Our 3 month old westie hates car journeys. He barks continously and tries to bite us. We were advised by the vet nurse to put him in the car with a favourite toy and some treats and leave the door open for 1 week. the next week you shut the car doors. The 3rd week start the engine and the 4th week go on a short trip round the block.

Today I sat in the car with him with the door open. He started to bark and bite. This was after a couple of minutes of being in the car. I took him indoors when he was starting to get agitated.

Now my actual question is: because he was barking and I took him back indoors, is this teaching him that if he barks he can get out of the car?

Or is it going to teach him that eventually cars are ok?

This is such a hard and frustrating problem, because our late cocker spaniel who died last year, absolutely loved the car, and actually preferred to go in the car rather than go for a walk!

when you get in the car with him, dont be hesitant and expect the worst, him barking and biting. if you remane calm and assertive and ignore him when hes in the car and dont give into him when he plays up.

if you let him out of the car when he is barking and biting then he will think it is ok to do it everytime and you will let him out. you should only let him out of the car when his brain is calm, not barking and not biting.
you will know when his brain is calm, because he will look a little dosile and may start to shut his eyes!

is your pup potty trained on paper?
if he is then i have a suggestion, put a few sheets of newspaper on the floor of the car. this works with most pups and dogs, because they know the sound of the paper, know the smell of the ink and it acts like a soothing agent.

My dog is a pain in the car so I am probably not qualified to give advice here but one thing that I have done is put Toots in the car while I clean it and give her treats and play with her with her toys in there too. She does get excited now when she knows she is going in the car so at least that bit worked, as for the journey I need to start my own thread on that one

playing in the car with your dog will also work. you must only give your dog treats when they are doing something good and especially when they are calm, playing, but never when they are nervous or tense. this will only enforce the behaviour and make it worse.