Is Your Dog a Back Seat Driver?

I met with a client last week and her two adorable little dogs.  They are so sweet and lovable, you just want to pick them up and love on them all the time.  That is until you load them into their car seat in the car and they start barking at everything!  They bark at people, dogs, golf carts, bikes, motorcycles...well, you get the picture.  They bark nonstop in the car, making it very difficult for my client to concentrate on her driving.  Her dogs' barking has also made it so that no one wants to ride in the car with them!  She set up an appointment with me and I gathered all my tools for fixing this problem as the plan was for me to hop in the back seat with her dogs and take a ride. She told me she hoped my ear drums survived the trip!

You all know by now that I have collies.  Collies are notorious barkers.  They take their role as sentries and family guardians very seriously.  They, too, will bark in the car if you let them.  Ozzie still occasionally barks in the car when a motorcycle pulls up next to us in traffic.  Go figure.  Anyway, the thing to keep in mind is this:  While barking is a normal dog behavior, and alerting the humans to changes in the environment is an important dog job, doing so in the car is very distracting to the human occupants of the car and needs to be curbed for safety reasons.

While you may be tempted to curb the behavior by applying negatives (yelling, squirting water, no-bark collars, etc.), this really isn't the best choice.  You want riding in the car with you to be a positive experience for all involved, not anxiety provoking.  So, let's take a positive approach.

First off, secure your dog(s). Dogs should be wearing car harnesses, sitting in car seats designed for dogs, or in a secured crate.  Dogs should not be running around in the backseat, jumping from the back to the front, on your lap, or heaven forbid on the floor near the driver's feet! Dogs who fixate on movement outside the car often do best harnessed into the middle of the backseat rather than up against a window.  Those pull up, easy-to-install, window shades are also helpful.  They won't obstruct your view as the driver, but they do mute the view for your canine passengers.  Plus, they help keep the car cooler, an added benefit for your canine friends.  

Now it's time to make that spot in the car really fun by keeping your dog busy while sitting there.  Just as you might give your kids or grandkids something to play with in the car to keep them from asking a hundred times, "How long til we get there?!" you need to do the same for your dogs.  Some dogs are easily distracted with a bully stick in a holder to keep them from choking, a bone, or even a frozen Kong.  I like to take that one step further and put that frozen Kong or bone into my Kurgo treat pouch that has a fun, drawstring pouch for making it harder to get to the goodies and a little side pocket where extra treats can be tucked deep for rooting around for rewards.  If you've only ever used a treat pouch to carry treats you give your dog, then you're missing out on this second use!  This Kurgo one also has a clip and a carabiner that help to keep it anchored to the seat belt or car seat for your dog passengers.  Here is a link to the Kurgo treat pouch I use for this purpose: 

 https://www.amazon.com/Kurgo-Stuff-Treat-Hands-Free-Training/dp/B014V4V9WI/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2DXX31AL9TSZF&keywords=kurgo+treat+pouch&qid=1670629284&rdc=1&s=pet-supplies&sprefix=kurgo+treat+%2Cpets%2C211&sr=1-3

For my appointment, I also wanted to show my client a way to get her passengers to actively participate in helping her dogs be less barky in the car.  By riding in the backseat, I could talk to my client as she drove and reinforce her dogs for quiet behavior.  I wasn't using traditional treats for this, but rather a high value, lickable treat that is fragrant and quickly delivered, or removed, based on their behavior.  I let the dogs see what I had (one quick lick) and we began our car ride.  As soon as I saw people, other dogs, etc., I'd offer the treat to lick (no words, just made it available).  Once the stimulus was gone, I put the cap back on the treat.  Next stimulus was a bike, out came the treat before they even thought of barking.  By now, my dog friends were watching me rather than out the window.  I petted them and loved on them, but no treats until we saw the next trigger. Now they understood. As soon as they saw that golf cart, then turned toward me and the treat was already headed their way!  They weren't being bribed into quiet behavior, just rewarded for it! My client was amazed!  She decided to "push our luck" and drive past the dog park, something she would never do as her dogs go nuts the second she gets within a block of the park.  Not only did they not bark on approach, we drove right past barking, running dogs in the park, and not a peep; her dogs just watched, happily licking the treat.  On the way home, the dogs were even laying down in their car seat, resting their heads on the arms of the car seat, instead of hyper-vigilantly looking out the window for something to bark at.  My client said it was the nicest car ride she'd had in over a year!

Going forward, she will use the Kurgo treat bag and a variety of novel yummy snacks for her car rides alone with the dogs.  When she has passengers, she can use the lickable treats.  Either way, her dogs will come to see car rides as an opportunity to go someplace fun AND have the ride itself be rewarding as well. Blissfully peaceful car rides for all!

Having the right tools for a job really does make a difference. As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Westley loves a good car ride.  He wears a harness in the car

 for safety and is never a nuisance barker.