£300+ later, here are all 5 things I tried to get my dog to settle in the car — ranked worst to best

My Samoyed Ollie, drooled through every journey for two years. Three of these were money I'd want back. One of them I'd buy again tomorrow.

Khali H.
Dog owner · Cardiff · 5 min read
Labrador cross settled in a KovePaws CalmRide dog car bed
Ollie on the way to Ogmore last Sunday. Asleep before Bridgend.

We drive to my in-laws in Swansea most weekends and to the beach most of the summer. About ninety minutes each way. For two years, all of it was miserable — for him more than us, which somehow made it worse.

What every journey looked like

  • Drooling from the first roundabout — proper strings of it, on the seat and down the door
  • Panting with the air con on and the windows cracked
  • Up, turn, sit, stand, lie down, stand again — never settled for more than five minutes
  • Sliding into the footwell every time I braked
  • Arriving at the beach already exhausted, when the beach was the whole point

Everyone had an opinion. My father-in-law's was "he'll grow out of it," which after two years I'd started to take personally.

Here's every single thing I bought or tried, counted down from the biggest waste of money to the one that finally changed it. Prices are what I paid at the time.

£300+, two years

All 5 things I tried, ranked worst to best

Counting down. Numbers three and one are the two I still use — everything else went in a drawer or on Facebook Marketplace.

5
🪟"Just take him more often, he'll get used to it"
Free · fourteen months of trying
Made no difference at all

The advice everybody gives and the one that cost me the most time. Windows cracked for air, short trips first, build up the distance, always end somewhere fun.

I did it properly for over a year. Journey two hundred looked exactly like journey one. Same drooling, same standing up, same footwell.

What I'd say now: exposure only works if something about the experience actually changes. Doing the identical unpleasant thing two hundred times doesn't teach a dog it's fine — it teaches them it's reliably unpleasant. I was rehearsing the problem, not solving it.

4
💊Travel tablets and calming chews
£48 across three brands
Took the edge off, didn't touch the cause

Two of the three did something measurable. Less drooling, slightly less frantic. The third did nothing I could detect.

But here's why they're at number four rather than higher: they lowered the volume on a problem the car was still creating. He was calmer and still sliding. Calmer and still standing up on corners. The seat was still a slippery open bench with nothing to lean on, and no chew changes that.

My honest read — worth having in the cupboard for the occasional long haul or the vet trip. Not worth building your whole approach around, and definitely not worth dosing a dog every weekend for something that's environmental.

3
🦺A car harness and seatbelt clip
£22 · still use it
Essential — but only half the job

This is the one everybody buys and thinks they've finished. I did too, for about eighteen months.

It does exactly what it promises. He stopped ending up in the footwell and he couldn't come forward between the seats. That matters more than most people realise: if a loose dog distracts you, police can issue £100 and 3 penalty points on the spot, and if it escalates to a careless driving charge that's up to £5,000 and 9 points. Your insurer can also decline a claim if your dog contributed to a crash. Rule 57 of the Highway Code isn't criminal law by itself, but it's what gets pointed at when any of that happens.

So — buy the harness. Genuinely.

Just understand what it isn't. A seatbelt has never made anybody relax. He was now drooling and panting on a tether. Restraint and distraction are two different problems, and £22 only bought me one of them.

2
📦A crate in the boot
£115 · sold it after five months
Good idea, wrong dog, wrong car

This is the proper answer and I want to be fair to it. A well-fitted boot crate is about as safe as a dog can travel, it's enclosed, and for a lot of dogs it works brilliantly.

It didn't work for us, for three reasons.

  • The car. Ours is an estate and it still ate the entire boot. If you drive a hatchback or a saloon it's a non-starter.
  • The dog. Ollie is a velcro Labrador. Putting him behind a barrier where he couldn't see us made the whining worse, not better — he'd settle for ten minutes then start up again.
  • It lives in the car. No good for the actual root of it, which is that the car was an unfamiliar place. A crate in the boot never comes into the house and never smells of home.

Number two rather than number one because for the right dog in the right car, this is a genuinely strong option. It just wasn't ours.

The one that worked
1
🛏️A bolstered bed that straps to the back seat
£149.95 · XL · one-off
The one that actually changed it

It's the most I spent and the only thing on this list that solved the actual problem, so I'll explain why rather than just saying it worked.

The KovePaws CalmRide does three things at once that I'd been trying to solve separately:

  • Bolstered sides on all four edges. He gets his back and his chin against something. That's the bit the harness couldn't do and the bit that stops the bracing.
  • A strap that loops the headrest post and clips to his harness. So the restraint is built in — one piece of kit instead of two.
  • A gripped, waterproof base. It doesn't slide on corners, and the drool and the beach sand wipe off with a cloth instead of soaking into the upholstery.

The thing that made it work was setting it up wrong on purpose. I put it in the living room for four days before it went anywhere near the car. He slept in it the second night. By the time it was on the back seat it already smelled like his.

First journey he lay down inside it instead of next to it. Third journey the drooling stopped somewhere on the A48. He now gets into the car on his own, which after two years of hauling a Labrador into a footwell is not a small thing.

£149.95 against £48 of chews I'd have kept buying and a £115 crate I sold at a loss. It should have been the first thing I bought.

Dog settled in a KovePaws CalmRide car bed with bolster sides
The sides are the whole point. That's what he presses against.
Check the size for my dog →

From £89.95 · Free delivery · 30-day money-back guarantee

Number one, in full

KovePaws CalmRide Dog BedBestseller

KovePaws CalmRide Dog Bed

★★★★★ 4.9 from 316 UK dog owners

From £89.95£134.95Save 33%
  • 🧠Bolster sides on all four edges — somewhere to press against, so they stop bracing on every corner
  • 🛡️Built-in strap loops the headrest post and clips to any harness — restraint and calm in one bit of kit
  • 🚗Gripped base holds position through braking and corners — no sliding into the footwell
  • 🧼Waterproof, scratch-resistant faux leather — drool, mud and sand wipe off with a damp cloth
  • 🏠Unclips and comes indoors, so it smells like theirs before the first journey
Check the size for my dog →

M and XL · 4 colours · dispatched in 1–3 working days

Free deliveryOn every order
30-day guaranteeMoney back, no fuss
Wipe cleanWaterproof base

If I could start again, this is the order I'd do it in

Two years and £300+ collapses into about a week and £170 if you do it in the right sequence. Nobody gave me the sequence, so here it is.

  • Buy the harness first — £22, non-negotiable, it's the restraint bit
  • Then fix the surface: something enclosed and gripped that they can lean against
  • Put it in the house for three or four days before it goes in the car
  • First journey short, and end it somewhere good — a walk, not the vet
  • Only then consider tablets or chews, and only for the long hauls

Two things to measure before you buy anything

Your dog — nose to tail base while curled. They need to turn round and lie in their normal position inside the raised edges. Hanging over the rim and it does nothing.

Your car — the width of the rear bench, and whether your rear headrests have exposed metal posts. No posts, no strap attachment. Ten-second check, saves a return.

KovePaws CalmRide dog car bed size chart
Ollie is 24kg and we're on the XL. Between sizes, go up.

Where this stops being a shopping problem

If your dog is actually being sick rather than drooling, that's motion sickness, not anxiety, and it needs a different approach — this guide covers it and it's worth a vet conversation.

And if you want the full picture on the legal side rather than my summary, the UK law on dogs in cars is worth ten minutes.

Not sure whether the car is the problem or your dog is unsettled everywhere? The two-minute quiz sorts it — I'd have skipped the crate entirely if I'd done it first.

Not just Rufus

What other owners said after the first few journeys

★★★★★
4.9 average from 316 verified reviews

Hanna L.
★★★★★

My Shina Inu has always been anxious in the car. I tried everything — calming sprays, harnesses, blankets. Nothing worked until this. The raised edges create this little den that she absolutely loves. She jumped straight in on the first try and hasn't looked back. The material is easy to clean and looks really smart in the car. Worth every single penny.

Hanna L.
✓ Verified buyer
Emily K.
★★★★★

My Pomeranian Bella is tiny but has the energy of ten dogs in the car. She would never settle and made every drive stressful. Since getting the KovePaws bed she jumps straight in and curls up immediately. The raised edges seem to make her feel so secure. The material is gorgeous quality too — looks premium in my car. Would recommend to every dog owner without hesitation.

Emily K.
✓ Verified buyer
Grace P.
★★★★★

I have two Hungarian Vizla's — Coco and Lola — and they both fit in the XL size bed together which I was not expecting. They cuddle up and sleep the entire journey now. Before this they were everywhere in the car and I was constantly distracted. The material feels really premium and cleans up beautifully. I've already recommended this to three friends with dogs. Absolutely love it.

Grace P.
✓ Verified buyer

Read all 316 reviews

What people ask me about it

Do I still need the harness if I get the bed?

Yes. The strap on the bed clips to a harness — it isn't a replacement for one. Keep the £22 harness, it's the restraint half. The bed is the calm half. Together they're the whole thing.

Will it fit my car?

Measure your rear bench width first — that's the deciding number. M for small to medium dogs, XL for medium to large. Between sizes, go up: slightly too big still works, too small doesn't.

Unsure? Email support@kovepaws.com with your make and model.

Does the strap work with my headrests?

It loops a standard removable headrest post, which covers most cars. It will not attach to fixed headrests with no exposed posts. Check the base of your rear headrests before ordering.

What if my dog just won't use it?

Put it in the house first — that's the whole trick and it's the step most people skip. Three or four days on the living room floor, let them sleep in it, then move it to the car. First journey short and ending somewhere good.

If it still doesn't land there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is the only reason I was willing to spend again after the crate.

My dog is actually sick, not just drooling. Will this help?

Probably not on its own. Drooling and panting are usually anxiety; vomiting is usually motion sickness, which is a vestibular thing. Some dogs have both and see improvement. Talk to your vet if it's genuine sickness.

Price and delivery?

£89.95 for the M, £149.95 for the XL. Free delivery, dispatched within 1–3 working days with tracking, 30-day money-back guarantee.

Start at number one, not number five

If your dog drools, pants, slides or stands up on every journey — two years of driving more won't fix it, and neither will a harness on its own. Give them something to lean against.

Check the size for my dog →

From £89.95 · Free delivery · 30-day money-back guarantee

KovePaws CalmRide Dog Bed
KovePaws CalmRide Dog Bed
From £89.95 · Free UK delivery
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