Newly Developed Car Ride Problem?
This is the background.
Newfoundland 130lbs, 11 months old, used to be very comfortable with car rides to the point that he would prefer being alone in the car than being alone in the house.
Last Thursday, I took my SUV (and the dog’s car) in for service and changing the snow tires out. They provided me another SUV rental. So whole day BonBon (his name) would get in and out the rental car OK, he wanted to get out faster than normal but I just assumed this was a new vehicle behaviour. At the end of the day, I took him with me back to the dealership to pick up the car. I asked the service guy to put the snow tires on one side and leave room for BonBon on the other side. I put the ramp that I used to load him up down, he got up. But the moment he got up, he just ran out. I figured may be the snow tires freaked him out. So I took them out, and he still would not go in. Pretty much took me 30 mins to lure him in. Since then, he did not want to get into the car anymore, everytime was a struggle.
So during the weekend, I traded the SUV with a minivan. Seems drastic 
but I thought about getting a minivan for quite a while, he is growing and growing, the SUV is getting too small. Plus using the ramp getting him in and out is a hassle, for a minivan, he can just walk in easily.
So get the van home. I threw treats inside and he seems OK going in and out by treats. Then we went for a ride, (to the Pet store to get treats). But then after he realized this “thing, ie minivan” is a car, he does not want to get in again. But at the end, he did get in thru treats. And I find that if I don’t make a big deal try to use treats to lure him in, he will eventually walk in. May be he thinks “hmmm, mommy tries to get treats to lure me in too dramatically, very suspicious”
What do you guys think? Is he going thru another fear stage? It seems that I am doing all the right things, treats and going to the store to get treats to make the ride a positive experience. Any extra tips?
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Maybe seeing the tires in the SUV scared him really bad. He wasn’t expecting it, so he went out, and now he may think if he goes somewhere, something new may pop up in the vehicle that may scare him.
My dog did a similar(but not exact) thing. She is a smaller dog(a cha-wennie) and when we first got her, she would ride in my lap no problem! about a year ago, for some reason, she just got scared to ride with me. I have no idea why! I never got on to her for anything hen she was sitting in my lap, but she suddenly just refused to be in my lap! Now she REFUSES to get out of my husbands lap. If the car is stopped, she will go to anyone who is in the car, but if the car is in any kind of motion, she quickly jumps to my husbands lap and stays between him and the door. No idea why, but this started when she was about one, so maybe its a phase puppies go through?!
Best of luck!