Hello friends, My black lab named Zelda hasn't approached a ton of stairs since we've had her. (We got her when she was 3 months old) There are back cement steps that she was hesitant to go down and up at first but quickly got over it. There are a few places with stairs she has encountered, but I will only address the important ones here. My sister in law had some very deep wood steps at her house that Zelda was scared of. My thought is isn't carpet less scary? The others there didn't have the patience to wait for her to keep trying. I have lots of patience but want to make sure she's comfortable. However, I'd rather not focus on my sister in law's wooden stairs in her house as it's not as important. At our current home, the basement stairs are very narrow and not carpeted - linoleum. The basement experienced some flooding this past August as the area had sewage backup problems. Needless to say, we had a company come out and remove the tile on the basement floor. It looked very scary, just all black floor. I remember Zelda one time came in the back door and it was a little slippery, she came a little close to slipping down, as we had the door removed. Truth be told - I don't care or want her to go down these stairs, they are too narrow and we have bought a new house recently. The new house has a bungalow with carpeted stairs, as well as a basement that is actually finished. These stairs are carpeted as well. The basement here is actually not scary, is pretty nice. I've been trying to work with her on getting her comfortable with these steps. The side door where you enter the basement, there are 2 carpeted stairs to the kitchen. She won't go up those but the basement stairs I'm trying to get her to go up and down. She will probably jump up those 2 steps to go into kitchen although I know she can walk up them if she keeps trying. I tried getting her to go down the basement steps, she was very scared. I ended up carrying her downstairs and put some treats on some of the steps. She reaches far enough to reach a treat, but her back legs - it's like she won't or is too scared to use them to help her go up the steps. I am trying to be patient and intend to help her master this fear. I carried her up to the middle of the steps, like step 6 or what not. She quickly went up the rest of the way. I had a neighbor tell me he just dragged his dog down and then up. He says dogs sometimes just need a little push and they realize it isn't so bad. My lab is not in bad shape, she is about 59 lbs. She's 21 months old. A little over 1.5 yr half old. I walk her often, she probably gets more walking than the average lab or dog. Our old house I carried her down those stairs once as there was a tornado watch. It ended up being nothing. Is a dog psychologist needed? The main reason I want her to go downstairs in the NEW house is it's nice, and I am going to have some of my electronic stuff down there and want her to spend time with me while I'm down there.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I have this with my dog, on one set of steps that he fell off as a puppy, no other steps. Don't force your dog - it might work, or it might make things a whole lot worse. Open steps are generally a lot worse than close ones, so if you are trying on open steps, you can try close them off with bits of wood. And make everything non slip so your dog feels as safe as possible. The general technique to use (but not for steps) can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-CCJxF-9U4 [quote author=nkzelda link=topic=10212.msg149850#msg149850 date=1426514597] She reaches far enough to reach a treat, but her back legs - it's like she won't or is too scared to use them to help her go up the steps. I am trying to be patient and intend to help her master this fear. [/quote] I have exactly this, and it's a real sticking point that I have not been able to get over, so far. I am working on getting him to put his back legs on a small platform on cue - I'm hoping by working on it separately, he'll both "get it" with the steps, and become more aware of his back legs. This is just a bit of a part time hobby for me though, I don't really need him to go up these one set of steps (they lead to my veg garden), and I don't have a problem anywhere else. So it's just out of interest to solve the issue (my dog is not a dog that has very many fears, so I don't get to work on things like this very much). I'll be interested if others have more tips...I think it's a tricky one.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=JulieT link=topic=10212.msg149866#msg149866 date=1426518181] I have this with my dog, on one set of steps that he fell off as a puppy, no other steps. Don't force your dog - it might work, or it might make things a whole lot worse. Open steps are generally a lot worse than close ones, so if you are trying on open steps, you can try close them off with bits of wood. And make everything non slip so your dog feels as safe as possible. The general technique to use (but not for steps) can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-CCJxF-9U4 [quote author=nkzelda link=topic=10212.msg149850#msg149850 date=1426514597] She reaches far enough to reach a treat, but her back legs - it's like she won't or is too scared to use them to help her go up the steps. I am trying to be patient and intend to help her master this fear. [/quote] I have exactly this, and it's a real sticking point that I have not been able to get over, so far. I am working on getting him to put his back legs on a small platform on cue - I'm hoping by working on it separately, he'll both "get it" with the steps, and become more aware of his back legs. This is just a bit of a part time hobby for me though, I don't really need him to go up these one set of steps (they lead to my veg garden), and I don't have a problem anywhere else. So it's just out of interest to solve the issue (my dog is not a dog that has very many fears, so I don't get to work on things like this very much). I'll be interested if others have more tips...I think it's a tricky one. [/quote] Thank you! I will check out that youtube video when I get home from work. I greatly appreciate your input. Let me state in case anyone wonders, my dog, Zelda, has NEVER fallen down any stairs, not our current house's basement stairs. She did, however, when we had our flooding in basement, we had to take the basement door off, the yucky tile was removed from basement. Z came in back door and no rug there one time, slipped a little toward stairs but managed to not go down. At that time, looking down the stairs was a black hole, or looked that way. I love Zelda so much that I'll do whatever it takes to get her down them and back up!
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I have trained Gypsy to use all manner of steps and stairs, including steep, narrow and open ones. She would fail her assessments to become a Guide Dog if the were not confident on them all. Some Guide Dogs are even expected to negotiate escalators! (But this is trained by experts, not us amateurs ) The way I do it is to have a 'no nonsense, this is what we do' approach. But, if she did hesitate in the early days, I would wait while she had a good look at them before we went up/down. I gave her a treat after she'd negotiated them. So far so good, but I know two already that have been withdrawn from the scheme due to fear of stairs - so it's not that unusual.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs Think you might need a lot of patience to overcome. I would work at one step at a time with a lot of praise and treats with each step Zelda manages. Each additional step is one step closer to total success. If she stop and doesn't want to go on back up and try again. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=MaccieD link=topic=10212.msg149918#msg149918 date=1426525640] Think you might need a lot of patience to overcome. I would work at one step at a time with a lot of praise and treats with each step Zelda manages. Each additional step is one step closer to total success. If she stop and doesn't want to go on back up and try again. Good luck and let us know how you get on. [/quote] Well I hope I can help her overcome it. Perhaps we should have exposed her to more steps when she was very young. The basement stairs at the old house are scary, even for me. Narrow as heck and can easily trip. She was scared of them before seeing the door off and the black hole after the flood when she slipped a little coming in the back door. Her other fears are really only the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, and fireworks. The new house's basement steps (nicer basement steps and carpeted which I thought may be less scary for her. If I put a treat on say the 4th step from the bottom, she can reach it. Actually using those back legs......... What's interesting is the new house has a nice deck and she will jump off the deck (it's not very high) but I saw her go up one of the set of stairs normal, down them perfectly fine, and another time went up deck stairs up one step and jumping up the two remaining.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=Boogie link=topic=10212.msg149888#msg149888 date=1426522320] I have trained Gypsy to use all manner of steps and stairs, including steep, narrow and open ones. She would fail her assessments to become a Guide Dog if the were not confident on them all. Some Guide Dogs are even expected to negotiate escalators! (But this is trained by experts, not us amateurs ) The way I do it is to have a 'no nonsense, this is what we do' approach. But, if she did hesitate in the early days, I would wait while she had a good look at them before we went up/down. I gave her a treat after she'd negotiated them. So far so good, but I know two already that have been withdrawn from the scheme due to fear of stairs - so it's not that unusual. [/quote] You're not thinking it'll be impossible for Zelda to overcome this fear though I hope? Well the front steps in the new house two cement steps which is similiar to the old house's back porch that she goes up without problem. She was hesistant but I pulled her a little, she went up them, I went down them and she went up them normal.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I don't think it is impossible to over come a fear like this - Charlie's fear of that one flight of steps is extremely significant. A no-nonsense "off we go" approach would not cut it at all. I don't think I could physically drag him up those steps even (not that I'd dream of doing any such thing). He has a fear of them, which I'll have to overcome. I think I will though, I don't think it's impossible at all. Luckily for me there is no time pressure with this, I don't need him to go up those steps (and, actually, it's quite nice not having my soft fruit raided by the dog).
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I think the key is not to make a big issue of it with her as she doesn't appear to have a fear of stairs, just a reluctance to go up and down certain ones. You could try going up and down with her with treats, a toy she particularly likes to encourage her and keep your voice light and positive and she'll get there in the end I has a similar problem with Juno and stairs a few weeks ago - Juno has always happily gone up and down stairs. That said when she was little we had a stairgate across the stairs to stop her going up while allowing the cats to escape. As she showed no interest in going up the stairs we removed the gate at Christmas with success. However around a month ago we decided to give her a bath at which point she refused to go up the stairs. She would go the stair where the gate had been and then stopped! It took some persuading and a few treats to encourage her go up the rest though. She came down the stairs after her bath with no problem.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I'm having a similar issue..Bella will not go up our stairs and it's becoming a real issue as I live in an upstairs downstairs house (kitchen upstairs) so having to carry her and she's very heavy.... I've tried chicken trails which gets her up 2-3 steps but then she goes back down sits at the bottom and barks... I thought maybe she would just go up them when she's ready ( and I'm aware at 5 months she shouldn't really be going up or down them anyway really...) she will jump in and out the car tho... But stairs even on walks she avoids, and getting on and off the train..... However at my mums house ( she has about 4 steps as you enter her house) she will sometimes forget and bound up them, other times sits at the bottom and barks... I'll watch the video and keep being patient ...
Re: Lab's fear of stairs Ps I think I maybe created some of this problem myself as when she first came home I had a big box blocking the stairs in fear she might fall or hurt herself....
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=Boogie link=topic=10212.msg149888#msg149888 date=1426522320] I have trained Gypsy to use all manner of steps and stairs, including steep, narrow and open ones. She would fail her assessments to become a Guide Dog if the were not confident on them all. Some Guide Dogs are even expected to negotiate escalators! (But this is trained by experts, not us amateurs ) The way I do it is to have a 'no nonsense, this is what we do' approach. But, if she did hesitate in the early days, I would wait while she had a good look at them before we went up/down. I gave her a treat after she'd negotiated them. So far so good, but I know two already that have been withdrawn from the scheme due to fear of stairs - so it's not that unusual. [/quote] Just out of interest how old was gypsy when she started going up and down stairs?
Re: Lab's fear of stairs I'd like to link some pictures of the stairs, and deck steps. I will likely have to link them through Dropbox or another means.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=CDM link=topic=10212.msg150010#msg150010 date=1426537507] Just out of interest how old was gypsy when she started going up and down stairs? [/quote] She was carried up and down them from seven weeks But her training on stairs and steps started at 5 months. Now she is learning to put her paws on the first step (going up) and sit at the top (going down) to indicate that stairs/steps are ahead.
Re: Lab's fear of stairs [quote author=Boogie link=topic=10212.msg150446#msg150446 date=1426705025] [quote author=CDM link=topic=10212.msg150010#msg150010 date=1426537507] Just out of interest how old was gypsy when she started going up and down stairs? [/quote] She was carried up and down them from seven weeks But her training on stairs and steps started at 5 months. Now she is learning to put her paws on the first step (going up) and sit at the top (going down) to indicate that stairs/steps are ahead. [/quote] I see. Well Bella will now go up the rest of the stairs if you put her fourth step up ;D happened incidentally when my parents were pup sitting. Just going down she needs to master now ha
Re: Lab's fear of stairs Well ... Bella will now go up and down the stairs yay ;D and both times it was following her bestie Rosie the boxer. I've been working for a fair while with her on stairs, she mastered up a week or so ago ( when Rosie came to stay) but wouldn't do down . But all it took tonight was when her friend Rosie who has come to stay again going down and she followed, now it's automatic ;D it's all about the peer role models , social learning theory , I can take no credit for this, Rosie is a great teacher
