Whippet Car Sickness Survival Guide

I never had to put up with whippet car sickness until we brought home our latest puppy. I didn’t know how lucky I had been.

Our new puppy was shaking, drooling and vomiting all over the place, making every car trip an odyssey.

I was so looking forward to taking the new pup on walks and introducing her to the great outdoors but she was car sick every time we drove her and we ended up confined to the garden and a small park.

To my dismay, even the pills the vet gave me had little or no effect, the dog instead of trowing up was drooling profusely all over the place and obviously feeling very uncomfortable.

To overcome the problem I put myself in her position. Having suffered myself in my childhood of car sickness, I tried to help my puppy with the proven methods that had helped me.

Whippet Car Sickness Tips

A Seat with a View

First of all I bought a seat belt for dogs. Being in the crate doesn’t allow a view of the window and increases the chances of feeling car sick. The seat belt instead, lets the dog look outside while keeping him safe in the back seat.

Ventilation

I left the back windows a crack open to increase the ventilation that greatly helps us poor motion sufferers.

No Food before Trips

Religiously, I refrained from feeding the pup before any trip

How We Stopped Whippet Car Sickness

We started with micro trips to the park. 

The travel didn’t take more than then minutes and my precious whippet puppy didn’t have enough time to get sick.

After a walk and a romp in the gardens, she was relaxed enough and I started to leave her in the parked car for increasing amounts of time so she began to consider the car a kind of homely and safe place.

With a lot of time and patience my puppy became an accomplished traveler. We can now have long car trips while she happily sleeps on the back seat.

More Tips for Whippet Car Sickness

Ask your vet for motion sickness pills, a little pharmaceutical help can take away the discomfort and the anxiety that reinforces it, breaking a vicious circle.

Keep the first trips short and sweet, to pleasant destinations. If you only use the car for vet visits it is of little surprise that your dog dislikes traveling. 

Sit in the stationary car for few minutes at the time with your puppy and play with him to get the pup used to the new situation.

At the beginning, if your dog already had unpleasant experiences with a car, try with a different car to help the bad memories fade away.

Try ginger, it comes also in pills and it is a well known remedy to calm upset stomachs.

Be patient, most of the time motion car sickness in dogs improves when the puppy grows.