Hi all. I’m curious as to what all of you do to get your dogs in and out of your vehicles. I’ve been fine lifting Ariel in and out of the back of my Jeep SUV up until now, but if she gets much bigger those days will be over. . She’s just over 52 pounds, but I’m almost 56 years old. lol I have a proper telescopic dog ramp which I used with my past pup during her final months, but Ariel’s quite skitterish when we work with it. She’s ok with it when it’s on the ground and will walk back and forth on it, but refuses to try to walk up it when it’s against the truck, even with chicken treats waiting at the other end. She’s never been taught to jump in and out of the truck, especially out, as I feel it would be too hard on her shoulders when she lands. I wonder if I can teach her to jump in, then I can lift her back out (much easier than a dead lift). She comes almost everywhere with me, and I don’t want to lose that... How do all of you tackle it?
Ours are not allowed to jump in or out until they are six months old. I get them to put their feet up and lift their back ends in, I just lift them out. *edit - I’ve now got a ramp as Keir got too heavy even for that!* I’m 60 and do weights at the gym to keep fit for it!
If she is happy to walk on the ramp when ut is flat it's just some de-sensitising by slowly raising one end and rewarding. Raise one end a few inches with some bricks or something such like, then slowly rause a bit higher ensuring you don't raise it before she is 100% happy with each level. Also could it be that she isn't happy with the surface of the ramp when raised? Perhaps add some rubber matting to the surface to improve the surface for her.
Ella sits on the back seat of our SUV. She refused to get in by herself so I always lifted her in. Once I got to 30 weeks pregnant I decided enough was enough and taught her to jump into the footwell and up onto the seat by putting a trail of tasty treats for her to follow. I still lift her out of the car though as it seems a long way to jump down (very occasionally ill let her jump - usually if she's filthy and I don't want to touch her )
I’ve tried that with Ariel and she wanted nothing to do with it. It appears the hatch area is hers, and hers alone.
I have a jeep too. I boost in (treat on bumper, he puts his front feet up) and lift out. After skids on snow and loose gravel going either direction I don't like them jumping in or out. And btw, I'm 65 and he's 68 pounds and the time he got up to 82 pounds I could still lift out. I lift the way my Vet showed me to save the previous Lab's bad back. My right arm between his front legs, my left around his bum with his tail down and also under my arm. Jet only weighed 56 pounds but Oban is actually easier because he doesn't mind being lifted. Earlier this summer I carried him nearly 1/2 km out of the bush when he collapsed with heat exhaustion. Yes, a dead lift is harder but I managed to do it. Start working out.
We have a hatchback. Holly is allowed to jump into the car but we've never taught her to jump out. She waits until one of us lifts her down using the same method as @Snowshoe. There have been a few occasions when she's been overexcited and has jumped out, but most times she just sits and waits while we put our boots on.
I did my back in when Tatze was a pup so I got a Trixie ramp, it worked well and Tatze was fine using it. I’ve put it away for her old age
I will! . I lift her much the same as you, but I put my right arm around the front of her chest bone...never thought to put it through her front legs. It’s not unbalanced/wiggly that way?
And, drum roll please...... we have success!! I worked with her, very slowly and very patiently, for quite a while this morning. She is now scooting up and down the ramp, clearly quite proud of herself! (Maybe it was the bigger chicken treats that she couldn’t resist). And of course, I’m tickled about it as well. Now we just have to master the open back stairs outside and we’re good to go. She doesn’t like those one bit..... Thanks everyone.
Work on the same principle - big tasty reward for each step and work on going down and back up if necessary one step at a time. If too difficult can you place some timber lengths down the steps for her to walk down?
She’s ok on the step part. It’s the fact that the backs are open between the stairs. Going down she’s fine as the can’t see the openings behind her. I wondered about cutting some cardboard and stapling it to hide some of the openness.
Yup! This is the difference between the two sets: 20171003_144017 by Sue Walker, on Flickr; 20171003_143951 by Sue Walker, on Flickr
Cooper just jumps in and out. She can jump all the way to the seats in our Suburban or Subie with no problem. With Tilly she usually puts her front paws up and we lift her back end in. We did the same thing with Ginger when she got to about 13.
Oh yes. I can see that it could be a problem. If it's practical, and not too expensive, I would look at closing the back as it will create a feeling of greater security. I'm not keen on open back steps/stairs so know how your dog feels
