Hi folks. I’m looking for some advice if you could. I have a 12 year old black lab that is a properly sweetheart, good as gold. We live in a bit of a upside down house with the living room upstairs. She’s always taken on the stairs without a problem. Then recently in her excitement to get up stairs she’s trip a bit. Now, however, she won’t do up or down them at all. She squeaks and groans at the top or bottom but no matter how much encouragement we give she will not budge. She’s always with us so the thought of her being down stairs on her own seems unfair so I have started picking her up and carrying her up and down and she’s terrified - although she doesn’t struggle until I’m about to put her back down and she is always happy to be up with us or down when we put her to bed. Last night before I picked her up I could feel her shaking. It’s heartbreaking. I’ve taken to giving her a treat at the end of the lift to try to help and am thinking of only picking her up every other day so not to stress her too much. She is booked into the vet to have her eyes looked at, get her claws clipped and discuss her recent problem with the stairs. We think that maybe she has fallen down them at some point with us not around. Can anyone offer any advice on how to somehow take the fear away from her so she can tackle the stairs again? Thanks
