Gun Dog Forum

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:26 am**

This is a very stupid question, but seeing if anybody out there has ideas.

My male lab will not attempt to jump onto my tailgate, I have to lift him up everytime. He has the leaping ability to do it, he can jump that high without a problem. When he was only a few months old he saw an older dog jump up there, and before I could stop him he tried the same thing, only to do a flip off the end and land on his head. I think that has scared him away because he will not attempt it now even though hes older. I've tried putting his food just out of reach so he would have to jump and put a pheasant up there. He won't jump up.. Any ideas?

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:29 am**

Start with something lower.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:32 am**

Put a check cord on him and get in the back of the Truck yourself. Give him the "up" or "load" command and pull him into the back of the truck. Then give him a treat. Do this a time or two a day for a few days. He will get the idea. This worked for my GSP.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:35 am**

You might be surprised at the number of injuries sufured by dogs jumping in & out of the back of a pickup truck.Dogs tend to bump their stifle joint jumping in & I have seen many a dogs rear feet slip as they are jumping out which causes the same thing jumping down.I am old & weak but still lift my dogs in & out for that reason.Your dog & your call but worth the warning.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:36 am**

I am telling you the tailgate is to high!

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:40 am**

Okay thanks for the replies, I will try to lifting him in and rewarding him now. I have backed up to inclines before so he doesn't have as high to jump and can build confidence, and he still won't do it.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:56 am**

Like VZ said be careful. I encourage my dogs to jump into truck, but do my best to make sure they do not jump out.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:16 am**

sdsujacks wrote:Okay thanks for the replies, I will try to lifting him in and rewarding him now. I have backed up to inclines before so he doesn't have as high to jump and can build confidence, and he still won't do it.

I started with a bale of straw, then a tabke that was higher than the tailgate and used food rewards.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:21 am**

ACooper wrote:Like VZ said be careful. I encourage my dogs to jump into truck, but do my best to make sure they do not jump out.

Once I lift him in he won't jump out until I tell him too. Or are you saying that you never let them jump out at all and you lift them down to the ground?

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:46 pm**

I teach mine to put their paws on the tail gate and then I lift them up, and I generally try to let them down to the ground when I put them down. I had a buddy whos lab tore his ACL jumping off the tailgate.

Jim

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:39 pm**

jimbo&rooster wrote:I teach mine to put their paws on the tail gate and then I lift them up, and I generally try to let them down to the ground when I put them down. I had a buddy whos lab tore his ACL jumping off the tailgate.

Jim

Same here after seeing a dog and hearing of several others that were injured severely.

Ezzy

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:40 pm**

jimbo&rooster wrote:I teach mine to put their paws on the tail gate and then I lift them up, and I generally try to let them down to the ground when I put them down. I had a buddy whos lab tore his ACL jumping off the tailgate.

Jim

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:49 pm**

I pick mine up and lift them in and out for the reasons already stated.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:12 pm**

Mine rides in the fab. Climbs in using the running boards.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:31 pm**

No jumpin' in.
No jumpin' out.

Way too risky.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:32 pm**

Now you guys are going to have me worried every time he jumps off the tailgate.... After reading the posts maybe I will just stick with lifting him up while I'm young. I never thought much about getting injured.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:33 pm**

Since the dog doesn't do it,I would cease and desist on the training for it,I had a dog get permanantly injured from jumping out of the truck,landed hot and broke his elbow joint,didn't think anything of it because he didn't yelp or give any sign he was hurt and ran on the leg full tilt for a week straight,about a month went by and he started limping some,I took him to the vet and an x ray revealed he broke the bone that encases the ball of the elbow,it had allready healed and in doing so was already filling with the beginning of arthritis.As to the jumping in the truck my buddies lab completly ripped off a toenail when it became hung up in the gap between the bed and the endgate.Nothing good will come of self loading and unloading,I suppose it's fine when they are young but get some age on them and you are asking for a potential carreer ender.I'd suggest making a ramp for loading and unloading.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:40 pm**

I think cease and desist will be my plan. I guess I just thought that pretty much all dogs would/should jump up there. A few of my friends have even taught their labs to jump over a closed tailgate as well, so I feel kinda embarassed when Im lifting mine in and other friends dogs just jump right up or even over a closed tailgate. I can say kennel and he will put his front paws on the edge of the tailgate, then I just gotta lift, so its not a terrible situation.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:47 pm**

I'm with the crowd who never lets them jump on or off. Injuries are one concern. I also don't like dogs jumping in and out of any vehicle because I have seen plenty who don't know or care who's vehicle it is. I saw one guys dog jump on the hood of the truck when given the command to load. I saw another go straight in one door and out the other of a very expensive truck and the dog was a muddy mess. The kicker was he completely muddied the front seats and console of someone elses vehicle.

I teach them to not jump on me so I don't want them jump up on anything. Most guys who teach them to jump up are just to lazy to pick them up. I also like my dogs on the smaller side. There is a reason behind it.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:20 pm**

I get the idea of injuries but...

They will jump off things while hunting, over things, etc.I am not saying they can't get injured then also
but you can't prevent everything. I just never gave it much thought other than having something on the tail
gate like carpet (Tahoe) or a mounted rubber mat (F150), so they don't slip all over the place.

Mike

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:51 pm**

I'm not to proud, I lift mine in and out. They work hard enough no reason for setting them up for injury. And yes I have seen an injury from loading and unloading by jumping.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:21 pm**

Actually i don't let mine jump into/out of the truck anymore after an expensive TPLO surgery. Vet says that jumping in and out of the truck is the cause of many hip /leginjuries, sooner or later.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:08 pm**

MHWH wrote:I get the idea of injuries but...

They will jump off things while hunting, over things, etc.I am not saying they can't get injured then also
but you can't prevent everything. I just never gave it much thought other than having something on the tail
gate like carpet (Tahoe) or a mounted rubber mat (F150), so they don't slip all over the place.

Mike

I agree with you.
After spending forty+ days in the fields,canyons,rimrocks i wonder if it's really a problem?

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:22 pm**

Greg I think you and I hunt different areas to where a truck tail gate or cab looks low compaired to what they jump and run off of in the field.

I'm thinking I see a lot of 4 and 6 foot leaps on and off of rocks.... Maybe I should whoa her and help her though. Or just maybe leave her in the truck...

To the OP... Is your lab force fetched with an ear pinch?

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:24 pm**

Just lift him up, I love dogs that are careful with themselves like that, he may save you a knee surgery one day.......

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:56 pm**

A TPLO will take your best partner out in a blink of an eye, the best of breed and shape dogs can't even prevent that, but the owner can at least try. I invest to much time in them.. Athletes will have athletic injuries it comes with the territory but If I can at least try to prevent them I will, Been there Sharon and it was devastating..

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:52 am**

ultracarry wrote:Greg I think you and I hunt different areas to where a truck tail gate or cab looks low compaired to what they jump and run off of in the field.

I'm thinking I see a lot of 4 and 6 foot leaps on and off of rocks.... Maybe I should whoa her and help her though. Or just maybe leave her in the truck...

To the OP... Is your lab force fetched with an ear pinch?

No, I will be starting that here soon in January or February.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:57 am**

birddog1968 wrote:Just lift him up, I love dogs that are careful with themselves like that, he may save you a knee surgery one day.......

I do too. While my pup jumps up/off the tail gate he does wait for me at barbed wire fences. He got a minor puncture from one as a pup and now will wait for me to lift the bottom wire up so he can crawl under. He's starting to get more bold and go under them on his own, but I kinda like that he waits for me.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:38 pm**

I exercise my dogs on MT.Baldy (8000ft+) all the time and they disappear over shear cliffs at full sprint. It used to scare me but I adapted the attitude of letting them figure out what they can or can't do. If they handle that as well hunting/ trialing in the high deserts then they can handle getting themselves into the truck. When they reach a point where they can't or don't want to jump in the truck then I will help them. They are athletes and should be treated as such. Treating them like babies can lead to more long term problems than a stresss injury would.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:12 pm**

Yeah & that's coming from someone that puts a baby blanket in their crate to make them all comfy!!

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:16 pm**

helping a dog on the truck isn't treating them like Babies....Mine learned to not leap when he ended up almost impaled on a cypress knee. He's smart, not a baby :roll:

That paticular dog is now almost 11 and has who knows how many birds shot over him, icey retrieves and many miles on his feet, half deaf and still ready to go every day.

Baby ! Not by a long shot.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:25 pm**

I had one get impaled and had her lung surgically removed. She jumps in the truck now with no problems. Dogs are incredibly resilient animals and while I do spoil mine, they don't get lifted into the truck. People can chose to do things differently.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:29 pm**

Some of you guys kill me..... If my dog gets busted up hunting, I feel like thats the cost of doing business. If my dog blows out an ACL or something else jumping out of or into my truck because im to cool to lift him, then that is a tragedy. Ive got too much time and money invested in my dogs to let them get hurt in a situation that is 100% preventable. There are enough things I cant do anything about, Ill opt to at least step up for the things that are in my power to control.

Jim

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:01 pm**

jimbo&rooster wrote:Some of you guys kill me..... If my dog gets busted up hunting, I feel like thats the cost of doing business. If my dog blows out an ACL or something else jumping out of or into my truck because im to cool to lift him, then that is a tragedy. Ive got too much time and money invested in my dogs to let them get hurt in a situation that is 100% preventable. There are enough things I cant do anything about, Ill opt to at least step up for the things that are in my power to control.

Jim

Thank God for some common sense.

Ezzy

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:49 pm**

I have a 13yr old who competes in agility and has a MACH2. She has jumped thousands upon thousands of jumps, crashed on teeters, and flown off 4ft high dog walks at full speed. She earned her MACH2 and Grand Champion title at the age of 12. All of my dogs do this and have been doing so for over a decade. If that makes me irresponsible than so be it. Go watch a Flyball competition and see how hard they hit the wall. It doesn't mean that their owners have no "common sense" it just means that we accept the risks.? I have no health insurance but my dogs do and I spend more money on them in events every year than I spend on myself. Common sense doesn't apply to all applications. I won't run my dogs in sled races but I will let them load into a vehicle.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:22 pm**

Your dogs,take all the risks you like but I'm not to broke down or helpless to lift my dogs up & down.That's a risk that can be avoided,when we hunt or compete risks come along with that & can't be avoided.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:26 pm**

ezzy333 wrote:
jimbo&rooster wrote:Some of you guys kill me..... If my dog gets busted up hunting, I feel like thats the cost of doing business. If my dog blows out an ACL or something else jumping out of or into my truck because im to cool to lift him, then that is a tragedy. Ive got too much time and money invested in my dogs to let them get hurt in a situation that is 100% preventable. There are enough things I cant do anything about, Ill opt to at least step up for the things that are in my power to control.

Jim
Thank God for some common sense.

Ezzy

Again well said...surely was my point! As for raising babies that makes me laugh!!! if you knew me and how many miles I run dogs per year you would eat them words.. Disapointing that threads always end up this way when people are just commenting on experience for refrence not rule! Do what the heck you want with your own dog! keep the forums cool?

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:53 pm**

I'll be cool.

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