So, with much procrastination, I am back to getting Bayou more used to riding in the car. That is not to say he is bad in a car, just not 100% comfortable. We had contemplated this winter taking him on vacation to the south for Christmas, but while he is pretty good at new situations, I did not feel that a 17 hour car ride would go over very positive. In a crate, he meows endlessly. As soon as we are at our destination or back in the house, he acts like nothing ever happened. So while slightly stressed, its not enough to effect his day by any means. Outside of the crate and loose in the car, he explores, he looks mildly out of his element, but no meowing, and sometimes he will even lay down fairly shortly after departing.
My goal would be that car rides would become no big deal, just like most things in his life at this time. I would also like to get him to ride crateless in the car, but in a safe manner. He respects the driver seat at this time, but we haven’t been on any serious car rides, so i want to make sure it is 100% solid he is not allowed around the driver area. In the future, when I go outside of ‘neighborhood’ rides, I want him to ride via harness in the back seat, and have that be no big deal. For now though, my focus is just on relaxation. I have researched a few products, there is not as much available for cats as there is for dogs. I am going to see if I can find some of the safety harnesses locally where maybe I could have him try them on. Their bodies are so much more flexible then a dogs, some harnesses just don’t work the same.
Today, we put on a harness, and walked to the car. I coaxed him in, and he proceeded to sit on the floorboard of the passenger side. When he relaxed a bit, and started to get curious to his surroundings, I turned the car on. No major reaction, he just continued to explore. I took his leash off so it wouldn’t be tangled, and let him wander around the car while it ran, but we did not move yet.
After about 5 minutes of him exploring, I slowly pulled out of the driveway, and proceeded to drive around the neighborhood. I did not go far, maybe a 5 minute drive tops. He came to the front seat and sat down for a bit, then moved to the back seat and sprawled out in the sun. I see this was such a traumatic experience for him.
We came home, I turned the car off, put his leash back on, and lead him out of the car. He was good on his harness, walking behind me and following straight into the house.
Throughout the time when I was not driving, I gave him plenty of pets and scritches, which is his positive reward. His food motivation is pretty low right now, I am finding pets are a much higher reward to him now. I only rewarded when he was calm, and usually asked him to come over to me.
I am entirely too lucky. I can see that a few of these trips and he will be ‘whatever’ like he is with most everything. I will probably up the criteria pretty quickly, as he needs to work on his harness walking as well. I have some friends not too far from here, I might do ‘visits’ with them to get him out more. He has only been to a couple outside homes since I have had him for 5 years now, and it was more stressful then I had expected. So need to work on that aspect.
So, car ride work done for today, very positive experience.
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