Getting our dog in the car!

[Grandad Gaz]

Any tips on teaching our dog to jump in the back of our estate car before we resort to a dog whisperer?

She's a golden retriever which we have had 4 years, she is now 5. She hates getting in the car and it can take ages to tempt her to jump in the back. Sometimes she simply refuses and we have to physically lift her in and it seems to be getting worse.

You could put a fillet steak in the car and she still would not get in!

Thanks

[jenpot]

Firstly, are you sure it's just the car and she'll happily jump other such heights? Does she have any pain or mobility problems? Have you tried a dog ramp?

Or can she sit in the back on the seats?

[Evil Monkey]

Must be a Golden Retriever thing! When we had 2 Fiestas he'd happily get in the back of one but would refuse to get in the other. He's a bit pathetic about getting in the back of our C-Max now too, the big girl.

[GordonL]

Definitely a Retriever thing, my 3 yr old Golden is exactly the same. He'll happily go in my speedboat, up in the cable car or anything else but not a car. Tried every form of bribery and coercion but nothing works.

[Powderpuff]

We've got 2 goldens and both will happily jump in the car (albeit with a biscuit incentive) although one of them will only jump into an empty boot so you do have to load them in sequence Saying that, the family of my other half have had goldens for generations and our two are pretty much the first pair who didn't require a human forklift to load them!

You could try loading / unloading the dog but not then going for a drive, it could be they don't like the travel rather than the getting into the car. By loading and not going anywhere they won't always associate getting into the car with the journey that comes afterwards.

We find with one dog he's happy to do it from a standing start whereas the other prefers a couple of steps as a run up (he's been known to jump into the boot of a Disco 3 with the lower tailgate still closed which was quite some achievement)

[Grandad Gaz]

Thanks for the help.

Glad it's not just us then! You would think that by now she would know that a trip in the car means a long walk at the end of it.

She has no mobility problems at all, by the way. In fact she is very fit and about the right weight for her size.

[Siscar]

We've had issues with our goldensl over the years, now we use a ramp. Fortunately we can keep it on the back seats of the dog carrier car and then it comes out, extends and our current one walks up it happily (as did the previous generation).

We resorted to that because otherwise we'd have to lift, which wouldn't be good at the end of a walk.

[bexVN]

As above try a ramp? You can get fold away ones but obviously will still take up space.

[Hooli]

Grandad Gaz said:

You would think that by now she would know that a trip in the car means a long walk at the end of it.

Swap you for our Staffy (& my old JRT)'s habit of trying to get into any car the door opens because they think it means a ride to a big walk

[bigandclever]

Grandad Gaz said:

Glad it's not just us then! You would think that by now she would know that a trip in the car means a long walk at the end of it.

What if your dog feels hideously car sick on every journey?

[dumfriesdave]

Had the same trouble when I had my Weimaraner.
I regretted not taking her out in the car as a puppy to get her used to being in the car.

As a fully grown dog the only time she was in the car was either to the vet , or the kennels when we went on holiday.
Seemed to be psychological for us i.e. the the only time she was put in the car was for something she didn't like. Took two of us to lift 2 legs each and manhandle her into the back of the car.

[Siscar]

99% of the time our dogs from being puppies have gone in the car to go good places, it makes little difference, one hates the car but will jump in, the other seems to have no issue being in the car but has to be lifted or go up a ramp for it to happen,