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: Puppy no longer going up the stairs Hmmm...has she shown any signs of balking at other activities? Is she running, walking, etc normally? I don't have any experience with hip/elbow issues but others here have so I'm sure you'll get someone with more help than I coming along.
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs She is fine with all other activities. Eats, drinks, pees, poops, etc. Unfortunately, our luck seems to have run out with the latest "trick" to get her to come up. In my wife's latest attempt, she cried and barked for an hour before my wife went out to help her in. Thanks in advance for any advice that anyone can give.
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs What is the design of your stairs? Are they solid or kind of open (i.e. with no risers)? In my experience many dogs are quite reluctant to go up 'open' type stairs. I know you said that she went up these stairs before...but she may have decided that they are now a problem for some reason. If they are open type stairs, can you 'fill in the gaps' with cardboard or something so they look more solid to her and see if that works?
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs Hi I agree with Rachael. If your stars are open try covering them. Dogs can sometimes decide something they have been ok with before is suddenly scary. Could she have slipped on them or lost her footing down the gap if she was on her own outside and you didn't see it. Also she might have decided she quite likes being helped up the stairs like you did after the spay. If she is showing no other signs of problems with normal activities, is in general good health and behaving normally with everything else I would be inclined to think its fear or something similar. Do you have any other stairs you could try her on that look different? Good luck Jen
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs There are only 5 steps to get to the top of our deck. The top one is closed but the ones below are open. I will try closing them up to see if it helps. I have tried for her to go up some other steps but it seems like she has a general fear of going up any stairs in general. Thanks for the suggestions! I will try closing the steps when I get a chance and update the post with the results.
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs Hi, I think its more of an attitude/behavioral issue, I am sure pretty soon she would be prancing up and down Anil
Re: Puppy 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!
Re: Puppy no longer going up the stairs Great to hear you got this sorted out! It's funny how things can just set them off at times. Thanks for letting us know!
