We are traveling with our 3 year old rescue lab over the holiday season. She gets very anxious for unusual loud noises like fireworks. We are nervous to be away from her comfort items and more "exposed" out in a campground. Any tips for managing her anxiety naturally on the road?
Our vet has given us anti-anxiety medication for our dogs. Works pretty good for separation anxiety, fireworks, thunderstorms and road trips.
My dogs are not especially anxious, but I find that giving them a calming treat 1/2 hour prior to travel really helps them settle down in the truck. Calming treats have worked well for calming anxious foster dogs that I have taken in. Hope that helps. Herb
We just returned from a 10 day trip away from home with our 2 year old rescue (his first RV roadtrip). We didn't quite know how he would react so we attempted to bring as much 'home' with us including his crate (which he loves). He was anxious leading up to the trip so we invited him into the RV as much as possible prior to departure. The roadtrip portion was fine as he loves car rides and enjoyed the extra room. The first couple nights at the campground though were definitely nerve-racking and he acted like a different dog and very skittish. He was very afraid of the golf carts believe it or not. We tried to keep his routine as normal as possible, but found it challenging. He was always on edge and had a hard time resting. What eventually worked was putting him in his crate mid-day while we went off for an activity. This afforded him the rest he needed and he eventually got acclimated to campground life. By the end he even enjoyed a ride along in a golf cart we rented for the day. If you can get past the first couple days your dog will come to enjoy camping.
