Reply With QuoteI held onto his paws and walked him up the stairs a few times. one paw at a time, I went really slow and talked him thru it.
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My pup just turned 16 weeks and is afraid of stairs and has been since we got him at 9 weeks. He will go up and down 2 steps to go outside but when it comes to more than that he back away. What is the best way to get him used to them and to go up and down them. I tried luring him with his favorite treats but no luck. Is it better to just let him go when he is ready or should I be a little more assertive when trying to get him to go near them. Thanks
I held onto his paws and walked him up the stairs a few times. one paw at a time, I went really slow and talked him thru it.
Don't push it, they figure it out.
Jen
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We started with a few at a time and when he got fast on those we increased the #. With that being said he will climb the steps outside, concrete, wood, etc. But he won't climb the wood steps inside the house. Lucky for him he is crated in our room down stairs.
It's not just pups, even our seniors who were not used to stairs have a problem. Are the stairs carpeted? Slick stairs are scary.
Archie still will not do a flight of stairs. Luckily, we are mainly on one floor. The basement is finished but there are too many things for him to get into so it's just as good.
He'll learn. Encouragement, praise and treats will help.
Gabby was several months old before she did steps, other than the 3 from our deck. It just clicked one day and she figured multiple steps out. The strange thing is that she absolutely refuses to go down our carpeted basement stairs - no matter what, it's a staunch refusal. She'll do open steps, twisty steps, wood steps - just not the house steps. One word of caution on training for a flight of longer steps: Gabby got halfway up the first time, then stopped. She couldn't figure out how to get started again, and slid down them to the bottom. Be sure to watch for that, and stay close.
Mocha still will not navigate the stairs to our basement. He will do the 4 steps up/down to the porch. We have a 2 step landing in the garage and he just jumps onto the landing. We've tried bringing him in the walkout basement doors and letting him go. We go slow & help him one paw at a time. He eventually goes up but will not go down. We have placed high value treats & toys 4-5 steps down but he just won't go down.
whenever I get a second pup, I will be babying alot more due to the risk of injury/growth plates. maybe the refusal of stairs is a physical thing and not a mental/learning one.
Thanks for the replies. Twice he wouldn't do the stairs, the first set is just 2 steps on hard wood that goes down to a different part of the house. He just refuses to go near them and the second time was a bigger set of cement steps at a outdoor shopping mall. He has no problem going down 2 cement steps to go outside into the back yard. I can't figure it out!
It took Sam a really long time to do steps. I bet he was at least 6 months old before he seemed comfortable. He used to hug the wall and kind of slink up and down them. We keep his big bag of dog food in the basement and one day when I went downstairs to fill up his food container, he just ran down the steps with me. No coaxing or anything! Now, if I could only get the big goof to jump up on the bed. He's the only dog I've ever had who won't jump on the bed! Drives me bonkers!
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Sam and Frank
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