youngest brother is moving

[cateyespecks]

Yesterday my youngest brother left California to move back to our home state (which is where I live now also - about 30 mins drive from our hometown). Back in January, while home for the holidays, he purchased a house up in the mountains a couple hours away from me. I'll take the 2 hour drive, over the 50 hour drive. He had lived out in California for maybe 8 years, but when my dad had Alzheimer's several years ago, he started talking about moving back out here to be close to family. He will keep his job in CA and work remotely, paying the much cheaper cost of living that is here. He'll be getting to this area in about 11 days. I am looking forward to it.

My husband and I are talking about going up to visit him at his new place once he gets settled in. We're going to give him our barely-used electric lawn mower, as he's got a nice small lawn at his new place. I'll also give him some local coffee and a vintage mug from this diner he used to like when we were kids. He's a big coffee lover like me. When he was home for December/January, I actually gave/lent him my Moka pot, because he was growing frustrated at the mediocre (awfulness?) of our mom's Keurig. I am far from a coffee snob, but I can't do Keurig either. Half for the quality, half for the utter waste of single-use plastics.

When we go to visit my brother, I want to bring our dog. It would be the longest car ride he's been on with us since the day we adopted him. I want to get him accustomed to longer rides, as I would love to take road trips with him, and have him relax a bit. I used to take him to work fairly regularly (a 12-15 minute ride, which I have paused for reasons unrelated to him), and he just whines the whole ride. Same when the weather is nice and I take him to various parks. I think he's just excited or overstimulated by seeing everything around us as we drive. We live on a fairly quiet, semi-rural property, so he doesn't get tons of interactions outside of beings in our household. Anyway... I'd like to give it a shot. I wonder if there's something I could give him to calm him.

Comments

[coffeetime]

Ask your vet. Maybe benadryl, or maybe gabapentin.

My family had a dog who vomited EVERY TIME we had to take him anywhere in the car. So the only place he went in the car was to the vet! It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been a small dog...he was a German Shepherd.

[cateyespecks]

Yeah, I may check in with the vet for some ideas. I do know Benadryl is a no-go. We used that in the past, and it had a paradoxical effect. He was a nervous wreck of pacing and crying.

[jajalala]

:D That's so exciting that your younger brother will be close enough to visit on a car ride instead of a plane trip. It makes a big difference, especially around the holidays!

Good luck with the dog, hopefully with some practice he'll get used to it.

[cateyespecks]

Yeah, as I said in another comment, my dog did not do well when taking Benadryl -- he became more anxious. At the time we were not using it for the purpose of calming him, but instead to hopefully counteract some itching he seemed to be having in his ears. After about a week of increasing anxiety, we put 2 and 2 together, and realizing why he was acting SO insanely anxious... and I made a mental note that we won't be using that as an easy calming aid in the car.

So, I do hope with more time and trials, he will think of car rides as no biggie. We'll see!

[ranunculus]

Longer rides than 15 minutes are helpful. Treats. Securing him so he can't get out and opening the window so he can put his nose out when you aren't on the freeway. Some animals are comforted by being in their crate, assuming you have crate trained him. Also, just going on long trips where he gets bored with being nervous and ends up lying down and going to sleep. Tazlina was a mess when we left California for Alaska, extremely nervous. Had calmed down a lot by the time we got to Anchorage a week later. Here is our very nervous border collie back in 2012 somewhere in Canada https://eloisetwining.smugmug.com/Travel/n-5WBmGJ/Alaska/Alaska-2012/i-SLbWFNB/A

[cateyespecks]

Thanks for the great tips. You dog is adorable.

I agree, with time and more experience with longer rides, he'll likely get better. My hope it also that he just gets tired of being anxious, and goes to sleep.

Dexter is not crate trained in the sense that he likes us closing the door and walking away, but he'd probably be fine in the car, since we'd be with him. Usually when I drive with him, I have him tethered in the back seat with the seat belt harness so he can't have too much freedom. And I do crack the window to let him stick his snoot out, and I have noticed that helps.

[vysila]

Your poor doggie, I hope some of the advice offered in the comments are helpful. It's no fun to have an overly agitated pet in the car. I have no good advice to offer as I have no dogs (I'm more of a cat person), but sending good vibes to you and your pooch.

What great news that your brother is moving closer to 'home'. That must be very exciting and happy making for both of you. Love that you'll be able to visit more frequently and hopefully spend a lot more time together (as long as you all get along, lol).

[cateyespecks]

Oh yeah. Luckily I get along with all my brothers. This brother that is moving closer is the one I am closest to, so it's especially nice.

[vysila]

That is so lovely. Great to have something like this to look forward to soon.