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New Fear Of Stairs


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I went out of town for four days over Labor Day weekend, leaving Sweep with DH, and since then she's shown some reluctance to come down the stairs. DH says she took "a spill or two" on the basement stairs while I was gone. (Meaning she probably rushed, as she does, and stumbled down the last two or three.) Those stairs have carpet treads but are pretty steep. Typically she only goes down them during storms, but DH has his man cave in the basement so with my being gone she was down there with him quite a bit. The other set of stairs in the house leads to our bedroom and has a carpet runner; she only goes up those at bedtime and down in the mornings. This morning she freaked and slipped starting to come down, leaving gouges in the floor.

 

We never had to do stair training with her; she figured them out immediately during our home visit and that's actually one of the reasons we chose her. Any tips for getting her over this setback? Cheese and hot dogs? Physically she seems fine and she has no problem coming up them. She's also fine with the outdoor steps, up or down. Thanks!

52596614938_aefa4e9757_o.jpg

Rachel with littermates Doolin and Willa, boss cat Tootie, and feline squatters Crumpet and Fezziwig.
Missing gentlemen kitties MudHenry, and Richard and our beautiful, feisty, silly
 Sweep:heart

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Sometimes I feel like our hounds just need a little reset. I think I'd try going with yummy treats and lots of positive talk and reinforcement when she successfully uses the stairs to see if it does the trick. (I can just picture Sweep giving you that look like, "Really mom? All I did was walk down the stairs." haha)

Laura, mom to Luna (Boc's Duchess) and Nova (Atascocita Venus).
Forever in my heart, Phantom (Tequila Nights) and Zippy (Iruska Monte).

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Sometimes I feel like our hounds just need a little reset. I think I'd try going with yummy treats and lots of positive talk and reinforcement when she successfully uses the stairs to see if it does the trick. (I can just picture Sweep giving you that look like, "Really mom? All I did was walk down the stairs." haha)

 

Thanks, Laura! I think "reset" is exactly the right word. I stood there cheerleading for probably 10 minutes the other night while she put her paws on the top step, hesitated, backed up, returned to the stairs, lather, rinse, repeat. Hopefully some Babybel cheese (her favorite) and more pep talks will help get her over this bout of insecurity. (She'll probably have us trained in no time. :lol)

52596614938_aefa4e9757_o.jpg

Rachel with littermates Doolin and Willa, boss cat Tootie, and feline squatters Crumpet and Fezziwig.
Missing gentlemen kitties MudHenry, and Richard and our beautiful, feisty, silly
 Sweep:heart

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Sometimes I feel like our hounds just need a little reset. I think I'd try going with yummy treats and lots of positive talk and reinforcement when she successfully uses the stairs to see if it does the trick. (I can just picture Sweep giving you that look like, "Really mom? All I did was walk down the stairs." haha)

and when you do work the stairs do it with a leash on. nothing like a security cord.

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