In January, we're trekking 11 hours to the Michigan Winter Dog Classic. Garp will be dock diving and doing Barn Hunt all 4 days. He may also do a Rally run or 2. I will be asking a LOT of him those 4 days. He has the stamina for it.
We're traveling in a friend's dog-mobile, with 2 other dogs and 2 other people. He's a vocal, somewhat high strung dog and the last time we travelled in this setup, he shrieked and whined for 2 hours nonstop. He wasn't especially upset after being taken out of the crate after the ride, and wasn't exhibiting many signs of stress immediately after either.
Since then, we've been doing a lot of behavior modification exercises. It's a smaller crate than he's used to riding in, and there are other dogs in the car so we've been working with those parameters a bit. However.... I've also been talking with my vet about sedating for the ride. She thinks a minimal dose Ace would be the be best option, but right now, our main concern is performance the following days. I'm also aware of how acepromazine works in the body and how it doesn't mediate the emotional response.
The half life in dogs is ~15 hours, so the drug would still be in his system the next day when it's time to compete. My primary concern is how it might affect his reaction time, etc. Obviously, we would be doing at least one test dose well before the trip if we decide to go that direction.
Does anybody here have any experience with working a dog after sedation?
We're traveling in a friend's dog-mobile, with 2 other dogs and 2 other people. He's a vocal, somewhat high strung dog and the last time we travelled in this setup, he shrieked and whined for 2 hours nonstop. He wasn't especially upset after being taken out of the crate after the ride, and wasn't exhibiting many signs of stress immediately after either.
Since then, we've been doing a lot of behavior modification exercises. It's a smaller crate than he's used to riding in, and there are other dogs in the car so we've been working with those parameters a bit. However.... I've also been talking with my vet about sedating for the ride. She thinks a minimal dose Ace would be the be best option, but right now, our main concern is performance the following days. I'm also aware of how acepromazine works in the body and how it doesn't mediate the emotional response.
The half life in dogs is ~15 hours, so the drug would still be in his system the next day when it's time to compete. My primary concern is how it might affect his reaction time, etc. Obviously, we would be doing at least one test dose well before the trip if we decide to go that direction.
Does anybody here have any experience with working a dog after sedation?