My first dog. In 2020 we took our first dog into our house, namely a German Shepherd named Jax. Jax was born on May 21, 2020 and I would like to take you into the wonderful, exciting and loving adventures we experience with Jax. I would also like to take you into the challenges we face.

In an earlier blog I told you that we picked up Jax by car. The first ride of his life probably and like a ride where he had to get in the car for an hour. He was taken away from his brothers and sisters and with wild strange people. Jax probably didn't know what hit him. It was a hell of a ride. In the first puppyweeks we tried to make a small car ride a few times to make sure that Jax would not get any fear for the car. What was also nice in the first puppy weeks was the size of Jax. Jax was still easy to lift in the car. So said so done, we put Jax in the car the first few times. We also made sure that we were going to do fun things, like to go to the dog forest. In the car, Jax started drooling and not a little, but a waterfall of water came out of his mouth. This got from bad to worse, because at some point he already started drooling at the moment when he just had suspicions that we were leaving the car. Not handy, especially if you also go to puppy course and also have to pay a visit to the vet. What also didn't cooperate is that Jax was getting bigger and bigger. At first we could still lift it, but soon the small size would turn into a dog of 30 to 40 kilos. And if we see Jax like that, he's gonna tap the 40 kilos. So problem.

We feed Jax three times in a day. We decided at one point to give all the meals of Jax in the car. Just to make the car a nice place for him. The first few times we had to lift Jax to get to his feeder and at one point he jumped into the car himself. You should see how proud I was at that moment! It felt like we had accomplished a lot. Jax, crap for the car, climbing into the car himself. For example, we continued for a few weeks to give all the meals Jax got in the car. It seemed to go very well, although sometimes after puppy curus I still had a struggle to get Jax in the car. We are at some point again going down to give the meals again just inside. It also went well for a long time and Jax jumped into the car without much effort. We did the last times we were away by car also only nice things done, such as to the dog forest or puppy course.

However, the problem of fear of the car suddenly came back and this resulted in that after a walk in the forest we had to hoist a dog of almost 40 kilos in the car. Problem. We feel like we're back to square one. We are going to start again to give all the meals of Jax in the car, so we can build it up again and make sure that Jax goes back into the car by himself. Lifting is not an option. It has already been able to make him jump into the car, to long doubt. Yet the fact remains that Jax will never like the car and that is quite tricky!

The tip I want to give with regard to car anxiety is to give all the meals of the dog in the car. Making the car a nice, safe and fun place for the dog. When the dog is going to reward the car with goodies and enthusiasm. In addition, I think it really depends on the character of the dog. Jax really suffered a trauma in his puppy days and it's just very difficult to get rid of this.