Our German Shepherd Husky used to carsick when we first got her - after 2 rides and throwing up, she refused to get into the car again - whether it be the van or the car...and we had to lift her up to get to training classes. Well, that just wasn't gonna work for us.
So first, we associated the car with tasty treats, not just yucky rides. Sitting in it, we called her and gave her treats. On separate occasions, we trained her to "jump".
Story in Pictures:
We started with something low and natural looking and used treats and the word "jump". Walking over it did not count :)
Then we moved to something a little more artificial - mostly because we have a small and a large dog and the big girl would simply step over the barrier, while the little guy was not yet ready to jump the high size. so this allowed for easy varying the height. I pretty much used stuff I found in the backyard to construct the barriers
Now - both dogs just wanted to go underneath the sticks or branches as they were raised - so we came up with a more solid interim solution for that. Again, easy to construct with a wooden board and some logs. Some folks may have children's play toys around, or some type of garden tools. Buckets might work too. Rewards were not given for walking around the barrier, stepping over it or trying to go underneath. We wanted the JUMP movement. As an added bonus for us, since we also had to train for a "trick" for dog training classes, we got a hoop. The little terrier was afraid of it at first and had to really "get" the jump thing before he jumped through the hoop - but he does now....and got 2nd prize for it :).
It's been fun. Please enjoy the snappers I took for the documenting of this process. It was a cloudy day and our big girl was not all that cooperative - I tell you, she must think all this is silly....
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| He is much more eager to please |
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| ..... |
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| They both jump now |
After about a week, we used the "jump" command for the car - and it worked...yeah.
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| She still does not like it - but she will jump in...there |
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| Happy now...? |
Then we moved to something a little more artificial - mostly because we have a small and a large dog and the big girl would simply step over the barrier, while the little guy was not yet ready to jump the high size. so this allowed for easy varying the height. I pretty much used stuff I found in the backyard to construct the barriers
Now - both dogs just wanted to go underneath the sticks or branches as they were raised - so we came up with a more solid interim solution for that. Again, easy to construct with a wooden board and some logs. Some folks may have children's play toys around, or some type of garden tools. Buckets might work too. Rewards were not given for walking around the barrier, stepping over it or trying to go underneath. We wanted the JUMP movement. As an added bonus for us, since we also had to train for a "trick" for dog training classes, we got a hoop. The little terrier was afraid of it at first and had to really "get" the jump thing before he jumped through the hoop - but he does now....and got 2nd prize for it :).
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