krissy

We are planning on being there unless I am on-call.

He hates the bathroom. I think he's a clausterphobic dog. I had to convince him to go in there with me the first week we were here because I let him out to tear around and didn't realize how muddy it was back there. Well, I turned out a white dog and got back a browny-black one. Which is a bad combination with all the white carpets in the house. He hated that bathroom. He does follow me to the door. In retrospect I realize that my above story was slightly inaccurate. I came home at 9 PM, dropped my stuff off in the room and then called my boyfriend and talked to him for about 15-20 minutes. THEN I went upstairs to take a shower. Still, I doubt that changes anything. I should have just let him out to pee first and then just left him loose. But I was exhausted and smelled like cow (literally, was at a dairy farm) and just wanted to have my shower over and done with so I could relax and not rush the dog on his pee break. Poor decision making I suppose. I've also realized that I can't carry the dog AND his crate in my car because the crate doesn't fit in the trunk, and the seats don't fold flat. I will try muzzling him tomorrow and go home at lunch to check on him... which is little consolation since lunch is about 5 hours into the day and he destroyed a door frame in 10 minutes. My bf will bring the crate on the weekend just in case, and if things don't work out as well as I'd like tomorrow I'll figure out how to drive home for the crate. He would not be pleased about being crated again. I can guarantee that.

She was upstairs chained to the bedpost. She can and does jump the gate if she really wants to get in, so no need for her to chew the doorframe. The majority of the damage is low enough that it could conceivably have been the beagle if she'd been around, but there are marks about 4 ft up which makes it impossible since she's not even a foot tall herself. He does have an x-pen at home but we've left him in it before and he flips it and sneaks out underneath. Planning on going home tonight for his crate, but I really hate to have to do that. I'd love to leave him muzzled but I worry about what will happen if he gets it off (the strap is ripped halfway already and I've been waiting for a greyhound summer event to buy a new one) or if he can't and really starts rubbing it around. He'll rub it on walls and stuff the few times I've tried it. I've never therefore dared to leave it on him while we were gone.

I wish I could, but this isn't my house. It isn't even really a place I rent. I mean, I pay them a small amount, but they also occasionally feed me, they let my dog out, they let me use their pool, they invite me to watch movies with them, etc. I feel terrible that my dog who I told them was very well behaved (which they have seen over the last 2 weeks) destroyed a piece of their house (which my boyfriend is going to have to come fix this weekend, and if he can't we'll pay them what it costs to have someone in to do it). I really can't afford the cost in terms of money or goodwill if he were to destroy anything else. Especially when it's so out of character and I'm not even entirely sure why it happened because it doesn't seem like straight SA.

I got home about 9:10. Went downstairs to drop off my back pack and went upstairs to take a shower. I often go down, drop off my stuff and then leave him for a few minutes while I grab a snack, check e-mail etc. so that he gets ignored for a few minutes before I give him attention. At home we always ignore him for 10-15 minutes after we arrive home. So I was home, albeit out of earshot.

Hi everyone! This is sort of an emergency eeek! situation. I basically know what the issue is, but in terms of handling it I just want to see if anyone has any suggestions I may have overlooked. Summit and I are in Stratford for 2 months while I'm at my externship. We're about an hour from home. We are staying with one of the "girls" from the clinic. Our bedroom is in the basement and is quite spacious. Summit is gated in there while I am out, and this is a routine he is used to as it is what I do with him at home. He gets a Kong and a radio as per usual. He gets a walk before I go, usually gets to jaunt around in the backyard when I get home from work, and either more backyard time or a walk before bed. The people we are staying with have a 6 month old BeagleX who loves Summit. They get along well, though I'm sure he often considers her a bit of a pest. Yesterday I was gone far too much, but there was no helping that. I was at work from 7:45 until 5:30, went home to let him out and feed him, then had to be back at work from 6:30 to 9:00. I got home, dropped my stuff off in my room and went to take a shower. When I came back from my shower I went to let Summit out for a pee. He was sleeping in bed so I called him, removed the babygate... and discovered a HUGE chunk of the wooden doorframe destroyed and splinters all over the floor. It's the doorframe on the outside and actually below the top of the babygate... so he had his head out and over the gate to chew this. There was blood in the splinters on the floor but none in his mouth, go figure. He is at work with me today in a kennel and we're driving home after work to get his crate. I realize that this was probably more of a frustration thing than full out SA since I was home when it happened. There are several things I find odd. The first is that he didn't do this while I was gone for 12 hours, that he did it in a period of about 10 minutes, and that he was completely calm when I came back from my shower! If he was anxious I would expect him to destroy the doorframe in 10 minutes... sure, but to still be panting and distressed when I walked back in 2 minutes later from my shower. There were some fireworks here over the weekend as well (Monday was a holiday) and we discovered that he is really scared of them. So there was a combination of scary things and my being around for quite a bit for a few days. I had gotten him a DAP (phermone) collar on Saturday to help with the fireworks, so I further can't believe he would do this. I was in shock. He has never done anything even close to this before, and he has never shown any suggestion of SA. I have considered muzzling him and leaving him gated but I'm concerned that he will rub it against walls and cause more damage. Next week when I have to work 12 hours I will be bringing him with me for the last 3 hours. I realize it isn't an ideal situation and yesterday was an extreme day that I will try to avoid happening again in future, but unfortunately this is the situation we are in. We have been here for 2.5 weeks and have another 5.5 to go. Any suggestions for dealing with this that I may have overlooked are welcome.\ Thanks.

Never tried the thundershirt, but we had about 3 firecrackers go off while we were on our walk tonight. It happened Saturday night too and he was a total wreck for hours. I put his running coat on because I can cinch it up nice and snug. Just put that on him about 2 minutes ago and he's stopped panting and has his head down. He's also wearing his DAP collar, but that didn't seem to help much in the heat of the moment. My guess is that the thundershirt could work quite well for certain dogs. I'm going to look into it.

He's a blood donor and I'm a vet student so you can be sure that was the first blood work he ever had done when I got him! (He also had a CBC/profile done at the same time... in case anyone feels like suggesting that should have been done. ) I'm from Toronto originally. Bring it! lol

Okay, I realize that OH isn't EXACTLY "the South", but it's 7 hours south of where we live. Just wondering if there are any major things to watch out for down there? I've already been warned about the ticks. I've got 2 vials of Advantix left so we've got that covered. We've got heartworm prevention as well. Are here any other things I should be particularly mindful of? I was considering getting his lepto vaccine but I don't think that's any more of a worry there than here.

I think the point was just that there have been many other threads specifically about off-leashing hounds and why it's dangerous. It was also touched on here and "Trust: A Deadly Disease" was posted as well. The initial point of the thread was not about off-leashing hounds, it was about recall and the need to bring up off-leashing would be in the context of how having good recall can save a hound's life in the event of an accidental escape. I don't think we need to dwell on this. If anyone wants to debate the off-leash issue they're more than welcome to start a new thread about off-leashing. This is just about recall. Aside from the accidental escape having recall can save a dog's life in other ways. Imagine there was a fire in my apartment. The apartment has a front door which is the one we use to get in and out. We also have a door at the back of the apartment that leads up to the main floor of the house (we live in the basement) where our landlord lives. Summit hates the floors beyond the kitchen. In fact the rabbits also hate it. We're not sure why since the floor in the living room is exactly the same (as far as we can tell anyway, there's obviously a difference to the animals). To get to the alternate door you have to go through the kitchen and into the hallway that leads to the bathroom. Summit has never ventured down there on his own. But he will follow me if encouraged because his recall is that good. Imagine he had no recall and there's a fire in my apartment blocking the front door. We would have to use the alternate escape route. In thick smoke, in an emergency situation, probably already trying to hold onto 3 terrified rabbits, I would really not be in a position to pick Summit up and carry him. In normal circumstances I can barely lift him (he's 75 lbs and I'm 110 lbs). Being able to recall NO MATTER WHAT will save his life and potentially mine (I'm not going to leave him there obviously and I could be overcome by smoke inhalation trying to lift/drag him). So recall is important for non-leash related emergencies.

Pfffft, but Summit winning his agility class doesn't inspire you and Bella? Way to go Ryder! Do not underestimate the importance of socialization and having good basic control of your dog. You will get much more out of more advanced classes if you have a strong bond built on trust. Summit is not the most natural agility talent in his class. The smaller, younger dogs definitely have fewer reservations about the obstacles. The tunnel was not natural for Summit and took more than one class to finally get him through, whereas all the other dogs went through in the first class. He really dislikes the teeter but we're working through it. And yet because we have built a solid foundation, because he trusts me (and because I have delicious hot dogs and left over pork bits) he is the best dog in his agility class and won the timed course this week (video on my blog) hands down. People are always remarking in our class about how good my control of him is, he's at a point where he does all the obstacles immediately when asked (except ocassionally when I give a bad signal or my body language is wrong). And this is a greyhound. People are telling me how well trained my greyhound is (that I've had for 6 months) and they're jealous and can't wait to get there (with their lab/shepherd/poodle/etc. that they've had since 6 weeks old). I know it's probably a little frustrating because you started this whole endeavour because you were interested in getting him into agility, but in agility there are all these new things going on, it's LOUD (I find myself constantly yelling at Summit simply because otherwise he can't hear me over everyone else yelling... was not expecting that after how quiet and civil obedience was), and there are strange people and dogs constantly beside you, running near you, jumping around, escaping owners, people holding your dog for you... so if socialization is something he still needs work on I definitely suggest you keep working on it. You want agility to be enjoyable for him so that it will be enjoyable for you too.

I voted "yes" but this is my disclaimer. lol. I have only had Summit for 6 months so we are still building our relationship and working on obedience training (6 months is not a long time to perfect something like recall). He has perfect recall in the house, in the backyard, and in the tennis court where I take him. We are working on longer distance recall at his greyhound runs. At this point I would say that the only time his recall is lacking is when he's in a full out gallop with other dogs. I have no doubt we'll get there with time and practice. Actually this weekend he got out through an open gate at his greyhound run. I didn't panic. I just went out and called him as soon as the collies in the diamond next door stopped running. As soon as they stopped he stopped, and then he could pay attention again and came to me. It's doable and everyone should strive for it so that there's no need to totally have a heart attack if they get out. Lesson learned too... no one even knew there was a gate down at the far end so we'll have to check that from now on before we let them go. I don't see why this should start a lot of debate. Having recall doesn't mean I'm tempted to let my dog off-leash, it means I know he'll come back if he does get off leash, as he did this weekend. It's about peace of mind.

I like this suggestion. Also the suggestion about dropping it to once a week. I'd wait a week and see if he's more excited to go. I'd also drop in about halfway through the day and see what's going on. I don't suppose the daycare offers a webcam service? I know some have cameras set up and owners can check in on the web to see what's happening and what their dog is up to. Can the dogs getaway from the play to take a break if they want? Summit would probably play himself silly and be thrilled with the whole thing but then, he's a little strange. Of course, he also loves to sleep all day if nothing better is happening.

Summit has some "random aggression". I use quotations because I know it's not random I just can't see a dog from a distance and say he's going to have a problem with that dog or not until we get closer and his body language starts to change... there's no pattern really except that he likes all small dogs. Also I don't know that it's really aggression with him since he only objects to rude dogs. What I've done with him that has been helping is the "watch me" command. We also go to places with lots of dogs. Not that I let him have closer interactions regularly (usually only with dogs we know and that I know he is good with) but it gives him the opportunity to see other dogs regularly so that they're less of an exciting stimulus for him. Imagine if you never saw another person for months and then all of a sudden one day on a walk you saw someone, you'd probably be pretty excited! I try to keep excitement down because that high level of arousal can lead to problems. We too have problems with loose dogs on occasion and there's really no good solution. Our trainer recommends using "the voice of God" kind of like you might if there was a child running towards you and your dog. It doesn't work quite as well on dogs I find, but I'll use a stern voice and tell the dog to go home, to sit, etc. Chances are though that off leash dogs that stray that far from their owner probably don't have reliable training. You can try throwing treats as well. The dog may go for the treats and allow you to make a getaway with your dogs. I haven't had to try that one yet. Dogs that don't listen to me I occasionally try to intimidate. Not sure that's the best word, but basically I just try to shoo them away using body language and a loud stern voice. Dealing with loose dogs is a problem when you have a reactive dog to deal with as well. Try to stay calm when dealing with the dog so you don't work your own dog up more. I often yell to the owner (if present) to call off their dog. The most frustrating thing is when loose dogs come running up to you and the owners are all nonchalent and like "he's friendly!". Yeah, he may be friendly, but my dog isn't. Especially if it's a small dog, if the owner is being like that just tell him your dog can and will eat his dog. That usually makes them hustle. I think there's something to be said that your dog has "attacked" 4 times and only gotten fur. If he wanted to bite he could and would have. Sounds like he's warning the other dog to stay out of his space moreso than trying to eat them. You should call that trainer who does housecalls. Getting his attention reliably in the house is he first step. If you can't get his attention with nothing else going on you're not going to get his attention with the distractions of the outside world. Also, ask the trainer if she will do a housecall and take you guys for a walk. Go somewhere you know there will be other dogs, or set up with friends who have dogs and have them meet you on your walking route so you're guaranteed to have a meeting with another dog while the trainer is there. Keep in mind too that while training other behaviours may not have any direct impact on this issue, it may be helpful indirectly. Obedience training teaches a dog to listen to you, to pay attention to you, builds a bond so that your dog will trust you, and teaches impulse control. All of these things are indirectly going to help you work on his aggression. I know that for Summit part of the reason he gets into trouble with large, rude males is because he feels insecure and goes on the offensive. As we've been doing training he's gotten better, and I'm sure it's because he's learned that I am in control of the situations I put us in. He trusts me more (and we've only had him 6 months so I'm sure things will continue to get better) and that translates into greater tolerance. We always work on "watch me" commands with other dogs nearby, and we also have started working on "leave it" if he keeps looking over his shoulder at another dog.

It's true that some hounds don't really have the same motivation to work, so I'll give you the lack of eagerness, but I think greyhounds are intelligent. There's variation of course... we can't all be rocket scientists, but short of the individual who really ended up at the short end of the gene pool I think all these dogs are competent enough to learn the basic commands. I mean, seriously, my rabbit is clicker trained to do tricks and could be trained for agility if I actually had the time. You can't tell me your dog is dumber than my rabbit. Even cats can be trained and they're about the most unenthusiastic, I'll-do-what-I-want-when-I-want client you're going to get. Your dog may lack motivation but I highly doubt he's totally stupid. Summit usually backs out of places too. I don't think that makes him dumb, he just really hates our hardwood floors. To the OP: your dog may or may not excell at training, but it doesn't sound like you were hoping to have the next obedience champion so I'd just go to a basic obedience class to learn basics like sit, down, and come. Honestly, you never know when those skills will come in handy. Just this weekend I took Summit to our weekly run in a baseball diamond with a bunch of other greyhounds. There were 2 rough collies and a lab in the diamond next to us. Summit loves to run the fenceline if there are non-greys next door. Well, someone had left the small gate (one which most of us didn't even know existed) at the far end open, and all of a sudden we see Summit on the wrong side of the fence. He wasn't going to go anywhere because there were other dogs and he just wanted to run with them, but he came to me when I called him. I think a lot of greyhounds would have torn around and done zoomies if their owner came to catch them. Lesson learned, we'll always have to double check the diamond first, though in our defence most of us really only thought there was one gate. If your dog learns nothing else from class it should be recall. It could save her life. ETA: The hardest part in training a greyhound is the first thing you teach them. Teaching a greyhound how to learn is the toughest thing you can teach. I recommend starting with down because sit is just a lot less natural for most of them. Teaching down was the toughest thing (well, maybe sit was about the same, but that was his second trick) to teach him because he wanted the treat he just had no idea what I wanted. Once he did it once or twice the light bulb went on. Teaching everything else is so much easier because he gets that I want him to do something and I'm going to help him figure out what it is.

Absolutely! It pains me that the public opinion is that greyhounds are untrainable. Certainly some are not as motivated as your more "traditional" breeds, but each individual is different. Summit is consistently the best dog in his obedience class. I taught him the basics on my own and then we completed a level 2 obedience, now we're doing an introductory agility course. I'm hoping to compete him in agility next summer, and this fall when agility is done (thanks winter) I think I will do a level 3 obedience with him. When he's too old to compete agility I think I may focus on obedience trials instead. 3 is YOUNG! Summit is turning 6 on Thursday. I got him 6 months ago and he hadn't been taught anything. In 6 months he's learned to sit, down, stay, roll, finish (formal obedience stuff), touch a target, FETCH (yes, I taught him from scratch how to fetch... a dog who wouldn't even pick a toy up in his mouth), watch me, back up, bow, the list is endless. He has his own blog (in my signature) with lots of videos of his training. Training is absolutely the greatest thing you can do with your dog. It teaches them to respect and trust you. People think that a greyhound can't have recall. I'm still working on Summit's in wide open spaces (enclosed of course) with distractions (other dogs to play with), but in class he is the only dog that is off leash all class and I get compliments on how well trained he is that he is always listening to me.

We have a plywood board in the backyard that I've pulled over a rock and I have him walk on that in any way he wants. It wobbles and tips and he gets tonnes of treats when he's on it. Planning on working on it some more this week to help desensitize him to the feeling of movement under his feet and that feeling of the ground dropping from under him. We don't really have free access to a teeter. When we're in class there's someone on it all throughout class. I just give him a treat any time I hear it bang, though that hasn't happened much yet since the trainer has been controlling the drop and there's a towel under it to muffle the bang. I plan on doing that until he stops reacting to it. He doesn't like the teeter much but he offers to go on it without being asked... he just isn't so sure once we get past centre because he knows it's going to move. Silly boy.

I'm happy to report that all issues with the jumps have resolved. Didn't refuse or hesitate for a single one tonight. And successfully have him jumping over a higher height which he was consistently refusing before. Our new problem to work on is the teeter. He's not a huge fan! Can hardly blame him though.

lol, well Summit's not exactly an adolescent 2-3 year old. He'll be 6 in a little over a week. It seems to be the grass that does it for him. I take him to the tennis court at the nearby park and he rarely runs in there (in the winter they take down the posts and net so it's a nice safe place, and there's also snow in the winter so he sometimes does zoomies then). But take him into the backyard or some other enclosed fenced area and he goes nuts doing zoomies. I feel like he's just very excited since we rarely go into the backyard. There are also really no fenced, safe, grassy areas to take him for a run, so we try to make the drive out to Waterloo to meet our greyhound friends once a week for a run in the ball diamonds there, but if the weather is bad or I'm too busy with school we end up missing it, sometimes multiple weeks in a row and there's nowhere local to take him. I do take him for long leash walks and jogs but I know that's not quite the same. So I feel like sometimes the zoomies in the backyard have to do with the fact that he doesn't get to run around like mad as often as I/he would like. I've heard about Crate Games. Maybe I'll look into buying it. I'm going to be gone all summer (Summit's coming with me) so maybe that'll give us something to do to keep him stimulated and keep working on his training while we're far away from our trainer.

Dogs can become afraid of things quite suddenly and for seemingly no reason. In this house we go through phases with Summit (we've had him 6 months) where he is randomly afraid of some part of the house. The first time it was the livingroom. He wouldn't spend time out here, was very nervous and kept going back to the bedroom. So I closed the bedroom door so he couldn't go there, but I also showed him that there's nothing bad in the living room. Got him to come over to his bed, gave him lots of treats and praise, asked him to lay down with lots more treats and praise. A day and a half later he'd forgotten all about his fear. He still prefers the bedroom so I still keep the door closed if I want him to stay in the living room... but it's only because he wants to sleep on our bed. Then last week he suddenly decided he was afraid of the kitchen and wouldn't come in for his dinner. I think the problem in that case was that I had this old helium balloon in the living room that was dying, and my BF took it off it's string so it could "wander" around. Summit seemed a little nervous of it so I was working with him on his fear of the balloon. Holding it near him and giving treats, then letting it wander and asking him to look at it, then giving him treats. Anyway, after the balloon died and disappeared he became afraid of the kitchen. Once again, lots of treats. I put high value treats into his bowl and he would tentatively go in there, slurp them up as fast as he could and get out of there. As soon as he ate the treats and left I went in and put more in the bowl. A day and a half later he was fine again, though while he eats his dinner he does still occassionally peak around the kitchen wall to look for that darned balloon! Did you teach the dogs about the screen ahead of time? For things like that in the future I would literally take them over to the door with one person holding them if needed, open the glass door and then touch their paw or nose to the screen. Then open the screen and have them walk through. Then do the same from the other side because dogs don't generalize.

I don't really have anything constructive to add. I'm sure those with more experience than me will be able to help you out with some ideas. I'm just curious how you guys came to adopt Sookie? Was she fostered and then chosen for you guys based on her personality and what you wanted, or did you pick her out from a kennel? I'm basically just wondering if she displayed this amount of fear towards your husband when you were picking her out, or in her foster home, etc.

Could she push it with her nose instead? You could teach her a "touch" command. Or, instead of asking her for her paw, get an old yogurt container lid and put it on the floor. If she steps on it reward her for it. When she has that then whatever you want her to step on (i.e. a button or whatever) you put the lid on top of te button and have her step on that. Then start cutting the lid smaller and smaller until you just take it away all together. Not sure how you're teaching "around". I started out with a treat in each hand. Lure with the right until they're behind your back then lure with the left until they come to your left side. With just one treat I tend to fumble and drop it and do all sorts of messed up things.

Thanks Giselle! The reason I run with him at home is because when I let him off leash in the backyard it has a magical power of zoomies and all he wants to do in the backyard is zoomies. If it was my house that would be fine, but we actually live in a basement apartment and my landlord lives upstairs with his two kids. We went through a 6 month process to convince him to let us adopt Summit because his previous tennants were idiots with 2 dogs that had SA and were allowed to poo all over the front and back yards without being picked up after. The last thing I need is to get hell from my landlord because Summit tore up the backyard (and tear it up he does... I've spent 10 minutes each time trying to press the giant strips of sod that he's ripped out back into the ground to make it less noticeable... thankfully what my landlord has in the backyard barely qualifies as a lawn). This power of the zoomies is very strong. I took him for a 10 minute jog with me by the end of which he was lagging and refusing to go any further (I didn't think his fitness would be that bad but we did have a couple weeks break from jogging because the weather was so dreadful). I took him out into he backyard when we got back to work on obedience. I thought "success" there will be no zoomies. There was also no obedience because he was so tired he kept trying to lie down! So I decide to call it quits. And what does he do? Zoomies? I apologize if you read this story in one of my previous posts. But anyway, the point is that now I keep him on leash in the backyard, at least until he makes the connection of backyard = work... which he hasn't quite yet. If/when he does we will definitely try what you suggested with the shaping. Though I think he probably just needed more practice jumping because he was great in class this week, even for the tire. I tend to have high expectations for quick progress I guess. Interestingly Summit generalizes amazingly well. I'm sure some other breeds are much better but I'm quite impressed with him. I taught him to fetch one of his toys. He needed to be shaped for that one, asking him to touch it, then put teeth on it, then offer a bite, then pick it up, then hand it to me, then add distance... etc. Anyway, after he had that down I needed to change toys because the one I'd been using was stuffingless and couldn't really be thrown. I figured I was going to have to start at the beginning and run through all the steps quickly. No need. He offers to pick up just about anything now. If in doubt, pick it up. I do think though that he's not a huge fan of the standards on the jumps. So in future I'm going to try adding something to make it look like standards. But I don't think he refused a single jump this week. He also jumped into the car for the first time this weekend! Yay! Of course, the next time he proceeded to climb in awkwardly like always.

You can never go wrong with training if they're the type of hounds to be into it. Gives lots of mental stimulation. Summit used to come home from obedience class, eat his dinner and pass out until the next morning. You don't even have to go to class but set aside 5 minutes a day to teach them something. It can be useful (sit, down, stay, etc.) or just fun (shake a paw, bow, etc.). I taught Summit to fetch and now even though he could care less about his toys on a regular basis he goes nuts if I break one out to play fetch. I think he's mostly in it for the treats though.

Hey! Congrats on your new addition! When we brought our foster home (85 lbs and TALL) we had to teach him stairs. We live in a basement apartment so he was forced to go up and down 5 or 6 times a day to get out to use the facilities. For the most part I helped him with the stairs on my own. In my opinion, teaching up is easier than down, so if he's already better at down then that's good! Give yourself an extra 15-20 in the morning. No way around it for the first week or so. I literally moved each paw for him. He usually got his front feet up the first 2 or 3 stairs and then was totally at a loss for what to do with the back end. I picked up each foot and put it on the appropriate step. Lots of treats. Find something he'll take even when he's in his nervous place. For Sunny it was peanut butter. Tends to be a favourite. You can move a few paws and then give him a treat and praise him enthusiastically, then move some more. If one side is a wall I'd let him have that side for support in case he falls over that way, and then he has you on the other side. I've heard people talk about using a harness so you can take some of their weight. Whatever method you choose though it will take time and patience. While it seems really unfortunate to the humans at first if there are stairs that HAVE to be tackled (such as in apartments to get in and out for bathroom breaks) it will force the dog to learn that much quicker. Lots of praise and encouragement and he should be flying up and down in no time. Sunny was a pro in about a week, but then he pretended for another half a week that he couldn't go down the stairs because he didn't want to go back in. Thank goodness I didn't have to teach Summit stairs when we adopted him right after our foster left.