We have a wonderful 9 month old black lab but the one thing he won't do is get in the car. He's not scared on sick when he goes in the back but coaxing him in is a nightmare. We used to pick him up and put him in the back but now he's too big. Although the boot of the car is high (it's a Nissan Quashqai) he can do it and will jump up for his dinner/food in his regular bowl. However when we try to get him out for a walk it's a different story - we tempt him with various treats but it takes a good 10 minutes to get the right smells/tastes where he's prepared to jump up.... and sometimes he just refuses. Has anybody got any advice. We have also tried the back seat but he's no better with that. It seems to be stubborness but it's very frustrating when we know he will jump for his main dinner. We cannot just take him out locally as no big park near u s.
Welcome to you. Bruce was also 9 months old and wouldn't jump in the back of the car. We got seat covers and a car harness and he was happy on the back seat We had to start by putting his front paws up and lifting his back paws in. ...
Invest in a ramp for him to walk up and down on - so much easier than man-handling a Lab in and out of the car. The Quashqai has a high boot and it's not that advisable to have dogs jumping in and out because of the impact on joints, particularly in the larger breeds.
Hello and welcome to the forum. I agree with @Jojo83; it's terrible for their joints to have to deal with that impact, so get yourself a ramp and train him to use it.
We had the same problem with Molly. Odd thing was she would always jump in happily when we were coming home. In the end we realised she didn't like the angle of the car where it was parked at home. We think it looked awkward to her and she thought she couldn't get in. Solution - we moved the car to a position with more space at the rear and hey presto, she jumped in, no problem. Just a thought. Mind you, the ramp is probably the best idea and will be better on your boy's joints as he ages, good luck.
If your pup really doesn't want to get in the car, you need to train with treats and also make sure all the car rides are pleasant. If the issue is not wanting to jump into the car, try getting him to put his paws up and then lift his back end in. We always trained our dogs to do this, so that when they get older we don't have a problem getting them in the car. Cooper can jump into the back of our Chevy Suburban, but Tilly can't go that high. She can jump into the Outback, but not the Suburban. IMHO ramps are a pain, because they take up a lot of space, and many dogs don't really like them. I made a folding ramp for one of our friends, who had a Samoyed that could no longer jump into her Jeep, but would not allow himself to be picked up. She trained her next Sammy to put his paws up. We also help Tilly out of the car, if she is hesitant. It is not hard to ease her down if she is in the back of the Suburban. I don't worry much about our dogs jumping off things as long as they want to do it. Cooper jumps down snow banks to the road all the time, and I could not stop her if I wanted to. Tilly is more circumspect and will usually climb down if is more than a couple of feet.
I have problems with Boris and getting into the car he is 2 now. The first car i had was a hatch back with a high lip. The only way i could get him into this car was lifting. Once in the car he lay their looking miserable. Numerous journeys to exciting places for walks didn't change his attitude to the car. I brought a ramp and spent a week in the back garden getting him to go up and down the ramp, he thought this was a great game. I then tried the car, bought some mince for to entice reward him up the ramp into the car. He refused to go up the ramp. So any one want a dog ramp? Boris would reluctantly get into my son's car which was an estate car,they park and the back is over the kerb and so the step up wasn't that great. But he was still reluctant to get in, he would with encouragement and treats. I finally purchased an estate car. He reluctantly jumps into it, doesn't look quiet miserable, when we get to the journeys end he will jump out and when it is time to come home jumps in. At home he is very reluctant to get out without encouragement, sometimes I leave the boot open and go and put the kibble in his bowl making a noise and that is the best encouragement. I did hear a dog trainer once say that some dogs just dislike cars and will need lifting in.
I'm a big fan of the paws up and then lift the backside the rest of the way as mentioned by @Boogie . However, another idea for you. When you are trying to coax him in with treats, where are you? I'm currently trying to work with a large (40kg) rescue dog to get him used to car rides and the first day I stood outside of the car with treats trying to lure him in or throwing the treats in and hoping he would go in after them. I ended up crawling into the car myself, laying there on my back and getting him to put one paw in at a time inch by inch. I must have looked very bizarre and no idea why it finally worked, but it did. Worth a try - but maybe make sure the neighbours aren't home first.
Are you certain he's not in any pain? Snowie refused to jump into the car and we discovered he had a slipped disc. Admittedly now he sometimes doesn't want to get in cos he wants to sniff outside. I'm pretty certain his back is healed, he's not refusing cos of pain. So now I sometimes throw a treat onto the backseat and he hops in no problem.
