I gradually gave Kiko more and more space as she learned good house manners (potty trained, what's ok to chew on, etc.). I gate off the stairs when no one is home with her because she will go up the stairs, but won't come down. It's not as big of a deal now because she can't get up on my new bed. She could jump up on the old one, but not down. She stranded herself a time or two on the old one. I worried that she might jump off and get hurt, so I just put a gate up at the bottom of the stairs. Now I do it to keep her from being stuck upstairs until someone gets home.
I have no idea why she won't go down those stairs. She had never slipped or fallen on them. The lighting is good. She'll go down steeper stairs outside. I've tried putting her on the steps facing down. She just turns around and goes up. I've also tried walking her down on her leash, tried enticing her with her favorite treats, but she won't come down.
Got side tracked :-) back to the original subject. Kiko does great having free range of the downstairs. The other day I had taken the kitchen trash out of the can and meant to take it out on my way out the door, but I forgot. I was gone 3-4 hours. She left it alone. Good thing too because there were chicken bones in it. |