ALL STOP getting into new car!!!

It’s been awhile since blog was updated. Now sitting in a mountain cabin, fire going, and deluge of biblical proportions outside. It’s been an interesting year. Towards the end of the last year, I changed my car. I won’t go into too much detail regarding the last car, suffice to say that the Subaru Outback that I bought from new turned out to be a huge disappointment, and to be rid of the beast, I sold the car at a loss.

I then bought a ridiculous car,

a one year old Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. A year later this car still makes me smile! Now this car is great for Kin, as I can drive with the rear window open, so he can look out (I have a restraining line spliced onto the internal roll cage, so even if he wanted to, he can’t get out).

It is a bit high to get into, but there are ways around this.

Folding ramp which was bought for my last dog when he was getting old, and he had problems using it as he wasn’t used to it, so Kin has used it his entire life, so he’s used to it and it’ll be natural for him when he gets old.

First two drives with the new car, Kin was sceptical but got in… and then ALLLLLLL STOP. He refused to get into the car… he weighs 82 kgs… I can manhandle his front half into the car, but when I change to the back end, the front has already come out! The only way to get him into the car was for two people to manhandle him in. NOTHING else worked! Now you can see the downside with living alone with Kin, and needing a second person every time you want to go somewhere in the car!

Here’s Ingvild trying to entice him into the car, firstly with her own bitch Madie, and then with a sacrificial cow/pig… after 1 hour of trying we abandoned the effort, and manhandled him into the car!

This was not an isolated incident! Several folk tried this approach as they could not believe that Kin would not be bribed with food into the car, all to no avail!

Now some folk suggest that it was the smell of the car that he was reacting to. So I then took the mat out of the car and replaced it with a waterproof one, with his bedding on the top, I brought the mat that came with the car into the house to dry off, and

Kin disproved this theory!

I managed to borrow a bitch in heat and have her in the car for 30 minutes to get some realllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy goooooooood smells! Then I had her in the car and tried to get kin in… he sniffed her, but only to the extent that his rear paws stayed firmly anchored to terra firma!

I tried serving his meals in the car.

Which was fine if he was already in the car, but didn’t work if he had to get into the car in order to eat.

And here’s how I finally got him into the car, and now he jumps in whenever the boot is open, regardless of if we are going for a trip or not!

Using the ramp, put treats on the ramp, but putting these just in front of his nose (previously I’d spaced them up the ramp).

Use plenty of treats, and verbal encouragement.

Small spaces between the treats.

If he baulks at the distance to the next one, bring it closer to him.

When he retreats, just start again.

A lot of treats, but after 40 minutes he was in the car! The next time took 20 minutes, then 15 minutes, and then he jumped in regardless of if we were going out or not!

Problem that I have now is getting him back out of the car. Often we’ll return from a trip and he’ll stay in the car for several hours before he’ll get out. I can force him out, but he makes you very aware that you’re forcing him!

As Jan say’s about Kin, “he’s a funny fellow!”