Driving Miss Puppy

You would like to treat your puppy like a member of the family members. That means involving her in most of your family's joint activities, especially those that take place on puppy friendly territory like parks and beaches and the backyards of friends or relatives. In numerous cases, this will require a trip by car.

Taking any sort of automobile trip can be a problem for a puppy who suffers from motion sickness (the signs of that are heavy drooling or vomiting) or merely fear of becoming in a moving vehicle. The way to deal with this is to get the puppy used to the car environment in stages. First bring the puppy into the automobile without turning on the engine. Then turn on the engine, but keep the car in park. When she adjusts to these new surroundings, you are able to start taking short and slow practice trips. As she acclimates to experience of becoming in motion, those trips can turn out to be longer and faster. However, if her "car sickness" or anxiety persists, you may need to see your veterinarian. He will examine your dog and perhaps prescribe pills to suppress her nausea or sedatives to lessen her fear.

That classic image of the car-traveling puppy with her head out of the window may be adorable, but it is also harmful. Pebbles, sticks, all sorts of things sent flying by the wind or a automobile in front of yours can injure the puppy's head and eyes (even the tiniest of objects could be very harmful if they strike your puppy's corneas). And if the window is open wide enough for your puppy to stick her head and neck outside your vehicle, there's a real threat that the rest of your puppy could follow and fall out of the car. The injuries that result from that could be severe or even fatal.

So, yes, keep that window cracked enough for ventilation. But keep the puppy either restrained in a harness or confined in a carrier or a portable crate or kennel. And even if there is no other human but the driver, the puppy should by no means be in the front seat. If she gets loose around the pedals or merely distracts the driver, an accident could result. Worse, if there's a collision that deploys the airbags, a puppy in the passenger seat could be killed.

Going somewhere with your puppy can be a wonderful experience for you both if you follow these fundamental guidelines for getting there.

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