Getting Into The Car

[Guest greytone]

At the track, the boys are on the bottom and the girls are on the top because they jump. I am thinking that your boy just doesn't know how to jump up.

[Guest TofuNifty]

Bantay wouldn't get into the car the first times either, but he LOVES tennis balls. I play tennis so having them around isn't a problem. I usually just let him see it, hold it in his mouth, then throw it into the trunk- he jumps right in after it.

 

Good luck! I made the mistake of taking him to the pets store without a ball and had to pick up all 72lbs to get him in... I weigh 85lbs so thatwas a workout!

[cleptogrey]

it took annie 9 months to learn how to get into the car. some dogs love cars, other....well- they like the end result- but getting them in can be a PITA. we went thru all the positive rewards and yes i did teach her how to enter the house from the back yard- she used to freeze prior to entering the door. occassionally her brain still freezes if it's the "wrong" door or a 4 door car(i usually drive a civic coupe). sorry giselle, i did knee up the butt after lots of positive actions leading to the car. it worked, that little assistance, hands off the collar and she's fine most of the time. she will even jump up into the back jump seat of the pickup truck. now she MUST be the first dog in, then the other hound follows, total confusion if felix enters first.

 

it's patience, practice and finding that key to unlock the apprenhension. i don't like using the word "fear".

[a_daerr]

At the track, the boys are on the bottom and the girls are on the top because they jump. I am thinking that your boy just doesn't know how to jump up.

 

I don't think this is true with all tracks. The last time I was at Wheeling, there was no rhyme or reason to where the dogs were kenneled. There were lots of boys in top kennels.

[Guest Giselle]

Don't apologize to me! If you're okay admitting to "kneeing" the dog "up the butt", that's fine. That said, it's not my recommendation for all the reasons I explained above. And it really doesn't matter what euphemism we put to it. The behaviors these dogs are displaying (balking and avoidance) are very clear and established symptoms of fear. Call it what you want, but I'd argue that the objective signs are pretty clear. Apprehension, nervousness, anxiety, whatever - They're all subsets of a fear response.

[cleptogrey]

quite honestly have you ever tried to get a dog into a small 2 door car? it's not my choice of cars for dogs, but it's what i have to work w/. even sitting in the back seat before the dogs got in didn't work. what type of games do you think would work in that small space? teaching her to jump in and thru the car and out the door will teach a dog to escape! think about it, it's fun getting in and more fun bolting out- not a very safe situation.

 

if it was sooooooooo scary then why in the world does my dog now jump into the car w/ her tail wagging? she would have been left alone at home sulking in a room if i didn't consistantly take measures to "get her in". i found that moving feet into the car caused a freeze, the gentle knee at her butt- should i have said "rear" got her moving on her own terms.

 

text book training is excellent at times, but real life situations often call for real life measures. i know people who need to hire people to lift their greys into their cars, their dogs never responded to games and the worst of their fears took over. they were never taught to "just do it" and keep on going!. going to the ve for them is a nightmare- now the vet comes to them and the dog nearly passes out if it needs to go anywhere. like a child,don't baby, but encourage, praise and just do it, like ripping a bandaid off- fast and it's done! i guess i'm old fashioned, mean and what ever, but my dogs just act pretty normal since that's what expected at all times!

[Guest Giselle]

Cleptogrey, please take a breather. I am not criticizing you. We don't need to get emotional or defensive. Reality is what it is, and I'm speaking about objective truths here. No personal attacks. To answer your question, yes, I've taught all my dogs and all my clients' dogs to function well in tight spaces. This is one of the pillars of teaching dogs self-control. Many aggressive and reactive dogs have problems with tight spaces, so I do teach them to respond at high levels in tight spaces. Moreover, my car lives in a one-car-width-driveway. I have to squeeze in to get into the car, as does my dog. It's a behavior that I teach, and the dogs respond well.

 

All of my training (indeed, all of modern animal training) is founded on self-control and focus. These are "real-life measures". By teaching the dog that jumping into the car is a fun game, you're teaching the dog to respond to you with focus and control. Instead of allowing the dog to be scared, you're teaching it to focus on you and give you the behavior that you asked for - in a fun and exciting way.

 

I think you are also creating a false dichotomy here. "Kneeing the dog's butt" will work. It works because this is Negative Reinforcement, and it will work just like any other quadrant of learning theory. However, the fact is that negative reinforcement often relies on the use of aversives (like physical pressure or force) which can amplify stress/fear, so it is not my recommendation for an animal that is already scared of the car.

 

As well, animal emotions are malleable. They can learn to associate the car with going to fun places and so they'll learn to enjoy the car, even if they were scared initially. This is probably what happens to most greys. People see this as "getting over it", but I really think we should stop humanizing the animals and understand them at their level. If, in the end, it's just a matter of changing our dogs' associations with the car to make it less scary, why don't we do it in faster, funner, less stressful ways??