Hi, I have a 6 and a half month old lab. She went up and down the stairs to the deck in the backyard with no problems since we got her. After she got spayed, we helped her up and down for a bit. She now goes down without any problems but it's very hard to get her to come up. Brought her back to the vet. He swears it has nothing to do with the spay. She does not have a UTI, parasites, etc. Basically a clean bill of health. Vet says she is a bit young to be x-rayed for hip dysplasia and he thinks it's just mental right now. There are only 5 steps up and she goes up 2 steps only with her front paws. There were times I would pick up one of her back legs and place it on the first step. Then she goes flying up the stairs. Recently we got new treats for her. We let her sniff and then put it at the top of the stairs. Then go inside and leave her alone. She cries, whines and barks for 10 minutes and then finds a way to get up the stairs. Is this normal? Has anyone seen this before? At times, I agree that it's mental and just wait it out. At other times, I'm really worried that something might be wrong.
Re: My puppy is no longer going up the stairs. How does she behave when she comes across stairs on another location? It's possible that she has developed a bit of a phobia just about those stairs. If it is a mental thing, you are doing the right thing by using treats to make the stairs seems more attractive. Use the best treats ever - roast chicken is usually a winner
Re: My puppy is no longer going up the stairs. My boy had a thing about going down a particular flight of steps - it was all wrapped up with him being unhappy to leave the house wearing a harness. Anyway, the reasons why he had a "thing" don't really matter, the point is he did have a thing about a flight of steps. We got over it in the end. We avoided them for a bit, then we did them a couple at a time with a reward, then 5 etc. He still stops every 5 steps in case he is going to get a kibble. Which I don't mind as it makes him go down them slowly.
Re: My puppy is no longer going up the stairs. Just try her on a different set of stairs in a different location to rule out a physical problem. Then you can work on overcoming the psychological barrier, if that's what it turns out to be BTW, I have taught Obi to go down stairs slowly, and to wait at the top of each flight. It's a very good safety practice.
Re: My puppy is no longer going up the stairs. Well....it took a while but everything seems to be ok now! She just refused to come up for a while. Out of sheer coincidence, we got a bag of some really stinky salmon treats. She cried and whined but eventually made it up the stairs. After about a week, she stopped coming up the stairs (maybe the treats weren't so special anymore). Another week later, she started coming up again and has been great since! We can get her to come up now even without treats and she did fine recently with all the snow, ice and freezing rain we had in the area! Thanks everyone for the advice!
