Pesky Stairs

[Guest thebiz34]

So we just adopted our greyhound Chloe. The only problem so far is the stairs. We live on the 2nd floor of an apartment complex. Whats the best way to get her up. She wants no part of them. Thanks

[Guest Addie]

My last foster Doc was like that. We would put his front feet on them and coax him with treats and kind words. He would not budge! Like he was in a trance! We would move his paws and show him how to walk up them step by step holding him under us so he would not fall. When he would get 3 steps from the top he would do it on his own. Now he went to another foster home for a few days and she said the same thing. Then one day she was in the shower on the second floor and he was upstairs and must of went up them all by himself!

[Guest Snazzy_Chloe]

I usually start with finding some outside steps that have long treads with only few steps in a park or something -- Mine did not like going up the stairs but going down were terrified (you need to block their view so they only can see the first 3-4 steps). Anyway, hopefully the stairs are carpeted so they do not have traction problems - let them hug the wall which is more secure for them, get behind them and push their butt with your legs, and help move their legs with your hands. If you dog is food motivated, show him a treat and throw it up 2-3 stairs -hopefully he will bound up after it, and repeat as necessary- lots of happy talk and praise helps with the scary experience. It may take from 2-3 days to a couple of weeks. It is funny - once they get it - they are so proud of themselves. I use a harness which helps, especially when going down to help hold and control the movement, and I usually come down ahead of them even after they learn how for a couple of weeks - because if they miss a step or something goes awry - they tend to want to jump the whole flight of stairs which would be a disaster. I think a lot of greys problem with stairs - besides their inexperience with stairs is that their body is longer than most dogs so their stride is a bit awkward in learning them. All the dogs I have had all walk up and down a little differently from each other - it is interesting to watch. It is a mostly mental fear issue for them - generally they will walk up a small flight of stairs with 4-5 steps with no problem but if they look up a WHOLE flight of stairs - they must be thinking OMG - this human is trying to kill me off. Good luck - this is one of the first areas of dog adjustment where the greyhound learns to trust and respect you by helping him get thru this!

[Guest javakaty]

We have 1 flight of stairs to our backyard. We took Nica up them one step at a time, and tried going down the same way. She learned up really easily, but going down was harder. Luckily for us, we could go to the backyard without stairs through the other side of our house. We spent several days going up the stairs with her and not forcing the down. If she acted interested in the down, we'd encourage her and help her but it was about a week after we got her and we were sitting at the top of the stairs - she came out of the house and started trying to go down the stairs by herself. We got treats and worked all the way down with her - when she made it to the bottom she got treats and praise and a lot of petting. she was so proud of herself! That evening she went down by herself when we weren't even around - we haven't looked back...stairs were conquered!

 

When she was first learning going down, she'd put her front paws down a step or two ,and then lift up her hips so all her weight was on her front legs - and then just look at us, like "now what?" it was so cute and I had to keep myself from laughing.

 

Once Chloe gets them, she'll be a champ - it will just take a lot of patience at the beginning.