Hi there - first poster here

I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice on training my dog to love her new cage. She hates going in my car unless I let her sit on my knee which is obviously not safe and I would love her to love going in the car ( my driving aint that bad - honest )
Tootsie is a very small Pomeranian. I have tried her in a pet carrier ( she hated it ) a dog seat ( hated that too ) I have tried putting her small bed in the foot well ( she crawled under the seat, across the back and under my seat and back onto my knee ). I know I have given in to her which has caused this problem but I quite often have to do long trips with her and we go camping a lot in the summer - I would just like to make it a nice experience for her ( as well as me ).
So I have bought a cage for her and a mattress that covers the base. I brought it into the house tonight and played with her on the mattress first, then I put the cage up and put the mattress inside. I played with her again by putting some small cubes of cheese inside - now I have just left the cage open in the living room. She hasnt gone near it since and I am not going to do anymore with her tonight.
I was just looking for suggestions on how to get her to love her cage and how to make the move into the car. I want to keep trying to make it a positive experience for her but am worried that she will whine when I try to put it into the car.
Have just read this back and she sounds completely spoilt - but I love her

you could try feeding her in the cage then she'll start associating it with something nice and then not mind it.

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thanks fade to grey - unfortunately ( again probably my fault ) she doesnt have proper meal times as she is a picker. She has just gone into the cage and had a sniff around - I just kept quiet but wonder if I should have praised her

but how would my head fit in there

actually I was thinking of putting her mattress on my bed and trying to get her to sleep on it to give it her smell. She has gone back into the cage again so she seems to like it so far ( fingers crossed ) I praised her this time and gave her a treat inside of the cage - but she came out then as she wanted to play

thanks dh - will try the t shirt trick

well I think she likes it have added a new photo to my album