As dog owners, we naturally do our best to make sure our dogs feel safe and comfortable when we’re travelling with them in the car. But do we really know whether they’re happy? Sometimes, dogs might appear relaxed, when in fact they aren’t – and in any case, it’s hard to tell when you’re in the driver’s seat, and can only see your dog through the rear-view mirror.
As our latest CarGurus Dogs and EVs study, carried out in conjunction with the University of Lincoln, has shown, dogs seem to be happiest in electric cars. But even in petrol or diesel vehicles, there are steps we can take to keep our canine companions comfortable, and make sure they don’t run the risk of anxiety, nausea or discomfort. We’ve already discussed elsewhere how to keep your dog safe in the car – so to add to that, here are a few tips to help keep them happy, relaxed and well-rested when you’re on the road.
Adjust the Air-Con
Warm temperatures aren’t great for dogs – they have trouble keeping their cool, especially if they have thick coats. And not only is excessive heat bad for their health, but it can also cause them to feel nauseous.
Dogs are often more prone to car sickness than we think – and because we can’t usually see the signs from the front seat, we might never be able to tell. And if your dog suffers from car sickness, it’ll be aggravated by warmer temperatures.
So keeping your dog cool in the car is crucial, especially in the summer. But remember that if it’s cool for you up front, it might not necessarily be so in the back. Most car air conditioning systems only sense the temperature in the front seats – it can be warmer further back, especially in the boot, where there’s usually a large pane of glass that magnifies the energy of the sun.
To combat this, you could open one or both of the rear windows, to allow cooler air to circulate in the rear of the car. You could purchase sun shades for the rear screen and side windows (though obviously, make sure any shades you do buy don’t block your view). And if your car is fitted with air vents for the rear seats, you can angle these upwards, so that the cooler air is projected up over the back seats and into the boot area.
Remember Walkies
It sounds obvious, but dogs tend to settle better when they’re tired. So it’s a good idea to schedule long road trips just after they’ve had a walk – or if that’s not possible, to take them out for a 15-minute stroll beforehand.
And don’t forget that they’ll probably need to stop along the way; not only will most dogs need to pee after a certain amount of time, but they’ll also benefit from stretching their legs and getting out into the fresh air.
What’s more, the chance to sniff some new bushes will give them a bit of stimulation and break up the boredom of those long hours locked away in the back seat or boot.
Stopping for a walk is also a good chance to give your dog a drink if you haven’t got a no-spill travel bowl. Take along a flask of water and decant some of it into a fold-up bowl before you ask your dog to climb back in – that way, they won’t get thirsty on the next leg of the trip.
Let Their Food Go Down
It isn’t usually a good idea to feed a dog just before getting them into the car for a long journey. Even if your dog isn’t prone to car sickness, it can result in nausea, and even vomiting. Do it too much, and your dog might end up associating the discomfort they feel when they’re travelling with the car itself – and you might soon find that they develop a complex about getting into the car in the first place.
If you’ve no choice but to travel soon after feeding your dog, make sure you give them their food 20-30 minutes before starting out – that way it’ll have had a chance to go down. And if you need to feed them during the journey, give them their food somewhere you can wait a little while for it to settle before heading off on your way again, like a comfortable service station or country park, rather than at the side of the road.
Keep Things Familiar
Cars are full of unusual, unwelcoming smells for dogs, and if they associate any one of those smells with something they don’t like, that can make a long car journey very difficult to bear.
So it can really help to introduce a smell they do know and love, to keep close to them – perhaps by letting them lay on a favourite blanket, or by giving them an old item of your clothing to snuggle up to, so that they feel as though you’re close by.
You can also bring along a favourite toy of your dog’s, which will help to comfort them and keep them calm. While they might not play with it, having its scent nearby will give them good vibes.
Spray Dog Pheromones
If your dog does suffer from anxiety on the road, then a dog pheromone scent product might be worth a try. These work by releasing the pheromones that nursing mother dogs release naturally to calm their puppies down; studies have shown that they may well continue to have an effect on adult dogs, too.
Dog pheromone products are available as sprays, diffusers, or even scented collars you can get your pet to wear whenever they’re in the car.
Change where Your Dog Sits
One of the biggest problems with carrying dogs in cars is that they don’t really understand what’s happening to them. They can’t be expected to anticipate the feel of a car leaning over as it goes around corners – and the greater that lean, the more a dog will feel it.
That’s why some dogs – particularly those that are prone to car sickness – fare better if they sit lower down in a car. And it’s for this reason that the high seating position in an SUV can sometimes be an issue. If you tend to carry your dog on the rear seats, they might actually be happier in the boot, or even one of the footwells, where they can sit lower down, and will feel the effect of the car’s high centre of gravity much less.
If you do own an SUV, and your dog suffers from journey anxiety, you might even find that swapping to a lower-slung car – a normal estate or hatchback, for example – reduces their symptoms.
Shut Your Dog In…
It sounds counterintuitive to us, but dogs often feel happier when they’re in an enclosed space – a cage or a pen. For many dogs, this setting brings security and comfort, especially if they were brought up in, and therefore habituated to, a crate when they were puppies.
That’s why some dogs feel much happier if they sit in a cage, or within a dog guard and divider combination, than if they’re sitting loose on the back seat or free to roam the whole of the boot.
If you do try this tactic, though, always make sure the cage or carrier is securely fastened, so that it doesn’t slide around if you have to brake hard or swerve.
…and Block Out the View
Because they have no concept of what’s happening to them, some dogs find the sensation of the world flashing past at high speed to be very unnerving.
They might therefore fare better in a van, with no rear windows, or a car with a very deep boot, where they can hunker down and shut out the bright lights of the world outside.
If your boot is too shallow and you don’t fancy swapping to a van, you can also achieve this sort of effect by using a pet carrier with opaque sides.
Alternatively, you can place your dog in the rear seats, and use a hammock-style rear seat cover with high sides, which will partially block the windows and the view to the front, and give your dog somewhere to lie down in peace.
Get a Non-Slip Mat
As we’ve already discussed, dogs can’t really anticipate the g-forces involved when a car goes around a bend and lean in like we can. So if they happen to be sitting up in the boot, all they can do is to grab onto the floor of the car, or the seat they’re sitting on, with their claws, and try to hold on.
If your boot carpet or seat upholstery is particularly slippery, they’ll find it hard to do so, and might end up falling over and hurting themselves.
That’s why the addition of a good non-slip mat or seat cover can really help. Try to avoid boot liners made from hard plastic – these are hard for dogs’ claws to dig into and can often end up being more slippery than the carpet beneath them – and instead look for soft rubber mats, or mats with a carpeted inner that has a non-slip base to it, or seat covers with soft, rather than shiny, fabrics. That’ll help your dog stop sliding around.