Stairs?

[Jnylyn]

Hello! I have been reading the BC boards for the past 4 months or so and know i will get some good advice/opinions from the members. Our wonderful BC, Macs, is 9 months old. He is an amazing fellow...very quick to learn new commands and tricks, and has a wonderful lovable personality. We have taken multiple puppy/beginner classes and have also taken an attention and handling class with the hopes to enter some obedience trials. My question for all of you is, have you ever had a pup/dog that won't walk up and down steps? We have a house with 12 wood steps (no carpet, I am aware that might be some of the problem) to our second floor. He will hop up one step when we are outside to get on the back porch but that's as far as we get. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!

[GoodbyeHalcyonDays]

While I'm no expert with training dogs, I had to deal with something similar when I first got Caleb at 11 months-- although he was fine going up one or two steps, any more and he was terrified. Living on the second floor in an apartment building, there was no way I was going to carry him up and down all the time.

 

What worked for me was having him on a leash, then picking him up and placing him in the middle of the stairs-- he would need to choose to either go up or down, and I would go whichever way he wanted to with lots of praise and treats. He eventually got it after a day or two, and now goes up and down stairs two at a time.

[beachdogz]

While I'm no expert with training dogs, I had to deal with something similar when I first got Caleb at 11 months-- although he was fine going up one or two steps, any more and he was terrified. Living on the second floor in an apartment building, there was no way I was going to carry him up and down all the time.

 

What worked for me was having him on a leash, then picking him up and placing him in the middle of the stairs-- he would need to choose to either go up or down, and I would go whichever way he wanted to with lots of praise and treats. He eventually got it after a day or two, and now goes up and down stairs two at a time.

 

Exact same thing for me! On leash and if they are small enough, start in the middle. Lots of repetition and they get it. I had to do it with an older rescue dog. Our next step is spiral stairs!

[gcv-border]

I am lucky to have only 3 steps up to my front porch and will start puppies/foster dogs on those as they are less scary than a whole flight of stairs.

 

With an entire flight of 12 or 13 steps, I think that it may be less scary to go up stairs than down so I would pick up the dog and place him about 2 steps from the top and encourage him (food, family member calling from the top then rewarding with food/toy) to go up the 2 steps. Make sure he doesn't flip around and try to go down by mistake and fall. Repeat a couple of times, then put him 3 steps from the top. I think you will find that he will understand the process of how to climb up within a couple of days (or sooner). After he is comfortable with going up, use the same training process for descending the steps. (just try to prevent him from jumping the bottom 2 or 3 steps. he should be stepping down them.)

 

The lack of a grippy substrate on the steps may have prevented him from trying, but once he gets the idea, as a young and agile dog, he shouldn't have any problem with using the wood stairs (but there are always exceptions).

 

Good Luck,

Jovi

[Sue R]

I have had a dog or two that had real issues with slick (for the dog) flooring. What a dog perceives as scary may be way different from what we perceive, especially since we can wear shoes with good traction soles. Is there any chance you could put something on the steps, or at least on a few steps to try and start the training? Carpet strips made for steps or traction strips?

 

I like Jovi's suggestion of starting out with just a few steps. That might be much less intimidating.

 

Good luck with this!

[Kassidy]

We just placed Chloe in the middle of the steps so she had to go up or down them lol. I guess thats kinda mean lol , doing just a couple steps at a time sounds like a better idea, or at least a kinder one.

[nancy]

Our daughter noticed that Fergie (RIP) was uncomfortable going up to our second floor after we pulled up the carpet and discovered beautiful pine stairs. She told us to get those small pieces of carpet to put down with carpet tape. She remembered our old (1912) house that had them. Got them at Lowes. Worked great - and now we appreciate them as they keep us oldies safe, too. We found some that go with our fake oriental rugs. Not the same color or pattern as they are all different anyhow. Everyone oohs and aahs over the staircase.

 

Outdoors, we bought grit tape to put on our wooden steps. Ferg appreciated them. I now have to get more for another set of stairs as I did real harm to my shoulder of damp wood.

[speckle-legged dog]

Hello! I have been reading the BC boards for the past 4 months or so and know i will get some good advice/opinions from the members. Our wonderful BC, Macs, is 9 months old. He is an amazing fellow...very quick to learn new commands and tricks, and has a wonderful lovable personality. We have taken multiple puppy/beginner classes and have also taken an attention and handling class with the hopes to enter some obedience trials. My question for all of you is, have you ever had a pup/dog that won't walk up and down steps? We have a house with 12 wood steps (no carpet, I am aware that might be some of the problem) to our second floor. He will hop up one step when we are outside to get on the back porch but that's as far as we get. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!

 

YES! When our Layla was around 6 - 7 months old we changed out our old carpet downstairs and on the stairs and got flooring (we had decided to keep the old stuff until the new puppy was done with potty training and chewing). She slipped a little on the stairs and that was it for a few months. She would not go up the stairs, I tried all the ideas people gave me, treats, her ball, nothing worked. She would just whine for whatever item she couldn't reach by just stretching out with her hind feet still on the floor. My husband insisted on carrying her up and down, which did not help, God love him.

 

I finally got her to go back up the stairs by starting with the outside steps and just not giving her any option, sad as that sounds. I had the leash and harness on her and held the harness with my hand at first then pulled/guided her up the steps, giving her massive praise and treats at the top. After she had become very comfortable with outside steps of various kinds, I began the same process inside, going from that to just holding the leash in my hand and walking across the floor with her and immediately going upstairs, and she followed without thinking about it and stopping. I think getting her going on leash then immediately going upstairs with little transition time was very helpful. I don't know if that was the approved method, but it was all that I could get to work after trying everything else. She had become afraid of any even slightly slick surfaces, strange feeling surfaces, and anything off the level ground. I had started wondering if she could ever stand to get off the couch except to go outside, her surface fears had gotten so bad.

 

I'll be taking this one time "scardy dog" to another agility trail this weekend. We may or may not get Q's but I need to remember how far she has come to be doing it at all.

[froggydog]

We had an issue with Dab a year ago- she wouldn't climb the 2 flights of steps going up to the deck. Believe it or not, I looked at them from her perspective, and from down low, it looked like open space. So I screwed some boards to the backsides of the stringers vertically, closing in the open space, and she ran right up them like she'd been doing it for years.

As for stairs inside, though, I don't know what the quick fix would be, or if there is one.

[Gary_and_Karen]

Our house sits lower to the ground out front so there was only about 4 steps to get in the house, but back when we took in my wife's mom I built a wheelchair ramp with outdoor carpet on it and so it was already there when get got Xena and she don't mind going up and down the ramp at all. Now out back the steps that go up to the back door is about 6 feet worth of steps and she has shied away from those when I was walking her out back and wanted to see if she would climb them, so I might have to later try that half-way up the steps trick also (no hurry though since we normally go in and out thru the front door)