# Slippery stairs



## Fluffball (Jul 21, 2011)

Hi again guys, 
Another advice request for you people with hardwood floors and stairs. I just came home to the flooring guys doing the stairs and Uli is absolutely terrified of them, she slipped all the way down and would refuse to come up. Are there any covers for the steps i could use so she doesn't slip and fall?


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

why cover them if you don' t want to ,. see my post on Annoying for stair desensitization.


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## Fluffball (Jul 21, 2011)

Thank you, i will search for it


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Also make sure her pads are trimmed.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Honestly, I think uncovered hardwood stairs are as dangerous to people (who tend to walk around with sock feet!) as they are to little long haired dogs, whose feet might have grown out enough that they don't get good traction. even if they KNOW how to navigate slippery stairs, it's sort of like a harness situation. Your dog may be very reliable on loose leash walking on a collar... until that chipmunk runs across and instinctive prey drive kicks in. Same with stairs. Even if they KNOW how to navigate them safely, if they are over-excited, or paying attention to something else, there is a way to high a risk of serious (which also often means EXPEN$IVE) injury. 

Our stairs were covered with wall-to-wall carpeting when we bought the house. When we did our addition/renovation two years ago, we pulled the old carpeting to find that there was beautiful (though in need of refinishing) hardwood underneath. Since the rest of the house is hardwood, we decided to refinish the stairs as well. Kodi, like Uli was very nervous about them, even though he'd been using them for over 2 years at that point. Honestly, I was nervous about him on them too. I did NOT want my dog to slide and fall going down a long set of slippery stairs.

We have good oriental rugs in most of our house. I would have loved an oriental runner on the stairs and upstairs hall way too. But with the cost of our addition, it just wasn't in the budget. But we found attractive, machine-made "oriental look" runners at a local home improvement store for only a few dollars a foot. Including installation, they cost around $400 for the stairs and upstairs hallway. Will they last as long as "real" orientals? I'm sure not. But they are attractive enough that people just walking over them don't notice that they aren't the same quality as the rest of our rugs, and they do the job. No one is slipping on the newly refinished hardwood stairs!

If a dog has an aversion to stairs in general, that is a training issue and needs to be solved. If a dog is understandingly cautious about SLIPPERY stairs, I think that is something else again, and needs to be considered as a safety issue.

Below is a photo of our stairs with the runner installed.


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## RitaandRiley (Feb 27, 2012)

I agree it's a safety issue. I slipped down wood stairs in my sock feet many years ago and broke my collar bone and cut my face. I considered myself lucky because I could have broken my neck.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

RitaandRiley said:


> I agree it's a safety issue. I slipped down wood stairs in my sock feet many years ago and broke my collar bone and cut my face. I considered myself lucky because I could have broken my neck.


Yeah, I slipped on some steep, hardwood stairs once too, and hurt myself badly. I guess once it happens to you, you become aware of what a danger it is. I wouldn't have bare hardwood stairs in my house... for the people's sake, let alone the dogs'!


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## Fluffball (Jul 21, 2011)

You are all right. She was gliding like a snowboarder... poor thing. I got some stair treads and used double sided tape on one side to hold it, but can still lift one side to vacuum underneath. 

Thank you for all your advice. Seems havanese hop like little bunnies so that made it harder.


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