Jasper has always been reluctant to get in the car. He's had the odd car phobia we've worked through, but it doesn't seem to be connected to that. Once he's in the car he's fine, he just seems to like to spend some time contemplating the sky, the trees, passers-by... I've tried luring, bribing, cajoling - often I have asked people to say hello to him through the door on the other side of the car, which always works, but there's not always a convenient person to ask.
Recently, I changed tack - as normal, I would open the door, clip his lead onto the clip in the car and ask him to jump in, but I would also pop a couple of treats in the car in between the back of the front seats - if possible, without him seeing them. Then I would sit in the front seat (if it was safe for him to stand there attached on a 6' lead) and wait. My reasoning was that rather than linking the treat with me, who was bribing him into doing something he didn't want to do, he'd come to associate it with the car - the car is like a magic treat dispenser, so what's not to like?
After a couple of weeks or so, it's definitely working
He still doesn't hop straight in, but he hardly delays at all, which I'm happy about. I'm no longer nagging him, and he's no longer ignoring what I'm asking him to do. And even if he does take a couple of minutes, I view it as a good chance to just sit there listening to the radio and chilling OK, in an ideal world he's hop in as soon as asked, but I'll settle for this!
