My pup is 7 months. He's really starting to change, I think this is dog adolescence/ Sits and refuses to walk every now and then, which can be a challenge sometimes, but overall he's been very good. Since yesterday he doesn't want to climb up the stairs to our appartement. We live on the 1st floor, and it's the only way up. He becomes fearfull, refuses to up, sits in the corner or lies down and starts squeaking and crying. Whenever we come near or want to give him a little hand, he seems to panic. I tried to help, put snacks on the stairs.. waited for over a half hour, but I can't get him up. Had to ask my boyfriend to help and carry him. I can't carry him, he's become to heavy and am just really frustrated. How can I help him overcome his fear? I'm scared that I won't be able to get him up anymore, and will have problems when I want to walk him before I have to go to work.
My first thought is a trip to the vet is in-order. Perhaps he has some injury that you did not see happen. Even really tasty snacks don't work well for Cooper when she does not us to do something. We are slowly desensitizing her to being brushed, but since she is normally a very happy and compliant dog with almost no phobias or bad behaviors we don't worry much about it. Stairs would be a lot bigger problem that you really do have to overcome. Do you know if he is afraid of all stairs, or only the ones to your apartment? Does he seem to be afraid of you when you are in the apartment, or only when you are trying to get him to go up the stairs. Has he possibly had a bad experience on stairs? One of our friends has a Sammy that does not like to go up hardwood stairs, because he slipped and fell coming down one time.
No only these. He has no problem jumping up and down the couch, or taking the stairs in the park. Never fell...just weird all of a sudden. (and very frustrating) And he'll walk down them without a problem...
What material are the stairs? My girl won’t walk down the stairs to my apartment when her feet are wet, because they are slippery. She’s fine walking up, though. I can get round it because the layout of our block means I can both reach and leave our apartment by going up stairs. We also have a lift if needs be. If you don’t have this option, I would try carrying some non-slip mats and put them on the stairs to build his confidence. Are the stairs solid-backed, or can you see through them? Sometimes those stairs without risers can freak dogs out.
Just concrete. Not slippery. Well, it’s gotten worse. He now refuses to take them down too, even when we wait longer when he really needs to go outside. Ive read about fear during the adolenscence period, but I really hope this is just a phase..
It's unlikely to pass on its own without addressing the fear. I think you might need professional help for this one.
