I have to drive with my dog in the car for ~7 hours on wednesday. I’m going to Long Island and I need to take him with me. He is 6.5 months old. He does fine in the car for about 1.5hours, but ive never taken him longer then that.
Has anyone used sedatives before to calm their dog down in the car? Is that safe? Should I just stop worrying about it and go?
The last thing I want is him going nuts in my car for 5+ hours
They recommend Benadryl for taking them on planes if they get a bit hyper in their carrier.
I took my 1 yr old to Atlanta in the car with no sedatives…she slept 80% of the way and did her business at rest stops along with me. I should mention she is one of the most well behaved animals I have ever seen so I had no reason to worry about it. But call the Vet and ask how much Benadryl to give a dog of that size and weight.
How is he in hte car normally? Usually mine just falls asleep after an hour and just chills out. Probably at least make a couple of extra stops to let him out to pee and stretch out etc…
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They recommend Benadryl for taking them on planes if they get a bit hyper in their carrier.
I took my 1 yr old to Atlanta in the car with no sedatives…she slept 80% of the way and did her business at rest stops along with me. I should mention she is one of the most well behaved animals I have ever seen so I had no reason to worry about it. But call the Vet and ask how much Benadryl to give a dog of that size and weight.
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+1 benadryl works well, you might want to give your dog a dose a day or so before to test it’s effectiveness. I’ve seen dogs be very drowsy from the benadryl, yet something could happen ( a pan falling on the kitchen floor ) and the dog would still react how it would without the benadryl.
furthermore the vet does have dog tranquilizers they can give you if you feel your pup needs it. ( pills, not a needle ).
Call the vet to get the proper dosing, but yeah a lot of people give their dogs benadryl to sedate them for long car rides. If you’re dog’s good for over an hour though I’d just try it without giving him anything. Maybe stop halfway and run around a rest stop to get him to stretch his legs and piss and shit. The same would be good for you anyways. 
We take our German Shepherd with us on the 6 hour drive to my mom’s all the time. Toss his bed in the back of the Expedition and he’ll just sleep back there until we stop. Usually see his head pop up at the 90/81 interchange and again when we get off 81 in Alexandria Bay. We usually stop about 3-3.5 hours into the trip for gas/food/restrooms and we let him out for a little stretch then.
Must be nice. My dog’s retarded. She HAS to sit with her ass on the back seat, front legs on the floor, and head on the armrest. Sometimes she shoves her head under my armpit. Must be a security thing. :shrug:
nice, his behavior depends a lot on the car, and how I have it situated. If I put both rear seats down and throw his bed down, he’ll just go to sleep. He doesn’t like sitting in the seats, and doesnt really like the trunk, unless someone is in the back seats.
Hes thrown up in the car once. That was with him sitting in the back seat, and driving around town with lots of stop and go and turning.
Hes a really well behaved dog, but he is also still a puppy. I’m gonna call the vet, maybe I’ll just bring some backup benadryl or something.
well ive taken my dog on a couple 10hr + trips and he does pretty good. believe it or not, dramamine is the way to go. i give him a half of a pill and he seems to do really good. my vet ok’d it and ive had no problems with him with it. hes a sheppherd and about 70 lbs and the half tab did it good.
im actually moving to texas on wed so ill be doing the same thing for him again
There is a liquid called Calm Down that you can put in their water or on their food that works good. Worked for my hyper dog on a 9 hour trip to Chicago.
just took our 6.5 month old pug to New York with us for the holiday… got car sick once… slept the rest of the way
also - he was in a travel cage with toys
The ride home with my dog from where I got him was 5 hours, he was fine. I’m sure he could do it again, he goes for rides with me some days and spends about that amount of time in there. However I think it depends on the dog. I had Jeller’s dog in the car before, and after 5 min. I wanted him out of there. :gotme:
Dog’s don’t have a real good concept of time, so I think if an hour works, 7 will be fine too, just stop at a few rest areas.
X…
mine likes to throw up at about the 2 hour mark.
make sure the food has been in hisor her system for a while.
awesome, sounds like this isnt going to be too painful. Yeah, I might just wait till we make it home to feed him, although he might not like that.
my 6 month old pitt did fine ok behavior wise on her first 13 hour trip in the truck, but she stared out the window, and got sick about 2 hours into it, then i fed her a chicken nugget, and she barfed that up almost instantly, yea, totally bone head move on my part. I say give it a beny and you will be fine, don’t point the crate out a window either 
i have a chocolate lab and hes really weird about car rides. If u ask him if he wants to go for a ride he flips out and will not stop running around until u take him for a ride. But when hes in the car he cries and wimpers but he still sticks his head out the window and seems to be having a good time. I guess it depends on the dog.
My dog hates car rides, she shudders and drools like crazy the whole time.
She absolutely hates it.