I had a dog that would get car sick. We learned how to manage it. The biggest thing you can do is limit food and water before the car ride. If you know you are going on a trip, don't feed your dog that day, I'd rather him be hungry than queasy in the car. When you successfully arrive at your destination, without him getting sick, then you feed him. The feeding afterwards, is a reward for the car ride, so he will start to associate going for a ride with a treat at the end.

The other thing I noticed was that if I could keep him from looking out the windows, then he was less likely to get sick also. So we made him lay down in the back seat. If we could keep him sleeping, head down, then he wouldn't get sick either. We might have to issue several lay down commands while on a long trip.

It took a year for me to get my dog over his fear of riding in the car. He'd go hide as I headed for the garage and I would have to carry him to the car. He threw up a few times.....mostly bile type vomit since he had an empty stomach.......but his main problem was the drooling. There would be so much that it would actually puddle on the seat cover. If the car ride was too long he would start having dry heaves.

I decided to no longer take him on car rides except for weekly trips to either my son's farm or the dog park because these were two places he loved visiting. The other days of the week I used positive reinforcement and cheese (his favorite) to get him to go into the garage. I'd find some project to work on near the car and let him hang out with me. A week later....after he was comfortable in the garage, I then opened the car door, climbed into the car and then, while holding his treat, enticed him to come near the car door. Sometimes the best I could do was drop the treat on the floor and he would at least come to the door to get it. If he made it to the door frame he got a treat and we stopped for the day. I kept this up for about 2 weeks until he started jumping into the car with the command 'up'. BTW, I always had him on leash so he couldn't run away.
After several weeks of working with him, I still had to put him on leash to get in the car but he would jump in on his own vs trying to run the other way. We then started taking short car rides......some were just backing out of the garage, turn around and park again while others were a short drive around the block. The drooling still continued but it was much less and he continued to improve with each car ride.
It took a year of positive training, but he now hops in the car if the door is left open, no longer drools and comes running when he hears me get his collar out of the drawer.

It's going to take time and patience on your part but since he appears to have a fear of the car itself you may find getting him used to it first will help in the long run.

I did try some of the herbal treatments and even tried dramamine but they made him worse.

Thanks for the feedback..JPW..I DID notice if he stood up on the seat it was trouble. He usually lies on the seat. Our old Greyhound always wanted to look out the window but not this dog. Annz..I appreciate the comment on Dramamine. I was thinking I'd need to get some but would rather work thru it. He does get in the car w/o lifting him and he likes the destinations.In the meantime, I'll do real short trips and gradually lengthen them.

As strange as this sounds it has worked for a friend with more than one dog. If an AM trip is planned, no breakfast and a nilla wafer cookie 1/2 hr before car trip. If afternoon trip, lighter on breakfast and nilla wafer 1/2 before trip. She quickly broke the car sickness with two dogs that I know of doing this.
I did something similar but with a saltine cracker.

Some puppys have an inner ear - skull knitting thingy. Until they reach about 6 months of age, they will continue to get car sick. No matter what we did with our pup, he would puke in the car, so we just added big beach towels. Feedin, not feeding, special foods, nothing worked. UNTIL one day he reach 6 motnhs old and NEVER threw up in the car again. I think with some puppies it is fear, and some puppies it is a matter of getting use to the car. Our puppy loved going for rides even whe getting sick, so we just kept taking him. Hope this resolves itself soon.

well I'm going to disagree here with the room. It's been my experience (and that is with a whole lot of dogs over the years) that you feed the dog a small meal an hour prior to a road trip. Believe it or not anyone including dogs are less likely to get motion sickenss when some, not alot of food is in the stomach ( case in point ship cruises) there is always food available and it truly does help with motion sickenss.
I usually feed the dog, wait about a half hour...walk the dog a little, rest a about 15 minutes than take off.
Another thing that really helps is a small amount of fresh ginger.

You won't get any argument from me cindy! I've always been a believer in having food on the tummy after getting car sick myself. It happened when I had gone hours without food and to make matters worse it was a curvy road. Since then I make sure I have food with me, or have recently eaten, when going on a long drive. I haven't been car sick since.

LOL Annz, same here.

I have to add, that we did try the small amount of food thing.... and we got less vomit.

I have to add, that we did try the small amount of food thing.... and we got less vomit.

LOL joepyeweed!
And Mazer you are right about the sense of balance thing. I get the same way when I read a book while on a car ride. My sensory organs get all messed up.

Makes sense. The cracker thing might work since nauseas pregnant women many times eat crackers before getting up in the morning. I was told to feed this dog 1/2 cup dry food morning and night. He wasn't eating the morning one so I added yogurt. Still it wasn't a big hit. So I went back to the dry. I offer and wait awhile and take it away till the evening meal. Then he gets 1/2 cup plus what he didn't eat mixed with microwaved wet food/water and stirred together in a gravy. He eats this. If we have chicken or vegetables, I give him some of that. So mostly on car rides he is going w/ an empty stomach. We rarely, or actually never went out with him after he ate his dinner at 6 or 7.

I gave Ziggy a cracker and we took a small ride to my daughter's house which is five miles away. He was good going and coming with a 45 minute walk between. Fingers crossed.

My sister "joint custody" cockapoo got sick every trip between houses for years. Eventually she stopped puking, but still felt bad. they managed it by using paperbags like airsickness bags. Sis just held it to doggy's face when there were signs of trouble.

I'm very prone to motion sickness. I've been prescribed all kinds of antivertigo meds. It turns out they are antihistamines with different degrees of sleepiness. Talk to the vet. Maybe she can prescribe something for longer trips.

In humans, motion sickness can be decreased by repeated exposure. It will take a while and will feel horrible the whole time. If it were me, I would just leave pup at home except when I was gone for too long.

I've also had this problem but as the puppy grew it stopped.