Car-travel stress

Car-travel stress describes the behavioral and physiological stress response some dogs show during vehicle rides, measured through behavior, heart rate and cortisol.

Behaviorally it appears as panting, lip licking, whining, restlessness, trembling or attempts to hide, while physiologically it involves a rise in heart rate, a fall in heart rate variability and increased salivary or blood cortisol. Researchers use standardized car journeys as a repeatable stressor because the trip length, route and environment can be controlled, making it a common model for studying stress in dogs.

For owners, a veterinary evaluation helps distinguish stress from motion sickness and identify pain or other medical issues that may worsen reactions to travel. Gradual habituation and positive associations with the vehicle are the standard behavioral approaches. Controlled studies of cannabidiol during car travel have found improvements in some measures but not others, with variable responses between individual dogs, so findings are study-specific.