In the car was the first place George started showing reactive behaviours. He had never shown any fear of getting in the car as a puppy and has thankfully never suffered from car sickness. However, car journeys became incredibly stressful for both of us.
George reacted to anything and everything he could see. Bikes, people, dogs, trees moving in the wind, washing on the line… If there was something there and it moved, he reacted. He took a particular dislike to motorbikes and, for some reason, elderly women.
Sometimes he reacted to stationary objects. Mailboxes, bins, signs…but usually it was something moving.
The reactions were intense. He'd bark, jump and scrabble at the windows, and pant and shake. I use a seatbelt restraint in the back seat attached to his harness but with enough room to safely move (I still worried about him hurting himself). Once he'd had a reaction, there was no chance of him resettling.
As a driver, it's very distracting and stressful! And without help, it's very difficult to train. Ideally, I'd have someone sit in the back to help calm George, and intervene and reward.
If we could have avoided the car, we could have started desensitisation to triggers at a safe distance. Unfortunately I have to drive him to daycare, and as he is more reactive around the home, we drive to go for walks (although we did stop doing this for a while).
What helped sometimes was having a bag of treats in the front seat and trying to throw them in the back at the right moments. This wasn't always possible as my focus was on safe driving. George would also often be in such a state that he would choke and splutter (even with the tiniest treat) which further raised both of our stress levels.
I started looking into a travel crate to block the visual triggers but as George had started to show some signs of confinement anxiety, I knew it would be a slow process.
We then started a new medication (the fourth one we'd tried) which was a game changer for our car journeys.
George's behaviour changed overnight. Instead of constantly being on high-alert and barking at the windows, he laid down and remained calm. This has thankfully continued for a while now.
He will still react to triggers if he sees them - he will sit up if we are stationary for too long to see what is going on - so this is still something we need to work on. But now that we can do our essential journeys with minimal reactions, it has given us the space to work on this in future. If he does react, he resettles quickly.
We both arrive at our destination in a calm state rather than frazzled and overwrought. Which of course makes a huge difference to our walk and to the rest of our day.
Add comment
Comments