Anyone Else's Grey Suddenly Forget How To Go Down Stairs?

[2greyhoundMINI]

This happens to our June once in a while. She'll stand at the top of the steps and whine. When we go over to her to encourage her down she backs away from the stairs. Usually this is finally resolved by a tasty treat that lures her down. It's odd, they both go up and wont he steps several times a day, every day.

 

Any reason why the brain hiccup?

[tbhounds]

She may have an owie neck or back that flairs at times.

[2greyhoundMINI]

She may have an owie neck or back that flairs at times.

Awwww I hope not! But something I didn't think of... thx!

[grey14me]

She may have an owie neck or back that flairs at times.

 

This was the first thing I thought as well. It used to happen to my Bailey. Going upstairs doesn't hurt, but going down does.

[ramonaghan]

Sweep learned stairs at our old place, which had a landing mid-way where she always did a yoga stretch halfway down. We moved a year ago to an older house with one straight, steep flight between the main level and the upstairs master suite. There was definitely a re-learning curve, and even now she often hesitates at the top as if she's summoning her courage before going down (no problems going up). One of our first projects here was adding a wool stair runner, but I still worry she'll injure herself one day since they're so steep. (And then there's the basement stairs, which are tough enough on human knees, much less leggy hounds! She wants no part of them, so we don't force her to do those unless there's a storm.) The vet did note last year that Sweep shows some sensitivity in her spine that will likely advance with age, so that could explain some of our issue and the others could be on to something with that theory for June as well.

[2greyhoundMINI]

Interesting. I'll keep an eye on things to make sure it doesn't get worse. I'll tell you what- out in the yard you'd never know there was an issue the way she runs around chasing Sidney and is chased by him.

Edited May 13, 2015 by 2greyhoundMINI

[ramonaghan]

Interesting. I'll keep an eye on things to make sure it doesn't get worse. I'll tell you what- out in the yard you'd never know there was an issue the way she runs around chasing Sidney and is chased by him.

 

Sweep's the same way. I have never noticed anything but the stair reluctance, and she's only 5 so I don't even want to think about mobility issues! Best wishes for your girl; hopefully it's nothing but the way the planets are aligned that day or a butterfly flapping its wings in China. They are quirky dogs, after all!

[Bogangles]

We had a black out over the holidays one year which meant going down the stairs in the apartment building. Our two dogs would not/could not do those stairs but would do carpeted stairs if necessary. The problem looked like they could not *see* how to navigate their way down. Their sight may not have been as good as in the past or the stairs were configured so they could not distinguish one stair from the other.

 

Hope this makes sense!

[GeorgeofNE]

Next time you're at the vet, have them check her eyes carefully.

 

When my mutt got weird on our night time walks, it turned out he had a vision problem. I suppose it's possible her depth perception is messed up and the stairs are scary?

[2greyhoundMINI]

Next time you're at the vet, have them check her eyes carefully.

 

When my mutt got weird on our night time walks, it turned out he had a vision problem. I suppose it's possible her depth perception is messed up and the stairs are scary?

I will. It's weird because she was the one that was able to do the stairs right away and taught the other one.

[3greytjoys]

Whenever our hounds have suddenly hesitated to walk up or down stairs, it's been the result of medical pain or vision problems.

Otherwise, it's been due to an unfamiliar uncarpeted or steep staircase elsewhere. Good luck.