I think you've hit the nail on the head ! I take her to our local supermarket regularly, just to stand at the door and watch people going past. She used to be bad for trying to jump up at everyone everywhere ! Tescos doorway is a good cure , now she realises everyone doesn't want to stop and pet her. I need to do this regularly . She's getting used to the hydro, She was frightened of water when I got her. I spent months gently encouraging her to play in a nearby stream , and hundreds of trips to the beach in the summer. Now I can't keep her out , she even ducks her head under to pick things up . She's been 6 times to hydro now. To begin with , she would splash around so much you would think we were trying to drown her. The last 2 times, she just realised that she CAN breathe and swim at the same time . She's got another 6 sessions to go but I may keep taking her just for the exercise it gives her . Maybe I should invest in some earplugs .

Just a thought, does anyone think that clicker training would help here ? If I take her out in the car and stop somewhere , she'll probably, ( or should I say WILL ), cry and whine non stop. If I click and treat as soon as she is quiet , then , over time increase the time between clicking and reward, do you think she will behave better or will this just give her another reason to cry in the car ? Just now , I think she does it because she is going somewhere exciting and / or meeting people . Even going to the vet is exciting to her.

It does sound very much like pure excitement. Loki does this in the car when we go somewhere. He is just so thrilled to be included and to get a walk at the end of it.

Ok , I just nipped out to the shops and took Missy with me. I live in a quiet village and it's 5 miles to the nearest shop at this time of the night. She was crying very quietly most of the way there and back . As soon as I turned back into my street , she cried a bit louder. I stopped outside the house and just sat in the car. As soon as she stopped crying , I waited a couple of minutes then got out. Missy thought she was going for a walk and was a bit miffed when I just went straight into the house . Now she's lying on the couch with her head on my Mum's knee , just staring at me . I'll take her for a short walk in 15 minutes , then I need to get ready to go to work. I agree with the excitement thing . I also think it's a case of " if I don't get what I want I'll cry , sulk or create mischief until you give in ". It just gets so annoying when she cries so much while I'm driving.

hiya

Bruno did this on the way to hydrotherapy that day you came with him - whined ( when he wasnt trying to chew the dog guard that is)

is it that kind of crying - like excitement staffie crying - hard to describe - but basically Bruno will do this when he recognises peoples streets and houses - especially both grannies' houses - he also does it enroute to hydrotherapy and on the way to the fields we let him run in. I think she just recognises where she is going and cant contain herself.

Another option would be to curtain off the windows so that she cant see out - if its that distracting ?

I find it amusing and normally just talk to Bruno when he does it.

Hi Dani , yep , that's the one ! The same as Bruno . " I know where I am going and it's gonna be so much fun when I get outta this car " . I don't mind so much on a short journey , but all the way to St Monans and back on Monday stopped being funny after 2 hours . On the way home , I kept telling her to " Get A Grip !" . I mean , It was 60 miles each way ! .

i can certainly see how that might get annoying !! Bruno thankfully only does it when he totally recognises somewhere.

i can only suggest blacking out the windows so she doesnt know where she is going....

is she behind a dog guard or on the back seat ?

What you could do is to try giving her what she wants if she does what you want - for instance, a bit like you did in your next post ... wait until she's quiet, then say "good!" and straight away get out of the car with her and take her where she wants to go.

At home you could also teach her "quiet" and then ask her for that in the car (perhaps not whilst driving though, as it would be hard to reinforce a good response) and then youcould ask for that before she was allowed out.

She'd need to have her reward immediately to start with and then you could gradually extend it so clicker training would come in handy there. The reward perhaps being her exercise/fun rather than a treat (or both! ). I use clicker a lot like this.

It may not be a bad idea to do some other things too - frustration exercises such as to wait whilst her food bowl is put down, or wait whilst her lead is put on - do you do anything like that? Plenty of rewards and praise etc.

The crate idea may be the easiest though and it may even get her out of the habit.

She sounds such a livewire , do you do anything else with her? Hydrotherapy is fab, but she may be really good at something like agility if you could find a good club. Just a thought

Hi Dani, She is on the back seat . I have sturdy mesh across behind the front seats to stop her from getting through to the front. ( I keep too much stuff in the boot to let her use that area). That way I can use the door as a barricade to stop her from launching herself out before I get hold of her ! She does know " WAIT" but doesn't always listen. I feel at the moment, this is the safest way to travel with her until I get a crate. I also have those stick on sun shades on the back windows.

Thanks, She's a livewire allright , wired to the mains! She just never switches off . I'd love to do agility with her , I think she'd give the BC's a run for their money . Only problem there is , she had surgery on her leg and now has pins and wires in there. She knows left , right and straight on as I do this all the time on walks. She also knows over , under , through , wait and stop , (that's as well as all of the basic sit, stay ,down, heel , etc ). She is very good at frustration exercises. I often ask her to wait for her food. She won't touch it until I say , "paid for". She is also very good at " leave". (e.g. I could put a whole cooked chicken or a piece of steak in front of her , she won't touch it if she's told " leave"). When she did her basic training class , my trainer told me that she was better than most of the dogs in his intermediate class. She will bend over backwards to do anything I ask her , and she struts about like a right little show off when she knows she's been good. Trouble is, she thinks too much and sometimes tries to be 10 steps ahead. I mean , once at the beach , I was not paying her attention. She ran on quite far ahead, then stopped , looked at me and came charging back full pelt. She slid into a perfect sit at my feet, looking up at me as if she was thinking , I've done a recall Mum, where's my treat please"? . I love the way she is , and her antics can be very hilarious. I just wish she wouldn't cry and whine so much in the car. She knows " Quiet" . For a while , she took to barking to get attention. I taught her to "speak" on command, then introduced "quiet" . Only, this doesn't seem to work in the car.