# Lab won't jump into truck. Please Help.



## MSPALTEN (Feb 18, 2009)

Hello,
I have a yellow lab that is almost 1.5 years old. I take her places with me quite often, which means lots of in and out of the truck. She stays in a kennel in the back of the truck so she cannot jump out, but the problem is getting her in. I tell her to load up and all she does is put her front paws on the tailgate. She will not jump. My family has many other labs that have no problem jumping into the truck, so she sees how it is supposed to work. She has even jumped on her own on a few times, but she will not jump the majority of the time. This is a very frustrating problem. I have to lift her into the truck, but I don't want to teach her that I am going to lift her each time. What can I do? I have tried putting her food into the bed of the truck. The result was a hungry dog. She didnt eat that whole weekend. There has to be a better way. Please Help.


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## I_love_my_poopers (Oct 29, 2008)

My lab wouldnt jump in my suv for awhile. Maybe try putting a tasty smelly treat infront of her or toss it in the truck or some cheese as a treat??


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## JackieM (Feb 18, 2009)

I'd recommend having her checked out by a vet if the problem persists to make sure that she is ok. Since she is so young, she should be able to jump up there fine. Though it could also be because she jumped high before and it hurt so she learned that it is a bad thing to do.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

My female Sheltie has had hip problems since the age of 1. My male Sheltie has elbow dysplasia which was found at the age of 2. Both of them are not very good jumpers. 
I've already planned to install a ramp down to the potty area for my female...she's really starting to struggle on the steps. 
That's my recommendation (besides the vet visit)....throw a board in the pickup bed and use it as a ramp when necessary.


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

I did some searches for doggy ramps and came up with this:
http://travelitedogramp.com/

Also, my boyfriend's dog wouldn't jump into the back hatch of my car for him, but when I offered much more enthusiastic encouragement, he jumped right up for me. Maybe your dog just needs to get more excited about it in order to be inspired to jump up?


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## Rowdy (Sep 2, 2007)

I certainly DON'T recommend this for every dog, but with Toby we used the "bum's rush" method to get him into the back of the SUV. We started about 10 feet back, grabbed him by the collar and RAN toward the car, and then let go just before the back of the car. He had the choice of a very abrupt stop or jumping into the car. When he jumped in he got lots of good treats. It only took about 3 times before he realized that he could make the jump on his own.

We never would have done this at all if we hadn't seen him jump up on rocks higher than the back of the car. So we knew he was capable of doing it, even if he didn't.

Definitely make sure that the dog doesn't have any medical reason that he won't jump, like hip dysplasia, etc. before you even think about trying this.


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