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Aussie Barks and Snarls In Car. What's A Doggie Mom To Do?

by Dorothy
(Philadelphia, PA)

I was sleeping you know....

My Aussie is 2 years old, she loves going on rides in the car, she will go anywhere with me really, not just in the car and I love the company.

If I am in the car however, and stopped and someone gets too close, she starts to bark and snarl, her hair stands on end, and she doesn't want anyone near the car, including the same people who may have just gotten out of it.

If I am not in the car, and she is riding with someone else, or I get out to mail a letter, people can admire how pretty she is, tap on the window, etc. but as soon as I am in or near the car the barking, snarling and hair standing on end happens again. I have tried everything, but can't get this to stop, she does it if I am stopped at a traffic light and scares the pedestrians walking the street.

Any ideas why she does this and how I can break the habit. I love my Lilly , but this is a problem and I don't want to have to leave her behind all the time.

Thanks Lilly's doggie mom.

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Barking in car
by: Nonnie

Has your Lily always done this or is this a new behavior? If it is a new behavior, has anything happened that might have lead her to think she needs to protect you? An illness maybe?

Our Bailee is 19 months old. When she was about 5 months, I had to have lumbar disc surgery. I was not able to lift anything for almost three months. Bailee picked up on this quite quickly and began to show separation anxiety and general anxiety. She would growl, snarl, bark, pull on her leash and just go nuts. She did it in the car, on walks, at the dog park. We have not been able to go back to the dog park since. She is just too anxious.

We have worked with her extensively trying to help her get over this. We have made progress, but there are still times when she just doesn't like the person outside the car, or at the door, or in the local pet store, or on a walk. She is very protective.

This is our "routine". We use a very calm voice and "good girl, leave it" as soon as she barks the first time. We want to let her know that we are aware of the situation (good girl), and we have it under control (leave it). There are times when I want her to bark. If someone comes to the door that I don't know, I want her to keep barking until they go away or I tell her it is ok ("leave it"). As time went on, Bailee would stop after one bark when we gave her the command "good girl, leave it". That was our goal. When she did, she got a small treat (dog kibble, broken up milk biscuits, etc.).

We started this when she was about 10 months. We are not always as diligent as we should be, but it is working. She loves to go in the car and gets very excited. It works most of the time. I hope this information might be of use to you.

Aussie Barking
by: Nonnie

One thing I thought of ... WHen our Bailee gets anxious the whites of her eyes become bloodshot, the skin on her nose is pink / red, inside her ears is pink / red and has little bumps that look like little bites. When she is calm these all disappear.

In the picture of LIly, I noticed that her eyes are bloodshot and her nose is pink.

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