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drillagent's avatar
drillagent
Explorer
Nov 29, 2014

Nervous Shiba Inu

My Shiba Inu seems to have a nervous problem when we travel. Whenever we put her harness on her, she's all gung ho and heads straight to the truck like she's ready for a trip. But once we get in the trailer it's a different story. She won't eat her dog food, and she refuses to go potty. She loves going for walks, but won't do her business. She even woke me up at 2am and finally went, but she hasn't gone since. I'm a little worried because we'll start fulltiming in about a year. Any suggestions on how we can help her?
  • Another thing you could do is when parked at home. Go out with her daily and spend a couple of hours in the trailer doing normal hh things. Watch tv, bake something, clean something, etc. As she gets more used to spending time in the trailer she should be fine. Also, having her bed, blankets, toys, chew bone or whatever in the trailer when you are there should help her think of it as her home also. Make it smell like home by spending time in there. Do you do things different? Do you use air freshners that you don't use in your house making it smell different? Think about those type of things too.
  • How many times have you taken the dog on a camping trip? Each dog we've taken camping over the years has been a little nervous the first few times out. Eventually, they get used to it and relax. A lab we used to have took several trips before he'd eat the first (or even second) day, and for a lab, that's something! Some dogs are more sensitive than others and you just have to be patient. A healthy dog won't starve him/herself. I wouldn't make a big deal out of it, or you'll confirm his anxiety and possibly make it worse.