Whining in the car at the end of a journey

[EOpenshaw]

My German Shepard has got into the habit of whining at the end of a car journey before we get him out of the car. And then he is desperate to get out of the car. I’m thinking this is more anxiety than excitement but I’m not sure what has caused it. Any ideas on how to solve? Most trips are for walks, he loves the vets and we never leave him in the car on his own. On the journey he is normally settled it’s just at the end of a journey.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello, and welcome to the forums,

This may require some investigation to find out what may be causing him to get anxious when the car ride ends. Sometimes, this can be due to the fact that they find jumping out of the car a bit intimidating (pain? fear?) or they dislike the unsteady sensation when we use the breaks or there may be some excessive desire of getting out of the car quickly to head back home.

I feel it may be more the latter, otherwise you would see this behavior when he goes anywhere. There's just that something about exiting quickly the car, maybe in fear of being left alone/left behind. Or maybe the dog is thirsty, had enough of being outdoors, is tired, has to pee, and is eager to return to a state of "homeotasis" with all the reassuring routines and perks exclusively associated with the home.

Some dogs whine, pace as soon as they feel the car slowing down and using the breaks, others readily recognize the road going home and start getting anxious to be let out. 

Our Rottweiler would also get a bit antsy as we arrived near our home. We would tell him "wanna go home?" and he would tilt his head and start whining and pacing in the car back and forth eager to go back home. Luckily, the behavior was very brief and mostly contingent upon us telling him that. It was just one of those "cute things' he would do. 

In your case, we can try several things to lower the built-up anticipation, but likely you will need to take a multifaceted approach tackling the anxiety from various angles. 

-One method could be providing him with something tasty to enjoy in the car to keep busy, preferably just *before* he has a chance to whine. If you know the area where the behavior starts, have a family member or a helper hand him something long-lasting to enjoy (like a stuffed Kong, Toppl, etc) that will last at least for that stretch back home. A busy mouth, is a quiet mouth.

-Now, not all dogs will enjoy something edible and long lasting if they are too anxious. Not wanting to eat indeed is often (although not always!) a sign of a dog being over threshold. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ In such a case, a different approach would be needed. 

-Keeping a dog crated often is enough to calm dogs down in the car. I don't know how large your car is or how well your dog is crate trained, but in general dogs crated in cars tend to be calmer (and it also prevents the dog from rehearsing anxious behavior such as whining/pacing back and forth) and as a plus it's also safer for us. 

-The Calming Cap made by Thundershirt may help calm down dogs during car rides considering that it reduces visual stimulation. This may be a temporary fix as you work on reducing the anxiety. Since it happens only on the ride home, it can be worn only on the way back. 

-I would recommend training some impulse control games so to reward calmer behaviors and apply these in various settings including training him to to sit before jumping in and out of the car on cue.  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

-I initially would practice training him to to sit before jumping in and out of the car on cue with the car not going anywhere and aim for a calm response. Then one can practice going for a very little ride and then back, repeating several times, gradually driving a bit farther and trying to reduce the chances for whining. Praising and having a helper feed treats when he goes 10 seconds with no whining can help reinforce calmer behaviors.  In other words, the goal would be keeping as much under threshold as possible so not to induce whining. The more the whining takes place, the more it puts roots and establishes. 

-Having a helper sit back with him and feeding treats to keep that mouth busy may help establish a new routine, from " we are going home, I gotta get out of this car quickly" to "how fun! I get lots of treats on the way home!" The whining would therefore be replaced by the anticipation of getting treats. 

-Anxiety supplements or calming aids (Adaptil collars, DAP pheromone sprays)  along with behavior modification (desensitization and counterconditioning) may help in the case there is some low level anxiety with going to places or on car rides, In your GSD it may be that it culminates mostly getting home because home is perceived as "the safe haven." For sake of example, I went through a phase of being terrified of going on planes. I had a bad experience once with super bad turbulence (people getting air sick calling for help pushing the flight attendant button but flight attendants were asked by the cabin to not get up as it was too unsafe, dust in the cabin, roller coaster style dips and odd side-to-side shifts, and worst of all, me looking out and seeing the wings flap up and down like a duck, I didn't know airplane wings could do that so it freaked me out!).

If you looked at me, I looked pretty much chill. Inside, I was in sheer terror and when that cabin door finally opened, boy I couldn't wait to get out and would have even kissed the ground!

This to say that sometimes, dogs are good at hiding their emotions. For example, a dog who pants in the car may not be hot but anxious, a dog who drools in the car may be car sick, a dog who yawns in the car may be stressed not tired, a dog who lips his licks may be nauseous not hungry,  a dog who paces back and forth may be anxious and not excited about the ride. More about this here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/

So it would be important spotting whether there may some subtle signs of anxiety that just happen to be culminating on the way back home. 

I hope this helps, let me know how things go and post if you have any questions!

Best,

Adrienne