Patricia Guerrero shares how to make car trips safe and enjoyable for dogs using positive reinforcement, scent games, and self-control training. She explains techniques to help dogs associate travel with positive experiences rather than stress.
Hi, we're Bongo Vespa and I'm Patricia Guerrero, better known as Patadora Canina. And together we're going to embark on a journey that's going to last four months. And we're going to visit 14 cities in Spain. You'll be able to follow it on our channel, Pata Educadora Carina. But Today, together with ExpertoAnimal, we want to explain how to make your dog enjoy traveling by car. Let's start at the beginning, which is that our dog loves getting into the car. To do that, we have to make it positive. That is, we have to associate getting in with something positive. What we're going to do, I'm going to give you an idea, is to play a scent game inside the car, in this case, the van. What we're going to do is get edible treats and hide them inside in different places. It's important for our dog to know when to search and when not to. For that, we do what's called the start up routine. In other words, we're always going to do the same thing so that he knows he's going to search. In my case, I tell him the word search. Okay, I'm not going to say it too loud or else he'll be on alert. But anyway, let's see. It's still another game of smell. So we have to keep in mind what I was telling you before. The startup routine. My startup routine is to let them sit still and go and put in this case the treats inside the van. Stay still. Ready, set, search. The sense of smell is the most developed sense in dogs, and it's a great way for them to exercise it every day of their lives. So this is a way to make it positive when they enter a place like the van. In this case, you can do it in the car. You can even hide toys. It doesn't have to be just edible things. Okay? This way, your dog will associate if he doesn't destroy the van first, but he will associate the place with positive things that he likes, whether it's something edible, a toy, or whatever. We can gradually make this more complicated. Right now we've made it easy because they've practically seen where we were keeping the treats. And we've also given them something very succulent and smelly. One of the most dangerous things is for our dog to run away as soon as we open the door. For that, we also have to teach them when they have to go out and when they don't. One thing I'm terrified of is Being at a gas station, opening the hood and my dogs running away, it could be catastrophic. So for that we have to train them before leaving. In other words, don't train them. All these things we're explaining on the day of the trip or the day you have to go on a trip. It has to be a day when you're calm, when you have time, and also before the trip you're planning. How are we going to do it? Right now you can see Bongo and Vespa here. Calmly, even though the door is open, this can't be achieved overnight. It takes many, many days of training. How are we going to do it? We are going to close the door. And when we open it, if our dog wants to go out, we will close the door automatically. This is an exercise and what we call self control. That is, the dog looks at what the option is, what you want, what the option is. And the best option is always to be calm. In this case, what we want is for them not to actually go out. We are going to exercise first of all, we are going to make the fact that they are inside positive as before. So we are going to reward them. But in this case, we are going to prepare them a little behind, okay? We are not going to reward them right here at the door, because then we are not going to do much around here. So what we are going to do is reward them behind there. That is the same training that we do when we train the crate. Okay? One thing we can also do is throw the treat behind. So we close the door and now we open it, eh? Now they are still, they are calm. But surely the first few times your dog will want to go out automatically. So be very careful with their snouts and paws so you don't hurt them. If it's another door, the same thing. We open it and we're going to close it. You don't need to close it. It's more like, if you're calm, I'll open it. I can even reward you here inside. And I close it, I open it and close.
