Well, I can understand the vet. Sedating by medication is definetely not the solution. The dog may even suffer from the side effects. Do you want that? Just because of your comfort, you would take that risk?

I would consider giving your dog to a friend who can take care of it for the time you are gone. I wouldn't take it with me if I were you.

For a very short time you could consider a kennel, however I try to avoid those as I don't like my puppies to be held in small cages for any time, no matter how short.

I understand how you feel. We have three dogs. Two love the car and the other one hates it. We don't even try to take them with us on trips anymore. Although I really don't enjoy leaving them behind I always arrange for them to be kept with a relative. I too do not like kennel's unless it is for only a short period of time. My mother was once told by the vet to give her dog zoloft. Why Zoloft I don't know as that is for depression in humans but apparently it calms them down but I think it would make them too drowzy.

No!  My concern is my dog, not my comfort.  She panics so badly that it is scary.  I wasn't talking about totally asleep sedation, I was talking about something to calm her down.  I don't think its in her best interest to panic like she does.   We stop often and let her walk around and calm down.  But once we're back on the road, she's spastic again. 

Trust me, asking a friend is the first thing we try when we're going somewhere.  But not a whole lot of people want to take on an 80 pound German Shepherd.  Many of our friends have small dogs of their own, and as sweet as our baby girl is, she's too rough with small dogs.  We won't leave her in a kennel.  Don't like them, don't trust them, won't do it.  That's my bottom line.  Theres only one person that will watch her, and if he has plans, we cancel ours.

My vet wouldn't suggest zoloft, and I don't think I'd give her that even if he did.  I'm not even totally comfortable with the dramamine, but that's just for motion sickness and really isn't mind altering like depression drugs.  The roughest trip on her was when we moved from the Detroit area to Kansas City.  She was miserable for 800 miles, and so was everyone else traveling with her.  We have no plans of ever taking her that far again.  But it would be nice to getaway to the lake for a weekend. 

I am a cat person. We always let our two cats home alone. Recently Tigger died a horrible death. That was about 2 weeks before we had scheduled a trip to Mexico. It was very hard to leave Tina alone. She had no time to get accustomed to being alone and with her buddy Tigger gone she was not in a good shape.

I considered kennels and friends, but noone was available and I didn't want to get her out of her environment (cats are extremely sensitive to change).

We left her alone, but we didn't feel good about it. Now she is a little better.

Generally speaking, you can leave cats alone easily. The can take care of themselves, find food water and the litterbox and don't eat more than they have to. I would not know what to do with a dog though.

I would try talking to him in a calming voice and reassuring him that there is nothing to worry about. Seems to help with cats when they freak out about something. Don't physically force them, just talk to them and pet them once in a while. This will help the animal to adjust in stressful situations.

Its what I did when it was Tiggers time . Poor buddy, I miss him.

Andre

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I'm sorry for the loss of your cat Andre.  Poor Trigger, :( , I feel so bad for you Andre, cause I know how you feel.   Losing a pet is devastating.  I lost a dog to cancer the year before I got married, and that memory still haunts me. 

I guess dogs are higher maintanence than cats when it comes to leaving them.  Talking to Shelby in a calming voice does absolutely nothing.  You might as well talk to a brick wall.  In fact, when she's panicking, its almost as if she doesn't hear you at all.  If you talk calmly or if you yell, you get the same reaction (or lack of reaction) from her.  We've pretty much given in to the fact that if we want to get away at all, it will be at the convenience of our one friend who is willing to watch her.  We'll plan well in advance and hope nothing comes up for him at the last minute.  He can't put his life on hold for us.