Harry is home and the dog doesn't care

I have been training the dog to ride in the car. Our car expereinces were very unpleasant, the dog hated it, she would lose control of all bodily functions and then vomit until she had no fluid left in her body. This was not what our dreams were when we got the dog. We imagined ourselves hopping in the van and all three driving to Morocco for the weekend... That won't happen if we can't take the dog around the block in the car, and that was also the reason for the previous note about washing the matress,, she had made it a very unplesant place to sleep.

So matress clean, and me with a little time on my hands, the car training started in ernst. First we just practiced getting in the car and sitting there unmoving, then engine on, then short drives in the village. That was all good, no problems. I thought perhaps her fear came from the fact that bad things usually happened when she went for a ride, to the shelter, to strangers house, all her rides are associated with big changes. I thought it would be nice then to have an association with something positive, like Harry coming home from Germany.

Harry said he would take the bus and I could pick him up in San Roque rather than driving all the way to Malaga. This was a stupid plan but thats another story. San Roque is not so far, about 30 minutes so I decided to take the dog her first BIG drive since training started. She was great, no loss of control, she even lay down and looked like she was sleeping for awhile. We had a couple of tense moments where she made some squeeking sounds that were more mouse like than dog like, but we sang them away. Someone told me singing to the dog will help her stay calm, sounds crazy, but the fear of a front seat full of vomit makes one do desperate things.

I thought this would be a nice drive for her, because we would see Harry and so the ride would be associated with something nice. She wags her tail and jumps and is over joyed everytime I come home from work, or in the mornings when we wake up, and so I thought she will also be overjoyed to see Harry too. So did Harry.

After waiting and waiting, Harry finally arrived, and he opened the car door, to see a dog that found him more of an annoyance than anything else. She did not jump, she did not wag her tail.. she just sat. Harry was so dissapointed. I was so suprised. Paula just wanted to go home.

So strange... dog psychology