Stupid question.

[RuthyC3P]

This is really a stupid question. My 4 1/2 month old puppy will not jump into the SUV. She likes to go for rides but she just sits and looks at us waiting for us to lift her in. She is starting to get too big (45LBS) for me to lift her in all the time but it is getting real frustrating. We have tried the treat thing and heck, I even jump in the back seat but she still won't jump in. Occationally she will put her paws on the running board,then I lift her hind quarters in. She is really good with her Obedience training and catches on really fast. How can I get her to stop being lazy and jump in the truck?

[ButchCappel]

WOW, Ruthy,
Sounds like a realy great dog! 4 & 1/2 months and she has already taught you how to jump into the back of your SUV!!
Just kidding, really.

Actually I get that a lot at my kennel, replace "pick up" for SUV.
Most people go about it like you do. Dog puts front paws on back of truck,suv, etc., dog gets treat! After several treats dog gets put into vehicle and goes for ride! "Hey! Let's do that again tomorrow." dog thinks.

Remember, dogs quickly associate an action with success or pay out. In this case "put paws on tailgate, get treat!" 2cd is it fair to compel or force the dog to jump when they don't know what "Jump" means?

I teach a jump command to the dog over very low hurdles. Then if it is a
young pup I back the truck up to a ramp and give the dog the jump command, so it has not far to jump, and can be succesfull with BOTH ends, then it gets the treat.

Remember half the battle with a young dog is getting them to know what the "word" means then reward them. Once they understand the word completely then you start teaching proficiency

[RuthyC3P]

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your reply. Yea, she does have us trained very well. My neighbors think I've lost my marbles when I'm outside training her with my sound effects for praise :P

[Virtues]

Hey Ruthy,

That's not a stupid question at all! I can tell you what worked for me and what you might try...standard disclaimers being that the dog is able to jump into the SUV (is old enough to jump that high, physically able to jump that high, and has no health problems preventing her from jumping in). Valor, my male Presa, never wanted to do the full jump in. I first let him know what I wanted by letting him watch another dog trained to "load up". He figured it out, but would still only jump halfway and I (5'1) had to struggle to load the back end of him. I found that a running start helps a lot. He seems to do it better with a running start and we make it really fun. Anytime he does the halfway jump, I say something like "let's try again" and back him up several feet. I then say "let's go! let's go! load up!" (etc, sounding nice for the neighbors of course) while running towards the vehicle. I stop and he jumps in. Works every time except when he's realllly tired. You might give it a try, maybe she just needs a running start!


(One time I said "you're loading up or you're not going". It actually worked!)