Tail wagging seems, in Dobes, to be at least partly hereditary. At the moment I have three big time tail waggers but they are all closely related and all have behind them a bitch who is respectively the granddam, greatgranddam and great great grandam who was the waggiest Doberman ever. In the past I have had Dobes who wagged while eating, Dobes who wagged when I first got home from anyplace and Dobes who rarely if ever wagged. I never gave it much thought--frankly I don't think it means much.
As far as getting Buddy in the car....are you putting him in through a back door in a vehicle that he doesn't have to do much of a jump to get in? I've had puppies who were pretty much klutzes at 5 and 6 months and didn't much jump to get into or onto anything. Since I drive a pickup and the dogs ride in crates in the back (it has a canopy) eventually they all have to learn to jump in--once they are over 30 pounds they get in by me first putting their front feet on the tailgate and then hoisting their butts in. I toss a cookie into the crate after they have the front feet in place--eventually they learn to jump in after the cookie.
But if you are asking him to climb into the back seat of a passenger car (which is generally pretty low)I'd do it with lots of treats and if you still have problems I'd up the ante on treats and make them really special and something he only gets for getting into the car on his own. Sort of like teaching them to crate--whatever you are using to lure him in should be in the huge big reward class.
As far as getting Buddy in the car....are you putting him in through a back door in a vehicle that he doesn't have to do much of a jump to get in? I've had puppies who were pretty much klutzes at 5 and 6 months and didn't much jump to get into or onto anything. Since I drive a pickup and the dogs ride in crates in the back (it has a canopy) eventually they all have to learn to jump in--once they are over 30 pounds they get in by me first putting their front feet on the tailgate and then hoisting their butts in. I toss a cookie into the crate after they have the front feet in place--eventually they learn to jump in after the cookie.
But if you are asking him to climb into the back seat of a passenger car (which is generally pretty low)I'd do it with lots of treats and if you still have problems I'd up the ante on treats and make them really special and something he only gets for getting into the car on his own. Sort of like teaching them to crate--whatever you are using to lure him in should be in the huge big reward class.
