Dog won't sleep when traveling As background, our previous…
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Dog won't sleep when traveling
As background, our previous dog (30lb purebred Cocker) was an excellent traveler. We'd put him in his crate in the van or the car, start the engine, his head would go down, his eyes close, and he wouldn't get up until we pulled to a stop and shut off the engine.
Our current dog is a 23lb Cobberdog (a variant of the Australian Labradoodle). When we drive he lies down, but even when he's clearly very very tired, his head will stay 3" off the bed, bobbing up and down as he fights to stay awake. Sometimes his eyes will close, and *sometimes* his head will hit the bed, but never for very long. He often pants a lot. In the van, his bed is a good, soft, 4" mattress on the floor, right behind the driver seat. In our car it's a standard dog bed on the rear seat. His behavior is the same in both vehicles.
The result is that after traveling for a couple/few days, our normally cheerful pup is exhausted from lack of sleep, gets cranky, and isn't pleasant to travel with. He growls and grumbles about food, or being moved, or... just about anything.
Our vet recommended Gabapentin, as an anxiety aid, which helps a little, but not much.
Has anyone else seen these behaviors in their dog, and found a successful "treatment"? Could there be a different explanation than anxiety? We've heard anecdotally that CBD might help, but don't really know how to gauge that.
#lifestyle
As background, our previous dog (30lb purebred Cocker) was an excellent traveler. We'd put him in his crate in the van or the car, start the engine, his head would go down, his eyes close, and he wouldn't get up until we pulled to a stop and shut off the engine.
Our current dog is a 23lb Cobberdog (a variant of the Australian Labradoodle). When we drive he lies down, but even when he's clearly very very tired, his head will stay 3" off the bed, bobbing up and down as he fights to stay awake. Sometimes his eyes will close, and *sometimes* his head will hit the bed, but never for very long. He often pants a lot. In the van, his bed is a good, soft, 4" mattress on the floor, right behind the driver seat. In our car it's a standard dog bed on the rear seat. His behavior is the same in both vehicles.
The result is that after traveling for a couple/few days, our normally cheerful pup is exhausted from lack of sleep, gets cranky, and isn't pleasant to travel with. He growls and grumbles about food, or being moved, or... just about anything.
Our vet recommended Gabapentin, as an anxiety aid, which helps a little, but not much.
Has anyone else seen these behaviors in their dog, and found a successful "treatment"? Could there be a different explanation than anxiety? We've heard anecdotally that CBD might help, but don't really know how to gauge that.
#lifestyle
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