# Puppy Won't Get into the Car



## grace (Apr 15, 2010)

I just adopted a 6 month old golden retriever puppy, and he is AWESOME! I can't believe how easy he has been so far. He was living in a really small town before, and so he hasn't had much exposure to the world and the city. I have been trying to take him to all sorts of new places so he can get used to seeing lots of people, and traffic, and other dogs. We live in Salt Lake, so we spend a lot of time in the mountains, but Salt Lake is a huge city compared to his previous home. So far he has been really interested and happy with all of the new experiences... except one. He HATES getting into the car. He is completely fine once he is in the car and doesn't seem distressed at all, but actually getting into the car he hates. I'm not sure what to do to ease his distress. He watches my others dogs jump into the car, but he just won't do it. We went to puppy class with the trainer I work with, and she was trying to help me get him used to the car. We gave him little bits of meat as a motivator, which he really liked, but once we got to the car he wouldn't even eat the meat. We both got into the car, we put treats in the car, we tried a running start, we put his front paws on the gate and tried to give him treats and praise, but nothing. He would not get in on his own. He has no issues with jumping, he just won't get in the car. I wouldn't mind, except we go lots of places in the car, and I feel bad making him get into it. Not to mention the fight he puts up as soon as we start walking towards car. 

Like I said, he is happy as a clam once he is in, so I am pretty sure it's not the car itself he is afraid of.. 

Any suggestions? I'm sure we'll work more on it in puppy class, but without food/praise being a motivator I'm not sure how to get him in. And sometimes he just has to go, so we just make him. Which seems bad, but I'm not going to have him home all day and then miss out on the dog park because he doesn't want to get into the car. We aren't coddling his fear either BTW, because I don't want to reinforce it. Overall he isn't a fearful puppy. Timid of new things as you'd expect, but not scared.


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## DogPaw (Jan 11, 2009)

It could just be his age. I had a GSD that would not jump into my Explorer, she was not treat motived but was very ball crazy. So I would open the back of the Explorer and throw the ball into the back. It only took a few times and she had no problem jumping into it. With her I think it was a confidence issue, but wanting the ball more helped her over come that problem.

I now have a Corgi that will approach the vehicle but hates to go for rides. So now I'm working on that issue. And he's a very confident outgoing little guy, just this one issue. Always something......uh.

Good luck

What kind of treats are you using?


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

Have you tried having somebody else get him in there? A lot of the time dogs form an association with the handler, and when you start with someone fresh the dog doesn't have that negative association.


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

Don't know for sure without seeing the dog, but this may not be a fear issue you're dealing with. The pup may just not want the fun to end and he's smart enough to know when that's happening. Our dog did the same thing. So we did a couple of things.

First, we had really yummy stuff to throw in the car - cooked steak, not dog treats. We'd show them to her on the way to the car, let her sniff them and get excited, then open the door and toss the treat on the seat. She generally would leap into the car out of excitement. 

But she's not a dummy. Didn't take long for her to figure out that a yummy tossed in the back seat also meant the fun was over and we were on the way home from the dog park or wherever. So we started chaining fun things together. Dog park + shoreline park. Or trail hike + dog park. Or go to the car, get the yummy treat, then get right back out and go back to the dog park. It got so she didn't know whether we were going home or another fun place, which reduced her resistance for getting in the car. 

She still occasionally balked (she did a little one last week at the soccer fields). In those instances, she was put in the car. That's it. Game over. She had to learn that it was our decision, not hers. It took some repetition, but she matured and learned eventually that getting in the car could be fun sometimes and we weren't going to put up with her not complying. 

BTW, our dog started balking at getting in the car at about 6-8 months of age, so I think it could just be a normal phase they go through. Train through it and he should come out the other end just fine. 

Little pookers!

EDIT: One last thought - could it be the act of getting in that spooks him? Maybe he strained a muscle getting in once and remembers the pain of it and doesn't want to repeat it? I'm reaching here. But dogs will avoid things that caused pain or scared them in the past. My 65 lb dog won't try to jump or get near a simple cardboard barrier because she doesn't like cardboard - makes for real cheap baby gates. But she'll scale a 12 ft wall no problem.


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