Car Problem

Our new Staff Sam is a lovely little cheeky dog. However we think he has been very spoilt by his previous owner he is very attention seeking!
The problem we have is that in the car he is fine at first, then he starts to make little staffy type grunts followed by little shouts which build up to full blown shrieking when we get near to or he thinks we are near to where he is going to have his walk.
We are used to exited dogs making noises and barking etc in the car, but Sam makes it sound as though he is being tortured, which is a bit embarrasing and off putting when you are driving.
We don't think he is scared, probably just very excited, but what can we do about it?

Any suggestions

Thanks

Andrew

Really dont know, sorry! My setter, Molly is bad in the car, she is really car sick on journeys more than 30 mins and anything less than that she is manic! Turning in circles and whineing etc. She gets in the car happily, but just does not settle. Travel sickness meds dont seem to work. Have tried sea legs and ?sturgon. The vet gave me ACP once (reluctantly) and that worked, but I dont really like to sedate her every long journey. Have also been given Piriton for her, tried it twice and she was MANIC in the car. Vet had never heard of that effect, so tried it again... same effect. Will be watching this thread.
Sorry I cant help though.

I just thought that was how staffies travel !! LOL

You should hear Bruno when we go to Grandma-s the whole neighbourhood knwos he has arrived and he also likes to throw hs head out the window and reinforce the arrival !!

Have you tried dog harness etc to try to control him - Bruno gets very excited though and I just kinda accept it so long as he doesnt interfere with my driving !!

Maybe distracting him with a toy or something?

Believe me,you would much rather have a dog which loves cars and gets excited-than one which is travel sick!

Wear ear plugs or turn the radio up!

you need to start taking him in the car and going around the block, or maybe driving for a mile then coming home, so he starts thinking that not every time he goes in the car he will have a nice walk after it.
you will have to do this a few times before he learns that the car does not meen a walk

mine all go mad the second they hear there leads but if i put them on them and left them like it they would soon learn that now every time they hear them they are going out

- sorry but I can just imagine it.

I think you need to try to make car journeys a calm occasion. Could someone else stroke and soothe him during the journey? And just go out in the car for the sake of it - not always for his walk.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Apart from the outrageous shrieking with excitment in the car Sam is turning into a lovely settled dog (we have had him now for 5 weeks).
He used to cry a lot when my wife left the house, this has stopped now, in addition to being castrated about ten weeks ago he has had a new home, new owners, a new dog friend and missing his previous mum to contend with, so maybe patience is the answer!

Thanks again

Andrew

Andrew Just to add a couple of things to what has already been said..make sure your little dog is not dying to go to the loo, you may be going for a walk 'by car' but it is best to go to the loo first if you don't already. You can also try putting him in a crate and covering it with rug, this also means he will be secure if you stop suddenly.

Saffy is fine in the car. Just looks out the window or lies down.

Murphy on the other hand was a nightmare. He would be ok to start, the start whining to get you to put the window down. So you did to stop the whining. Now all was well until you stopped at traffic lights. Then he would scream. I'm sure people thought we had kidnapped him (or if they didn't see Murphy who knows what they thought )

The main reason he was like this was because he only ever went to the vets in the car. His owner didn't drive so he just associated driving with getting poked and prodded.

Graeme