Timid dog scared to death of the car seat

Allyvaughan86

So we ordered our travel system and it came in the mail this weekend! I put it together just to make sure it worked and all parts were there before I put it back in the box.. BUT My sweet dog is incredibly scared of the car seat! Stroller didn't bother her but when I put the car seat on the couch next to her she completely freaked out which really worries me bc that thing is going to be around a lot and in just a few more months there's going to be a loud crying baby too! I am now pretty concerned with how she's going to adapt to the change! If anyone has any ideas or experience with a super scared dog, that would be great!

abbyful

Look into "click to calm" (Karen Pryor) training. Basically any time the dog looks at the car seat, click and give a treat. Do it immediately, you have to be quick! Gradually increase the time between the dig seeing it and the click & treat. You want to get the click & treat in *before* the dog starts reacting.

krgriffin26

Mine is afraid of everything. She wouldn't go into the garage yesterday because DH put his gym equipment out there. It was in the (now) nursery and it never bothered her. I am going to look into a thunder shirt or jacket. It says it is supposed to help dogs stay calm in most situations. It would probably be helpful when we go to the vet too.

 https://www.thundershirt.com/

mb314

It's good that you're finding this out now!  I would have all baby equipment out and ready for the dog to sniff/look at at least 6 weeks before the baby is due.  that way he/she will be used to all the equipment around the house and it will be one less thing for him/her to get anxious about.  If you regularly take your dog for drives, I would make sure you do some car rides where the dog is riding with the car seat already installed. 

Both the treat idea and the thunder shirt seem like they would be worthwhile to try.  Hopefully, if you get the baby gear assembled and out early, the dog will have time to adjust to the stuff being around the house.. 

ssstephanie214

Eh, in my experience animals need to have new things out in their space for them to get used to. I ended up leaving the cat carrier out in the living room for a while because my cat hated it. Now he sleeps in it. He'll climb into it and I can zip it and we go to the vet. It's very easy but it took about a week.

I'd also recommend Jackson galaxy 's Spirit Essences Stress Stopper. It is sort of a voodoo potion, but it really works and I recommend it to all my friends with cats or dogs.

mander82

I would just leave it out so your dog can get used to it.   

meeshybee

krgriffin26 said:

Mine is afraid of everything. She wouldn't go into the garage yesterday because DH put his gym equipment out there. It was in the (now) nursery and it never bothered her. I am going to look into a thunder shirt or jacket. It says it is supposed to help dogs stay calm in most situations. It would probably be helpful when we go to the vet too.

 https://www.thundershirt.com/

That seems to be the same idea as weighted sensory vests for ASD kids. Neat idea, but I'd try the clicker training before I paid $40 for something that my pet might be just as freaked out by.

phdprocrastinator

I agree with getting everything set up prior to baby's arrival.  When preparing for DD's arrival, I found a CD of baby sounds on-line.  It was about an hour long and GRATING (babies don't usually make that much noise for that long) and they recommended playing it once a day or so for your animals to get used to the sounds.  

Our animals (dog and two cats) adapted surprisingly well.  

kbelle13

krgriffin26 said:

Mine is afraid of everything. She wouldn't go into the garage yesterday because DH put his gym equipment out there. It was in the (now) nursery and it never bothered her. I am going to look into a thunder shirt or jacket. It says it is supposed to help dogs stay calm in most situations. It would probably be helpful when we go to the vet too.

 https://www.thundershirt.com/

We have the thundershirt for our pup. He is generally very hyper, and has some weird OCD thing where he constantly circles to the left. He also is very sensitive to noise and will bark and the smallest of things. The thundershirt really seems to help him. We had some young hyperactive children over at the house last night, and the dog seems to really play off of their energy. After a while, I put the shirt on him, and our friends could not believe how calm he automatically became. He stopped going crazy with the kids and came and snuggled with me. It also seems to cut down (not completely) the barking. 

It is $40, but they have a guarantee on it. We had gotten one, and took it back to petsmart originally to get a bigger size. They asked no questions, and took it back happily. So, I would say that it is a little investment, but if it doesn't work, you can send it back. 

krgriffin26

meeshybee said:

krgriffin26 said:

Mine is afraid of everything. She wouldn't go into the garage yesterday because DH put his gym equipment out there. It was in the (now) nursery and it never bothered her. I am going to look into a thunder shirt or jacket. It says it is supposed to help dogs stay calm in most situations. It would probably be helpful when we go to the vet too.

 https://www.thundershirt.com/

That seems to be the same idea as weighted sensory vests for ASD kids. Neat idea, but I'd try the clicker training before I paid $40 for something that my pet might be just as freaked out by.


Lol well mine would probably be more terrified of the clicker. She really is afraid of everything. She's a little adopted street dog and even though she's been with us for 1.5 years she still can't handle any change, loud noise, or people walking fast. She will probably pee on the floor everything LO cries. Fun stuff huh?