My dog hated elevators the first couple years we used them when we’d travel to see my in-laws. The floor is moving? She wanted nothing to do with that. Even now I’d say she only tolerates them.

She still hates the grates inside the entrances of Canadian hotels that I think are to help deal with melting snow. They tend to sink/bounce as you walk across them. She tries to go around or leap over them, or runs across them like they’re a platform in a video game that will fall if you stand on them too long.

My kid realized what was happening in elevators at the age of 2. It helped that those elevators had windows to show how it was moving. But I remember the exact moment he figured it out. You could see it written on his face.

Adult dogs have the mental capacity of a 4-5 year old human, so they should be able to understand it, too.