Car Sickness Woes... anyone know a cure?

I knew there was trouble when, as I was bringing her home, I noticed two large shoelaces of drool hanging from Belle's mouth. I brushed it off as 'first day anxiety' until we visited the vet's office two days later. His office is roughly 4 blocks from our house. Before we parked, Belle had made a contribution to my floorboard.

I asked the vet and his advice was to make quick, fun trips. We drove two blocks to a neighborhood park -- I still haven't been able to clean all the 'yuck' from under the seat.

I've tried not feeding her for up to 6 hours before we leave. She just dry-heaves. I've tried not giving her water. Again, she just dry-heaves. I tried letting her drink cooled peppermint tea. I've tried vanilla ice cream (before and during the ride).

I finally gave in and gave her dramamine (motion sickness pills). They do work, but they leave her looking and acting like a puppy drunk. She can't focus enough to follow my commands and she often trips over her own feet. Most of the time, she'll just lounge or roll about on the ground.

Needless to say, I can't take her to puppy class or the agility club like that.

I'm desparate. Does anyone have ideas?

I inherited my Rottweiler from a friend who told me that she would throw up whenever she went in the car. But I never had that problem. Later I found out that the only car rides she got were to the vet's office. I'm sure that explains it, since she probably was upset knowing that everytime she rode in the car that she was going to the vet to be poked and prodded.

She is a rescue I got when she was about a year old. She initially slobbered and vomited. After about a year she would slobber but not vomit. I have tried many short fun trips (going to Nat'l Forest for hikes, etc). She now only slobbers a minimal amount for about 5 mins - otherwise she does fine. So don't give up!

will it fit in the car? i'm pretty sure that part of motion sickness is visual perception. maybe if she couldn't see, and was cozy in her crate, she would feel better. you could give her a nice bone.
if nothing else it would contain the barf.
maybe there is a lower dose of dramamine that will help without all the side effects.

She'll get sick if she can't see out the window so we have a seat belt harness for her.

Has anyone tried that?

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she concurs that if she has a crate and likes it, it may help. some dogs do better if they can't see, other do not.
but mostly she said that lots of puppies have this problem, and outgrow it. short trips, favorite toys, comfort items, fun destinations, and time.

a couple of capsules before the car trip?

There's a time from the first few months up to a year or year and a half when the inner ear bones are still developing and reaching their final size. Inner ear = sense of balance, and this causes some dogs to be very sensitive to motion during that time. They'll outgrow it, but some (like my girl) will retain bad memories forever after. She no longer throws up or even drools, but she still hates the car.

She does better when seatbelted in the back seat, where she can look out, than when riding in the crate.

Ginger tea has been useful (offer it slightly warm, and add lots of honey, otherwise it's not really tasty for a dog), and Rescue Remedy helps as well. Ginger tea is more useful when there's an actual physical stomach upset; Rescue Remedy is good after you've gotten past the growth stage and it's only the memory and the anxiety that's causing the problem. I'd stay away from the heavy-hitting motion-sickness drugs unless there's really no other choice.

I hadn't tried Rescue Remedy, but I know the folks at the rescue have used it. I borrowed some and tried it out. It seemed to help at first, but the effect didn't last.

I also tried the ginger... nope.

I talked again to the vet. Fortunately, he's still hopeful that this will be something she eventually out-grows.

Sweet Mr. CornField pulled out his tools over the weekend and fashioned me a doggy carrier for my bike. We tried it out and she loves the bike. At least I know how I'm going to get her to puppy class. :)