Train my dogs to jump up into the pick-up - How?

[louse1953]

I had two golden retrievers. It wasn't necessary to train one of them. He just always did it. The other one certainly could have done it, he was just too cautious and stupid to do it. We lifted him in.

So who was the stupid one again?

[Daffy D]

Watch the first New Zealand Toyota "Bugger" series ad. Can't guarantee it will help.

Not much help but had a good laugh

Several days of trying and still the little mutts can't grasp the idea of standing on the box to jump up onto the tailgate.

Thought I'd cracked it after they had done it once but then next time they stand beside the box with their front paws on the tailgate wanting to get up but of course they can't.

Maybe Thai dogs just ain't that smart. Maybe should rename them Dumb and Dumber

Will keep trying a few times each day and see how it goes.

[harrry]

What you have to do is get down on all fours and from that position jump into the vehicle. They will soon learn to copy you.

[The manic]

Tazer or cattle prod.

[The Deerhunter]

What you have to do is get down on all fours and from that position jump into the vehicle. They will soon learn to copy you.

1. Make sure you take a video of it for us to watch.

2. Especially make sure the video is recording when someone drives off in your (Toyota) ute just as you try to jump in as per instructions in post #33.

Edited December 1, 2014 by The Deerhunter

[The Deerhunter]

Hold some snack in your hand and steer them into the car, and don`t rush it!

Do the training when you know they are hungry, like after playing at the beach.

Don`t forget to be consistent with your command. Don`t say "get into the car"

at one time, and "jump" at the next. Just say "jump" or "go" and NOTHING else

while holding some snack they like in front of their face and in the direction you

want them to go. Using "GO" may make it easier for you if you want them to go

somewhere else in the future where jumping is not involved

Making it easy for them to get in, like a a box the can step on might help if it`s

I high jump.

My dogs loved dried fish. The flat dried squid they sell everywhere smell about

the same to me

I`m sure this will work! Good luck!

Cheers

As a long-time dog owner, I agree with this advice, but you may need two restraint chains to prevent them jumping off again. Leave the chains attached with a cheap padlock each to prevent the chains getting "borrowed." One chain on each side of the middle & set in such a way that the muts cannot get out over the side & hang themselves. Always chain each dog to the same restraint. Repetition = training. They also have to learn to get "ON" and "OFF" to instruction, not whenever they feel like it. You do not want them trying to de-van at speed if they see another dog or cat.

The dogs must associate getting on & off the ute as part of a pleasurable activity. Dogs usually love vehicle travel. They might need a few trips to realize it is a fun thing. In Thailand someone can ride on back with them the first few times to re-assure them

You would never have this problem with fox-terriers, Dalmatians or cattle/sheep dogs. Or golden retrievers, for that matter, if they were used as gun dogs and thought each truck trip was possibly a hunting trip & not a trip to the vet.

Edited December 1, 2014 by The Deerhunter

[Loles]

Tell them, you got a go, but come the Isaan dog collectors to supply the Viet kitchen. If some-one would like to wait them, do it ...

[F4UCorsair]

Watch the first New Zealand Toyota "Bugger" series ad. Can't guarantee it will help.

Not much help but had a good laugh

Several days of trying and still the little mutts can't grasp the idea of standing on the box to jump up onto the tailgate.

Thought I'd cracked it after they had done it once but then next time they stand beside the box with their front paws on the tailgate wanting to get up but of course they can't.

Maybe Thai dogs just ain't that smart. Maybe should rename them Dumb and Dumber

Will keep trying a few times each day and see how it goes.

You need to start thinking a bit laterally.

Find a treat that they really love, and use it for nothing but rewarding positive behaviour. In Australia I don't know a dog that doesn't like Schmackos, but a friend uses tiny pieces of sun dried liver, sliced as thick as a sheet of paper and laid out on gauze in a hot dry sun. To achieve such thin slices, freeze the liver, and as it thaws, there is a stage when it slices thinly very easily.

Forget the jumping into the back of the pickup for the moment, and start with them sitting, staying, fetching. Dogs almost instinctively chase a ball, but you get them to drop it to you by offering something more appetizing than a ball, a treat. Keep the commands simple, one word, and no two command words sounding alike. If you want to use 'jump' for the pickup, don't use it for anything else because they'll just be confused. They don't understand, so any word, however ridiculous it may sound, can be used for a particular command, but be consistent. This is exactly what the DVD's on training animals teach.

When you have them obeying simple commands, try a ramp up to the pickup, or a larger top surface on the box so that they have no trouble sitting on it. They're not brain surgeons, and they take a lot of patience, some more than others, but they can be effectively trained.

I trained a bird a couple of years ago, same thing with treats. I wanted her to fly to me, I started right at her cage, so she really only had to flap once, almost skipped, to reach me, and then she received a sunflower seed. I then went back a bit further, and before long, she was flying to me on command, even into other rooms, receiving her seed, and flying back to her cage on the command 'house'. She crawls through a tunnel, climbs a ladder, and rolls on her back, all on command.

You may have to give them a sniff of the treat, but so they can't access it, in a closed hand, and then crawl into the pickup yourself, enticing them with further sniffs. When they finally jump in, give lots of praise and a reward/treat. Once the habit is established, you don't need to reward every time, just intermittently, but they keep doing it, expecting a reward.

Edited December 2, 2014 by F4UCorsair

[Daffy D]

Some progress

One of the pups has at last got the hang of standing on the box to jump in, even does it now without treats.

Dumber still can't do it even after watching the big dog, that can do it without the box, and Dumb both jump up.

Maybe it's because the other two are looking down on her waiting for her to jump up and she's shy

I will persevere

[F4UCorsair]

Daffy, it's important that you make the connection, for the dog, between achieving what you want, and the treat. Once they've got that, you can teach them almost anything. Here's 'proof'

A young boy goes off to college, but about 1/3 way through the semester, he has foolishly squandered what money his parents gave him. "Hmmmm," he wonders, "How am I gonna get more dough?" Then he gets an idea. He calls his father.

"Dad," he says, "you won't believe the wonders that modern education are coming up with! Why, they actually have a program here that will teach Fido how to talk!"

"Why that's absolutely amazing!" his father says. "How do I get him in that program?"

"Just send him down here with $1000," the boy says, "I'll get him into the course." So, his father sends the dog and the $1000.

About 2/3 way through the semester, the money runs out. So the boy calls his father again. "So how's Fido doing, son?" his father asks.

"Awesome, dad, he's talking up a storm," he says, "but you just won't believe this - now they have a program here that will teach Fido to READ!"

"READ!?" says his father, "That's amazing! What do I have to do to get him in that program?"

"Just send $2,500, I'll get him in the class." So his father sends the money.

At the end of the semester, the boy has a problem. When he gets home, his father will find out that the dog can neither talk nor read. So he shoots the dog. When he gets home, his father is all excited.

"Where's Fido? I just can't wait to hear him talk and listen to him read something!"

"Dad," the boy says, "I have some grim news. This morning when I got out of the shower, Fido was in the living room kicking back in the recliner and reading the morning paper, like he usually does. Then he turned to me and asked 'So, is your daddy still messin’' around with that little redhead that lives down on Oak Street?' "

The father says, "I hope you SHOT that lyin' sack of trash!"

Edited December 2, 2014 by F4UCorsair