How to get my Lab to jump in my vehicle

Teach your dog to love your car or truck.

If you have a retriever that doesn’t like to get into your vehicle, you are not alone. Many owners struggle with training their dog to get into their vehicle on command. Generally, the harder you force the issue, the worse it can get. Here are some training tips on how to get your Lab to jump into your vehicle.

Why does my dog refuse to jump in the car?

There may be many reasons why your dog does not like to get into your truck, car or SUV.

My dog is scared of my car.

Your dog may literally fear your vehicle. Or your dog may not enjoy being in the vehicle and riding around, he/she may prefer to be outside. Being cooped up in the car is not fun for them.

Regardless of the reason your dog won’t get into your vehicle, it is still a problem.

Every dog must get into a vehicle at some point. There are vet appointments, grooming appointments and boarding or daycare. If your dog is a working dog like our dogs, they need to get into the vehicle to go hunting or training or to a competition.

Riding in a vehicle is something most dogs must endure, so the goal should be to have your dog learn to love it.

Should I train my dog to jump into my truck?

Some may ask, “Should I train my dog to jump in my truck?”

There are a lot of conflicting opinions on this. Repetitive jumping can be tough on a dog’s joints. So, if you take your dog with you everywhere and they are constantly jumping in and out of the truck hundreds of times a day, that could be a problem. In cases like this I recommend ramps or, if you are able, lifting the dog into the truck or SUV each time.

But for most dogs, the act of jumping in a vehicle is something they are doing one or two times a day at the most. In these situations, there is not a lot of repetition and therefore should not cause issues with your dogs joints.

Obviously, if your dog is old or injured, you should not require your dog to jump into your vehicle. Use common sense here. If the jumping is causing your dog pain, then do not expect your dog to jump into a vehicle.

Can I just force my dog into the vehicle?

Yes, you can. And many people do, especially while the dog is small. But when the dog gets bigger and heavier, it becomes increasingly difficult to force the dog into the vehicle.

In addition, forcing your dog into the vehicle is not going to make the experience a good experience. And each subsequent trip will likely get more difficult to get your dog into the vehicle.

The key to getting your dog to jump into your vehicle on command all by him/herself is to make the experience a good one. You can do this through training and exposure.

How do you teach a dog to jump into a truck or SUV?

As I already stated, the key to teaching a dog to jump into any vehicle is to make the experience or getting into the vehicle a good experience for the dog.

Start with exposure.

Exposure means taking the time to get your dog comfortable around the vehicle.

How do you do this?

With your car parked and turned off, open the doors and encourage your dog to explore the car. Some dogs will jump right in and walk around inside the car, but some will even be hesitant to go near the car.

Don’t be in a rush. If your dog walks close to the car, say GOOD DOG. Each time your dog gets closer to the car praise the dog in a gentle and encouraging voice.

Should I use treats?

If your dog is deathly afraid of the vehicle, you are going to have to make the car more enticing. You can do this with the use of dog treats.

Get your dog comfortable with the vehicle using treats.

Start by standing or sitting next to the car, each time your dog comes up to you, say GOOD DOG, give him/her a treat and a pet. Let your dog walk away and then call your dog back. Again, give praise and treat. Repeat this until the dog seems comfortable coming to you.

Next, move to sitting inside the car with your feet hanging outside the door, or sitting on the tailgate. When your dog comes up to you, say GOOD DOG and give him/her a treat. Repeat until your dog is comfortable with this step.

Now move further inside the vehicle, so that your dog needs to put his/her paws on the bumper or on the seat to get to you. Again, if your dog does this, praise and pet him/her and give a treat. Each time your dog puts his/her feet and or head inside the car, give gentle praise and a treat.

Slowly require your dog to get into the vehicle more and more to get the praise and treats.

Note: This may take more than one day to complete. It totally depends on how scared your dog is of the vehicle and how well your dog overcomes the fear.

The products I recommend I believe are a good value or good investment for anyone working to train or maintain training on their retriever. When possible, I include links to the product. Some of these links may be Amazon or other affiliate links in which I am paid a small commission at no cost to you. All opinions and recommendations are my own.

Using other motivators.

Not all dogs are motivated by treats. Some dog breeds, like retrievers, are more motivated by retrieving.

If one of our working dogs is having issues with getting into a vehicle, and the dog loves to retrieve, we use a bumper to encourage the dog to get more comfortable with the vehicle.

We do this following the same process as previously laid out under using treats.

We start by throwing the bumper closer and closer to the vehicle and having the dog retrieve the bumper. This gives the dog a chance to get comfortable with the vehicle. Once the dog is doing this reliably, we progress to opening doors or hatches on the vehicle.

With the doors and hatches open, we start throwing the bumper just inside the car, so that the dog can get the bumper without actually getting into the vehicle. We offer quiet praise (GOOD DOG) each time the dog makes an effort to get the bumper.

Once the dog is comfortable with this, we throw the bumper a little deeper into the vehicle. Each time the dog picks up the bumper in or near the car we praise him/her with GOOD DOG. If the dog gets close to the vehicle but is hesitant to actually pick up the bumper, we give the dog time to figure it out. We stay where we are, a few feet from the vehicle and each time the dog shows effort towards getting the bumper we say calm but encouraging words such as “Goooood dog, that’s right, go get it”

The key is to encourage the dog to figure it out and praise him/her for any small step towards completing the task.

As the dog gets more comfortable, we will make the throws deeper into the vehicle.

This process works great for dogs that are wild about retrieving and will do almost anything to get a retrieve.

If your dog is not a big retriever of bumpers, you can do a similar process with his/her favorite toy.

Make smaller jump.

If the problem is not so much a fear of the vehicle as the inability to jump high enough to get into the car, then a different strategy is needed.

But if your dog just lacks the skills of jumping or has not learned how to make the jump, you can work on this in a couple different ways.

First, you can make the jump smaller. Some people do this by backing their vehicle to an area where there is a small slope or upward hill behind the vehicle. This will naturally make the jump easier and shorter. Then, when your dog is handling the smaller jump, simple move the car forward a few feet and build on that success.

Another way to make the jump shorter is to use large platform or box. This essentially makes a step that brings the dog closer to the height of where you need him to jump. Once your dog is jumping well with a platform, then remove the platform and continue working on the larger jump.

Using ramps

If you are concerned about your dogs joints or hips, it may just be easier to purchase a ramp for your car or truck. Dog ramps are a quick and easy way to get dogs into your vehicle and don’t require the dog to jump. We use a jump for our higher trailer crates.

Use a crate inside your vehicle.

I think that dogs should be in crates while in your vehicle because they provide much more protection to the dog should you be involved in an accident.

An additional benefit of using your dog’s crate in your vehicle is that if your dog is already crate trained in the house, moving the crate to the vehicle with often translate very easily for your dog.

If you can say the KENNEL command in the home and your dog goes into the crate. Your dog will understand to get into the crate when you say KENNEL at your vehicle with the crate inside.

Reward car rides.

It is so vital that your dog’s experience riding in your vehicle is a positive one. Especially the first few times. If the only time your dog goes into the car is to go to the vet, your dog is going to associate getting in the car with going to the vet, and that is rarely a great experience for dogs.

To get your dog to jump into your vehicle quickly and cleanly, with a great attitude, you need to make riding in the car a rewarding experience.

If you dog loves retrieving, take your dog somewhere he/she can retrieve. Or, if you dog loves going on walks, take him/her somewhere in the car that you will take a long walk or run. If you have a working dog, take him somewhere to train.

Build positive experiences so that the few negative ones will not completely diminish the positive ones.

Final thoughts on how to get my Lab to jump into my vehicle.

Most large sized dogs can easily jump into a vehicle on their own. The trick is to make them want to. You can do this with treats or retrieves or a favorite toy, but you must also make the rides in the car a pleasant and rewarding experience so that they will love to get into the vehicle next time.

If you are still struggling, I’m here to help! You can email me (ottertailkennels@gmail.com) or just give me a call (651-303-6459). I would be happy to discuss your goals for your retriever and tell you about the programs I offer.

Until next time happy retrieving.