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Old 09-09-2013, 07:23 AM   #1
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Default Going down stairs

Hello! Over the last three weeks we have been teaching Schmidtey to go up stairs. We have 15 hardwood stairs and he will now go up them without a problem. Over the last week or so we have been trying to teach him to go down the stairs but we have run in to some difficulties. We started him on the bottom step and then the second... etc. Each time we cheer him on and reward him, and he is now up to the 6th step. This is where we have run into problems... when we put him on the 7th step he freezes and we think he gets scared because he thinks he is too high. Once he gets scared there is nothing we can do to convince him to continue down. Even if we move him to the 3rd or 4th step he still freezes. We know that it is the first week of training going down stairs, and that we need to have patience, but we would appreciate any tips on how you taught your dog to go down stairs. For a background Schmidtey is 4 1/2 months old and 5.5 lbs.
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Old 09-09-2013, 03:16 PM   #2
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My advice? He'll probably overcome that as he gets older but for now..with his age, I'd probably keep him off the stairs altogether. Actually, since I'm being honest...I'd block the stairs until he got older and then I'd put something for traction like carpeting on the stairs. I know that can be costly, but I've heard of these littles falling off of and down stairways. A broken leg or worse will cost more than carpet.

Hang in there, though. The stair phobia (seeing how far down it is when one is so little) is normal but usually it is grown out of.
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Old 09-09-2013, 04:16 PM   #3
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Bella had the same problem of being able to go up stairs but not down, but she overcame the fear quickly on her own, and now she goes up and down with great ease all the time. I'm sure that Schmidtey will do the same. Just make sure to watch him until he is fully confident, because falling down hardwood stairs can be brutal.
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Old 09-09-2013, 04:34 PM   #4
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Barney, 8 months old, five pounds, and tall as a deer, stands at the top of our stairs and cries like a baby when we go to the basement. He can climb out of his play pen, jump way up onto our bed, and escape the fence in the back yard, but the stairs are the limit for him. Anna, half his height, bounds up and down them without any trepidation at all. I'm like the others, I think they will overcome this fear with time. Although, it may not be a good thing for us if he does. I don't think I want the escape artist in the basement.
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Old 09-09-2013, 04:37 PM   #5
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I went to visit my mom for a week and a half, she puppy sat for me while I went to the VA hospital for a couple of appointments. She has 3 floors in her condo, and Gina had never been on stairs higher than 5 high. I was worried about her going down them, they are carpeted, but she went up and down them like she had been doing it everyday for the last 4 months. I agree with the blocking the stairs, my Megan fell and broke her paw in 6 places, and putting some sort of anti slip tread or carpet on them.
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Old 09-09-2013, 06:07 PM   #6
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I agree with many here about putting something on the wooden stairs. Both Magnus and Zoey slipped few times (luckily, no injury) when we visit places with non carpeted stairs. Your pup may feel little more secure if he had some traction under his paws going down. You don't have to put something on the entire step but maybe a foot wide.
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Old 09-10-2013, 12:01 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barneysmommmy View Post
Barney, 8 months old, five pounds, and tall as a deer, stands at the top of our stairs and cries like a baby when we go to the basement. He can climb out of his play pen, jump way up onto our bed, and escape the fence in the back yard, but the stairs are the limit for him. Anna, half his height, bounds up and down them without any trepidation at all. I'm like the others, I think they will overcome this fear with time. Although, it may not be a good thing for us if he does. I don't think I want the escape artist in the basement.
That's too funny! Schmidtey has such long legs that I didn't think he would be worried about stairs at all!
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Old 09-10-2013, 12:05 PM   #8
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I agree with many here about putting something on the wooden stairs. Both Magnus and Zoey slipped few times (luckily, no injury) when we visit places with non carpeted stairs. Your pup may feel little more secure if he had some traction under his paws going down. You don't have to put something on the entire step but maybe a foot wide.

Next week we will be visiting friends with carpeted stairs... this way we can test it out to see if he is more likely to go down them or not. We would prefer not to have to carpet our stairs so this will be a good test!
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Old 09-10-2013, 12:16 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Schmidtey View Post
Next week we will be visiting friends with carpeted stairs... this way we can test it out to see if he is more likely to go down them or not. We would prefer not to have to carpet our stairs so this will be a good test!
Well, if it turns out that carpeted steps work better for your pup there are other alternatives to carpet. I was thinking something like "con-tact grip" drawer/shelf liner. There are many different design/patterns so perhaps you can find something that works with the decor of your home.
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Old 09-10-2013, 12:19 PM   #10
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Every dog is different. My girls learned to do the stairs by the time they were 8 weeks old, yet my boy, Phantom, was very timid and afraid. Everyone said "Give it time, he'll eventually learn". He is now 6 years old, and he still waits for me to carry him down . My big baby . I never pushed him, and honestly it doesn't bother me at all. The funny thing is, this big guy has no other fears - he will jump four feet high like it's nothing, and he'll run up the stairs so fast, but he won't come down. I had him from birth, so I know that he never fell, and nothing has ever happened to him around the stairs to frighten him, it's just one of those unexplainable things. By the way, we have carpet on our stairs.
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Old 09-12-2013, 05:58 AM   #11
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Crystal regularly pauses and puts the "brakes" on at the start of her evening walk as she has to traverse the steps leading down to our lower beach parade here - see pic. She's on a harness, wiith a 7 yard lead, so stands right at the top, waering a very worried look. She can quite easily jump onto a chair or bed no problem, by the way!

I find a little gentle tug gets her going, but having achieved her early evening orienteering, she then also skids to a halt as we start off from the bottom and on the level.

Almost a ritual, rather than a fear?
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Old 09-12-2013, 07:01 AM   #12
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We have wood stairs. We purchased stair runners. They have a rubber backing so they do not move. Our Gina slipped on the stairs when they were first installed and hurt her back. We did not want to carpet the entire stair so the runners worked perfectly. We ordered them from some catalogue and the price was very reasonable.
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Old 09-12-2013, 11:50 AM   #13
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I would almost prefer if Huey had never learned the hardwood stairs because the dingbat has no fear. If he sees something out the front door, he can't get down those stairs fast enough to get to the window to bark and has been known to jump the last 2 or 3 in a flying leap to the hardwood below. Scares us to death every time he does it. It will only take one bad landing.
He gets to running up the stairs so fast sometimes that he will misstep and slip back one step. Makes me crazy. Accident waiting to happen. I should look into the no slip treads. That is a good idea.
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Old 09-12-2013, 12:04 PM   #14
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how many pounds is your pup. From experience hardwood stairs are VERY hard for small dogs to go down safely. I also find that stopping mid way makes it harder. After 2.5 years of having Lola and climbing up and down them at least 10 times a day I watch every time that she is not under my feet or that I get in her way while she has her rhythm going. She has only had some minor slips a few times but my last yorkie had a few tumbles. I did not know you could get rubber backed individual runners, I may have to look into them. I tend to wear only socks often and can attest to my own tumbles.
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Old 09-12-2013, 12:10 PM   #15
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Quote:
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how many pounds is your pup. From experience hardwood stairs are VERY hard for small dogs to go down safely. I also find that stopping mid way makes it harder. After 2.5 years of having Lola and climbing up and down them at least 10 times a day I watch every time that she is not under my feet or that I get in her way while she has her rhythm going. She has only had some minor slips a few times but my last yorkie had a few tumbles. I did not know you could get rubber backed individual runners, I may have to look into them. I tend to wear only socks often and can attest to my own tumbles.
Me, too...more often than the dog, for sure!
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