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New challenge with Missy


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Missysmom

We have a new challenge with our lil Missy. For about probably the last couple of months, actually since her last grooming which was mid-Nov, Missy shakes uncontrollably whenever she is in the car. We think something happened during that grooming visit and she's now being groomed by me so that's gone from her car trips now.

It breaks my heart because I think she thinks she's not coming home. We always tell her where she's going (shopping, etc), and she's heard the words before so we've tried the word association which she's very good at. But it doesn't seem to matter.

She usually sits strapped in the back seat on her bed, which we even raised up so she could see out to see/ know where she's going. When it was colder we brought one of her blankets for her and of course the heat was on so being cold isn't it.

But the last straw for me was just now. Sunday is our trash day so we usually walk down to do that but it was raining so we decided to ride in the truck with her dad (since she won't walk in the rain) and I held her in my arms. The poor thing shook like crazy even in my arms with me talking to her and showing her out the window where we were. I just wanted to cry I felt so bad for her. It was only sprinkling and I think she was even willing to walk back in the rain (that's how bad it was in her mind) but we went ahead and drove her back.

When we got back in the house she checked all of her things and we tried to play but she's wiped and just went to sleep- obviously stressed her very much.

I know a lot of people on here also have rescues. Has anyone experienced this? Any thoughts/ suggestions we can try? I don't want to stress her but I do want her to be able to go with us places. Thanks in advance for your help.

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mylittlefluffballs

Awww poor little love! I have no advice but I'm sure others will.... Best of luck hun x

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I doubt it had anything to do with the grooming. Rescues have various issues that don't always surface immediately. She may have been afraid of riding in the car all along, or something completely different may have scared her (a lot of dogs are terrified of semis with trailers). My dogs get carted around in crates in the car from the time they are baby puppies, and none of them are scared of riding. It's all a part of socialization.

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Pawz4me

I would start from the beginning and work on desensitization and retraining.

Have her sit in the car (engine not running). Give her treats and praise for being a good girl. Do short sessions of that until she's comfortable just sitting in the car. If she's already okay with that, then you can skip to the next step which is having her sit in the car with the engine running. Again do short sessions with lots of treats and praise until she's completely comfortable being in the car, sitting still, with the engine running. And then go on a very short drive -- it might be as short as to the end of your driveway and back. Repeat until she's comfortable, and then gradually increase the length of the rides.

If you don't want to go through all that (understandable), then you might just try driving to take the trash every Sunday and taking her with you until she's comfortable with that (praising and treating along the way) and then working up to longer drives to different places.

Good luck!

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I should have added that holding and reassuring a dog that is showing fear behavior only means to the dog that you are validating the response and making it worse. The best thing to do is to ignore them until they settle down, THEN praise (and treat if you are doing that).

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Pawz4me

I should have added that holding and reassuring a dog that is showing fear behavior only means to the dog that you are validating the response and making it worse. The best thing to do is to ignore them until they settle down, THEN praise (and treat if you are doing that).

More and more behaviorists and trainers are moving away from that belief. And I'm very happy--it never made any sense at all to me based on what I saw in my own dog training.

Patricia McConnell -- You can't reinforce fear

Suzanne Clothier -- The myth of reinforcing fear

(ETA: Those articles relate mostly to fear of thunderstorms, but IMO fear is fear regardless of what the trigger is.)

Edited by Pawz4me
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Missysmom

Thanks so much Pawz4me I will try working with her in the car little by little! Good time for taking time with that with winter weather coming anyway!

Thanks Pam, I will be sure to put her back in her seat and be sure to just ignore her- I was actually just too lazy to move her beds to the truck. Will be sure to watch my reactions around her.

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I think that Paws4Me and I will have to agree to disagree. There are many, many methods of training dogs and one of them may work for one dog but not for another.

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Sophie's Haven

I will give you an example of what I went thru with our Winnie.....never had a problem riding in the car....she loves to go for a ride. Now take into consideration that we were her 5th home the first 3 years of her life...after her being with us for a period we deceided to take her to visit her foster mom so she could see how well she was coming along. She had been in the foster home for a period of time and got along very well there....but I handed Winnie over to her foster mom and Winnie lost it.....she shook so bad that I had to take her back and as long as she was in my arms the foster mom got all kinds of licks and tail wagging but she did not want to leave my arms. Our next trip out in the car Winnie was shaking like crazy......I took her on my lap and calm her down and and continued on with our outing. She was so excited when we got home and she has never had a problem since. I really think she thought that we were leaving her and not bring her home with us that day when we visited the foster mom. Bailey has issues with riding in the car but after about 1/2 hour he settles down.......with rescues you have no idea what triggers them to act the way they do.......you have to calmly renforce them and show them there is nothing to be afraid of. .....I would give her short rides to help her get over her issues. Years ago I had a cockapoo that only rode in the car to get groomed or go to the vets......after a couple of visits she then started the shaking thing every time......... that I started taking her to Burger King for a treat after her visits.......after doing that about 2 times going to the groomer or the vet was a breeze.

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Missysmom

Thanks so much Jeannie! I know you have lots of experience with rescues and really value your input. We are going to work with Missy taking her for short rides and have been talking about that again this morning. But we were struggling as to what her 'special' treat would be- Never did it occur to me to get her something while we were out, what a fantastic idea!! Thank you sooo much, Missy will Love that!

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missy dawn

Missy and Maisey are scared in truck,but Minnie and Maggie love it,Molly did too.whenever we get to our destination they are both fine.funny,but last year i think it was,we went on a vacation,it was a new camper and I like to sleep away from the door,anyway hubby is on my right side every night at home,and remind you Missy is on my pillow EVERY NIGHT.so when we laid down,she wouldnt sleep w me,paced all night.everytime I put her up on the bed and gave her love,she'd get back down.after "2" days,I figured it out,the rest of the week she slept like a baby on my pillow (after we traded sides of course) :rolleyes:

sheila-shih tzu dreamer

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babybluegirl

I will give you an example of what I went thru with our Winnie.....never had a problem riding in the car....she loves to go for a ride. Now take into consideration that we were her 5th home the first 3 years of her life...after her being with us for a period we deceided to take her to visit her foster mom so she could see how well she was coming along. She had been in the foster home for a period of time and got along very well there....but I handed Winnie over to her foster mom and Winnie lost it.....she shook so bad that I had to take her back and as long as she was in my arms the foster mom got all kinds of licks and tail wagging but she did not want to leave my arms. Our next trip out in the car Winnie was shaking like crazy......I took her on my lap and calm her down and and continued on with our outing. She was so excited when we got home and she has never had a problem since. I really think she thought that we were leaving her and not bring her home with us that day when we visited the foster mom. Bailey has issues with riding in the car but after about 1/2 hour he settles down.......with rescues you have no idea what triggers them to act the way they do.......you have to calmly renforce them and show them there is nothing to be afraid of. .....I would give her short rides to help her get over her issues. Years ago I had a cockapoo that only rode in the car to get groomed or go to the vets......after a couple of visits she then started the shaking thing every time......... that I started taking her to Burger King for a treat after her visits.......after doing that about 2 times going to the groomer or the vet was a breeze.

Aww, poor Winnie thinking she was going back to her Foster Home. It's amazing, how clever our little paws are and how they think like this.

WOW: One lucky paw going to Burger King! lol. What did she have there, or was it just a trip there to get fuss from people? Clever idea... it's good to know that you don't just go in the car to the Vets/Groomers. But a trip to Burger King too ;)

I've been advised to always pop by my Groomers/Vets whenever I'm passing so that Riley doesn't always associate those two places as "bad" and that he gets positives/fuss when he goes there on the occasions when we just drop by :)

babybluegirl

11:19pm

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I have to agree with both Pam and Pawz4me lol As I've worked with rescues, I found out different methods work differently for each dog. That's why I'd suggest that you got the advice of a trainer that specializes with trauma therapy/rehab etc. He can help a lot if he knows what he's doing. It's a complicated situation and if you haven't dealt with it before, asking for help is the best you can do :)

On another note, I hope Missy gets better soon! I know for a fact that you love her to pecies and it's a shame she holds back on enjoying a car ride because of her background. I'm sure you'll be able to help her overcome this problem as well! She's an amazing girl with amazing family to take care of her! :D Many many hugs! :hug:

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Jo-Anne

We have a new challenge with our lil Missy. For about probably the last couple of months, actually since her last grooming which was mid-Nov, Missy shakes uncontrollably whenever she is in the car. We think something happened during that grooming visit and she's now being groomed by me so that's gone from her car trips now.

It breaks my heart because I think she thinks she's not coming home. We always tell her where she's going (shopping, etc), and she's heard the words before so we've tried the word association which she's very good at. But it doesn't seem to matter.

She usually sits strapped in the back seat on her bed, which we even raised up so she could see out to see/ know where she's going. When it was colder we brought one of her blankets for her and of course the heat was on so being cold isn't it.

But the last straw for me was just now. Sunday is our trash day so we usually walk down to do that but it was raining so we decided to ride in the truck with her dad (since she won't walk in the rain) and I held her in my arms. The poor thing shook like crazy even in my arms with me talking to her and showing her out the window where we were. I just wanted to cry I felt so bad for her. It was only sprinkling and I think she was even willing to walk back in the rain (that's how bad it was in her mind) but we went ahead and drove her back.

When we got back in the house she checked all of her things and we tried to play but she's wiped and just went to sleep- obviously stressed her very much.

I know a lot of people on here also have rescues. Has anyone experienced this? Any thoughts/ suggestions we can try? I don't want to stress her but I do want her to be able to go with us places. Thanks in advance for your help.

@Vicki, so she was allright before november, little Missy? and what do you use for transport when she is in the car, a crate or a special seat so that she can look out of the window? I am just curious, after you took her to the groomer did this occur right away?

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Missysmom

Thanks so much Markella! Since Missy did well in the car before whatever spooked her we're going to try making the car her 'friend' again first, hopefully that'll work. If not we will certainly try to find a good trainer, thanks for that recommendation!

Will keep you posted how it goes. Was going to try just sitting in the car yesterday but she gave it 'the eye' as we walked by so we just did that as starters and will see how we progress today- looks like slow she goes but that's fine gotta start somewhere!

Getting 'special' treats here now for progress and then the drive-thru treat as Jeannie said once we go out- hopefully that'll do it for our little munch monster!

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Missysmom

@Vicki, so she was allright before november, little Missy? and what do you use for transport when she is in the car, a crate or a special seat so that she can look out of the window? I am just curious, after you took her to the groomer did this occur right away?

Yep you got it Jo-Anne.

Missy was just fine riding in the car prior (from May when we got her till Nov) to the trip to the groomer. That's why we associated it to that (plus other items discussed in previous threads regarding that grooming job that made it appear it had been a stressful event for her leading to us grooming her now).

We have a bed, towel and chew toy for her in the backseat and that's where she rides. Missy was just fine riding like that and then coming home from the groomers she shook like a leaf and has ever since when riding in the car. We went and got another bed for the car just like one she has in the house and loves and put that in the backseat thinking it may help but nope.

So far nothing we have done has helped even taking her to her favorite store shopping..

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Sophie's Haven

This has nothing to do with your issue but Bailey does better riding in a booster seat where he can see out the window in all directions. I think over time you can get her back to where she was......you may want to give her rescue remedy (if it works on her) to calm her down where you can get her to focus. I am far from an expert but with 6 rescues under my roof with extreme issues to mild if I can turn them around myself you can too...............this is not going to happen overnight it takes time and patience and trust and lots of love!!!!!!

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Missysmom

Thanks so much Jeannie! We haven't tried Rescue Remedy with her but that's a good idea, we did think about a booster seat and may get her one of those- glad to hear it helps Bailey so I'm going to look closer at that!

Thanks so much for your support, I know you've helped so many rescues and I know with all the good help here we can help our little girl too! We've started working with her walking to/ sniffing the car and getting 'special' treats that she doesn't get often, she loves them so we're hoping she associates these good treats with the car. Small steps and lots of patience and hopefully slow but sure we'll make some good progress.

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babybluegirl

Thanks so much Jeannie! We haven't tried Rescue Remedy with her but that's a good idea, we did think about a booster seat and may get her one of those- glad to hear it helps Bailey so I'm going to look closer at that!

Thanks so much for your support, I know you've helped so many rescues and I know with all the good help here we can help our little girl too! We've started working with her walking to/ sniffing the car and getting 'special' treats that she doesn't get often, she loves them so we're hoping she associates these good treats with the car. Small steps and lots of patience and hopefully slow but sure we'll make some good progress.

Sounds like you're doing baby steps with Missy and it's working :) Especially associating the car with postive/delicious treats! I have no advice I'm afraid about the car situation, but wanted to say that Riley and I are sending good vibes your way :) Little and often...

babybluegirl

11:24pm

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Sorry to hear about Missy! I have no suggestions as I go through this everytime I try to take my guys anywhere. I really should get them out more.

It does seem that most of the time I take my guys out it's either to the vet, (used to be) the groomer, or even worse (in their opinion) to a dog show.

I'm reading carefully and taking in all the suggestions too!

:hug:

(other) Vicki

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Missysmom

Thanks Vicki, I'm sorry to hear you go through this too. We're doing the retraining to make the car her 'friend' again and looking at getting her a car seat now instead of the beds.

So far the special 'car' cookies she gets are a hit but that only lasts till she finishes eating it! I know it's waaaay too soon to see any changes and it's gonna take time so I'm packing exta patience each time we practice visiting the car. Will keep you posted how it goes.

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I certainly wish you the best of luck with her. My car is small and I just don't have the room for five car seats! :(

Vicki

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