Car Rides!

[GusBus]

We need serious help making car rides less awful! Gus likes the car just fine... Too fine. He is SO OBNOXIOUS. He won't stay in the backseat without squirming up to the front, and/or barking in a very demanding "sassy" way. He tries to chew everything in the car, front or back! In the back, he'll chew the seat belts. In the front, he is obsessed with trying to chew the corner of the armrest. He has an old towel in the car to cuddle with and gnaw on, but he won't be content with that. Plus, God forbid I have a drink in the center console because he will NOT LEAVE IT ALONE after the one time I hand fed him ice cubes out of my fountain drink! He also tries to squirm his way into my lap as I am driving.

I want to take him with me when to drop off and pick up my kids at school, etc., plus get ut for adventures, but he makes that very difficult. Ideally, we'd have some kind of soft sided travel crate, but here's my worries about that:

-he will chew through anything soft
-he will outgrow a smaller crate in just a couple of weeks, and we can't get a very big one because
-I drive a Toyota Camry and I have two kids, a baby on the way (carseat takes up a lot of room) and sometimes hubby in the front!

So far I am low on options other than buying a dang minivan (lol). I guess if anyone has any suggestions as to a very VERY durable travel crate that is just big enough for a grown male bulldog but is soft sided enough to collapse very flat to put in the trunk???????

Thanks!!

 

[LaurenA]

Hmmm... I don't know that I have a lot of advice, as Rook is a wild man in the car. I use the Kong harness, and it has an attachment that keeps him secure in the back seat (although he has been known to manage to unbuckle himself). We've started some formal obedience training, and that honestly has made the biggest difference with keeping him calm and under control. As for the chewing... have you tried apple bitter spray?
I'm sure others will have better advice.

 

[GusBus]

Hmm, no I haven't tried the spray.. I figured I could easily clip him in with a travel harness but I assumed he would chew holes in the car, but it just might work with the spray!

 

[2BullyMama]

Hmm, no I haven't tried the spray.. I figured I could easily clip him in with a travel harness but I assumed he would chew holes in the car, but it just might work with the spray!

^^^ good suggestion.... with a camary, I have no idea how you would fit a crate in the back seat with your car seat and such