Car Rides
Hi all!
My mini aussie just turned 9 months. He is the absolute best boy in the world. We adopted him when he was around 5 months old, so he’s been with us for about four months in total. He was potty trained within the first two weeks, learned how to settle in his crate effortlessly, so much so that within a month the crate was left open at all times, even when we left, with no issues.
He’s never anxious or stressed out … like EVER … except for when we get in the car. We like to take him special places with us, go on hikes, take him to the beach, etc.
We’ve been working towards making him more comfortable with positive reinforcement, taking shorter trips, and much more but the way he feels in car rides is just hit or miss. (I say hit or miss but it’s usually never a hit) No matter what he always has a stressed look to him, he’s panting, salivating, shaking, you name it! Sometimes he even throws up but that’s been pretty rare.
Overall, I’m asking for advice because we have to travel about 12 hours to go back to my hometown for a wedding. I don’t have any friends or family that I trust to watch him for 5 days, nor would i feel comfortable with that regardless. I also do not want to board him. basically, i want to take him with us, the entire 12 hours, but not sure if it’s torture knowing how anxious he gets in the car.
We are obviously planning on stopping almost every hour or so to let him go to the bathroom/sniff/etc. Which will most definitely give him a little bit of a break. I’m just not sure if there’s an easier way to go about it or not. Any advice will help.