# Stairs



## ricosmom (Jan 25, 2008)

Has anyone heard of a dog not wanting to go up or down stairs? My 8 month old Kodi will not go up or down the stairs in our house. We have a quad level. He will not go up the stairs with us. He'll just stand there and watch us. When we go down to the family room he just stands there and watches. He will go down the stairs outside, there are only 2, when he has to go out. We have tried treats and even helping him, but nothing. I just think this is very unusual. The Havanese I had prior to this one had no problem at all. He would even jump on the back of my husbands chair while he was watching tv. Thanks for any advice. Happy Holidays to all.


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## hutsonshouse (Oct 14, 2010)

My two were almost 2 yrs old when I got them, and they would not do stairs either. I just kept working with them and would even nudge them up one step at a time When they finally starting coming up the stairs from the basement, they would knock their knees on every step, but they finally got it figured out. However, it has been a year and they still wait until I am all the way up before they will start up, because if they get interrupted on the way up they stumble. Hang in there!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

My Kodi was reluctant about stairs in the beginning too. We taught him to do stairs by "back chaining". We would put him on the second stair from the bottom and give him a treat when he came down. When he was comfortable with two steps, we went to three, then four, etc., until he was comfortable going down the whole flight of stairs. We did the same thing to teach him to go up... starting him from the second step down, then the third, etc. It sounds like a long process, but he had it down pat in a couple of days.

He needed a bit of encouragement to transfer the skill to OTHER sets of stairs, but that took even less time. I have noticed, however, that he is still uncomfortable about shiny hardwood stairs. I'm sure this is because they are slippery.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

P.S. What is your Kodi's full name? Besides my Kodi (Kodak Moment) we have another Kodi here who is "Kodiak".


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

ricosmom - are your stairs 'open', where you can see through them? I have seen dogs refuse to use those kinds of stairs. I would think slippery wooden stairs would pose a problem as well and make a dog uncomfortable. Ours are solid and carpeted. Augie does not get the run of the upstairs unless I am up there with him. Too much stuff he could get into. The minute the baby gate comes down, he is gone so fast up the stairs that I have to go searching for him. He was a little more hesitant coming downstairs when he first learned. I would just hold my hand at the next step down and tap it and he would come down, one step at a time the first few times.


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## Kati (Feb 20, 2010)

Javy goes up and down our back stairs which are carpeted. At the top he finds the play room with our cats food so we have to block him off. Evidently Cat Chow tastes great! Our front stairs are hard wood and he is afraid to go up or down them. I haven't worked with him because it's nice to know he can't get to the bedrooms without my permission. He still chews things so it keeps him downstairs where I can watch him. I'm sure you could work with him one step at a time but he might figure it out on his own when he is older.


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## The Laughing Magpie (Aug 20, 2009)

I have always lived in houses with stairs, sometimes...main and back stairs (back are narrower). Sometimes leaving them behind and doing something loadly they love will make them try. You just have to hang in there and keep trying. My blind dog still does stairs, he does not go to the second floor anymore this is due to his back and he slipped, he had slipped many times before but after he had a disc problem this I think is too painful. He still does the 6 steps down to the yard, Yogi and Misty wait until he goes down or goes up before they use the stairs, its really cute. Hang in there.


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## ShirleyH (Sep 13, 2009)

*Another 'no stairs'*

Keeper, at a year old, will not go down the stairs to our lower level. They are carpeted and closed and composed of 5 stairs and a landing, then another five stairs. Since we don't want him down there without us, we have not tried to teach him. He does go down the three stairs from the from the front porch to the walk.

Another thing which we think a little strange, is that he does not like heights of any kind. He wants down off a sofa within a few minutes hen placed
there--he never jumps up. He doesn't want to be in the bed and it's very clear that he's saying 'I want my feet on the floor'. Perhaps other Hav lovers have this problem. Maybe when he's older?

Shirley H


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## SOPHIES-MOM (Oct 4, 2010)

Sophie will not go up or down one step. When she was 12 weeks old she went up one back brick step and hit her nose as she ran into the next step. Now she won't try. We have two steps and a landing inside, and she wanted down really badly to chase the cat. She stumbled down both and won't try again. I sort of like it now because it limits where she can go, but I'm not sure I want to carry her up and down stairs forever. I feel like she will eventually not be so afraid.


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## sashamom (Jan 12, 2009)

ricosmom said:


> Has anyone heard of a dog not wanting to go up or down stairs? My 8 month old Kodi will not go up or down the stairs in our house. We have a quad level. He will not go up the stairs with us. He'll just stand there and watch us. When we go down to the family room he just stands there and watches. He will go down the stairs outside, there are only 2, when he has to go out. We have tried treats and even helping him, but nothing. I just think this is very unusual. The Havanese I had prior to this one had no problem at all. He would even jump on the back of my husbands chair while he was watching tv. Thanks for any advice. Happy Holidays to all.


Sasha runs up and down stairs all day. She "works" in a law office and her office is up stairs. When I first brought her to work she was so young and small that she could not navigate the stairs but at about a year old she had them down. She runs down so fast that we are sure she will crash on the bottom landing but so far so good.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Rosie only learned the stairs going down this past summerafter she was 16-18 months old. I had not wanted her to go down because she works on the second floor also and I was afraid that if she went down when I was not paying attention, she could end up outside and then in the street. And when she learned, of course she excaped down the stairs; but luckily I was down there and I got all the employees on the first floor to run toward her telling her "NO". She zipped back up the stairs and hasn't come down again on her own. But at least I no longer have to carry her down she follows me when told to. She still rubs her shoulder against the wall when going up the stairs.


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## fishie (Jul 25, 2010)

Murphy struggles with stairs. He'll go up stairs now, but it took weeks to get him to do that. We chained it together, like Karen suggested. We started one step from the top, then two, then three, and over a few weeks we got up to all the stairs. He still won't go down stairs, so he gets carried. The chaining the stairs together isn't working with going down yet. He'll only do the very bottom stair. Once he's on the second to last stair, he'll just lay down and relax :frusty:


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## VS_Mark (Sep 12, 2010)

Tango also struggles with stairs. Sometimes I think she just wants someone to carry her (who wouldn't). In the cold she seems to hate walking outside on stairs too.

I was in a condo for a few years so it was much easier on her. She'd go out on the deck, "do her thing", and come back in. There were no stairs. I think that spoiled her a bit, so it has taken some time to get her to use the stairs again. She learned that her food was downstairs, though, so she now does the stairs far better.

You can always use motivation! If the food's at the bottom of the stairs, they will learn to go down. Or, if you have a landing, carry them to the landing, and let them do the rest. Tango eventually learned; that is, when I don't just swoop her up and take her down myself like a superdog. (Come on, I'm not the only one that sings "superdogggg" and carries their dog down the stairs, right???)

Mark


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## littlebuddy (May 30, 2007)

django did not go up or down stairs as a puppy, he was too small and the stairs were too big for him. we had to carry him up and down. now he flies up and down but it took some for him to get use to them


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## marlowe'sgirl (Jun 17, 2010)

My pup never had a choice. I live on the 2nd & 3rd floor, so from day 1 he had a full flight of stairs to navigate in and out of the condo. He took a bit of time to get up and down the first few days at 4 months old, but now he flies - mostly chasing the cat - up and down the stairs at a whim.


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