. Then, whenever he's not making a sound, throw a treat. (This is assuming he'll eat, of course -- if he's too stressed, he might not.)

After you get home, you'll probably want to practice driving with him and teaching him to ride quietly, since you now know it's a problem...

[Coidzor]

crack the windows.
dogs rely a lot more on their other senses than we do. they lose a lot when they can feel the car move but dont get the sound/smells/etc.

also, how does he act while you drive? does he lay in the seat, sit up, try and walk around?

He usually sits or lays down, but occasionally gets up and tries to walk around and jump up onto that area of the back of the car behind the back seat and underneath the rear windshield. When there's been someone else in the back seat with him, he basically just lays down with his head on their thigh and occasionally repositions himself.

This time he basically stayed sitting after I let him out of the travel kennel and occasionally stood and tried to jump up into that back window area. except when he tried to bury his nose in my shoulder or bark right into my ear.


You could try getting a big bag of small (no bigger than kibble sized) treats and sticking it where you can easily get at it while driving. Then, whenever he's not making a sound, throw a treat. (This is assuming he'll eat, of course -- if he's too stressed, he might not.)

After you get home, you'll probably want to practice driving with him and teaching him to ride quietly, since you now know it's a problem...

silly person that I am, I put those on the other side of the kennel from him in the back seat, thinking I'd just use them after the car ride to reward him for being in the kennel without too much fuss.

x.x

Yeah, definitely need to practice driving with him. Only got him about a week and a half ago now though. x.x First dog that I've had that didn't just naturally take to cars. Because he sure seems to love being in them and is really eager to get into one, but he doesn't seem too keen about sitting alone in the back seat. :smallconfused:

[Pika...]

Ducktape = Silence

I hear it works just as well on baby-sitting jobs.

[thubby]

have you considered putting him in the front seat?
obviously something to try on a short trip in familiar roads, but still.

[Coidzor]

have you considered putting him in the front seat?
obviously something to try on a short trip in familiar roads, but still.

He hasn't quite learned to always be down, so when making turns, or slowing down from high speeds I'm kind of worried about him getting tossed or sliding further than a few inches.

[Savannah]

If he's likely to be riding outside of a crate anytime in the future, you might want to look into a doggie seatbelt -- they're basically wide, padded harnesses that you run the car's seatbelt through. Should help with with the sliding/tossing dangers.

[Coidzor]

If he's likely to be riding outside of a crate anytime in the future, you might want to look into a doggie seatbelt -- they're basically wide, padded harnesses that you run the car's seatbelt through. Should help with with the sliding/tossing dangers.

True that. Was hoping to mostly just have him transported in the crate though. Need to up the crate training time at home I think so he's more used to it.

[LaZodiac]

Gonna go with the "cutting the knot" answer here and suggest using a muzzle.

[Orzel]

Question: When your dog barked in the car, how you react?

Orzel does not acknowledge barking dogs in cars and buildings. Sure I don't have a dog myself but my cousin's dog got the picture quickly. I'm no dog trainer so my "act like if unfazed" method may be good OR not so good.

[Savannah]

Need to up the crate training time at home I think so he's more used to it.

In addition to more time, you'll probably want to work specifically on crating in the car. But, of course, that's not really helpful for you here...


Orzel does not acknowledge barking dogs in cars and buildings. Sure I don't have a dog myself but my cousin's dog got the picture quickly. I'm no dog trainer so my "act like if unfazed" method may be good OR not so good.

That's a good point, attention is often reinforcing, even if it's you saying "no".

[Coidzor]

That's a good point, attention is often reinforcing, even if it's you saying "no".

I try to not give it attention. Only problem is that he was getting so loud in the enclosed space that I was experiencing intense pain from it.

I think there might be a trip to the doctor in order for me if this keeps up, actually... :smalleek:

And lo and behold, giving him a treat every 15 minutes or so for continuing to be calm and have that to chew on instead of the car seemed to work so long as I didn't have him in the crate at all this time around.

[thubby]

Gonna go with the "cutting the knot" answer here and suggest using a muzzle.

using a muzzle is pretty much always a bad idea unless strictly necessary.

i would like to point out that open windows also solves the "enclosed" space problem.

[Arminius]

If the problem is really the safety of your ears, maybe just get some earplugs while you are driving? I don't know where you live, but if you have a walmart nearby, you can usually find earplugs in the gun section. Sporting goods stores and gun shops would probably have them too.

[Coidzor]

using a muzzle is pretty much always a bad idea unless strictly necessary.

i would like to point out that open windows also solves the "enclosed" space problem.

In town, yeah, though driving in the winter at about 70 mph with the windows rolled down at night just does not sound like anything but a last resort.

Pretty sure they can whine through muzzles anyway.

[Solaris]

Ducktape = Silence

I hear it works just as well on baby-sitting jobs.

You hear correctly. Also, this made me laugh out loud and get funny looks in the MWR.

[The Succubus]

I was a little distracted by something in your quote box:


...a couple of rawhide strips to chew on with him back there...

I did wonder why the server was running slow. It's because you have our server admin buried in your back garden and you periodically feed bits of him to your dog. :smalltongue: