Tips for teaching a doggy how to go downstairs?

[TheShihtzuation 0]

Pokerface has no problem going up and down the doggy stairs that lead to the couch. As a matter of fact, the first day we got the stairs he picked up on it almost immediatly!

My problem is we have about 20 stairs to go down to get outside. Being 8 point something pounds (and me being a weakling with probably an extra 4lbs of cold weather clothing on) its getting extremely tiring carrying him up and down 7 times a day! I know it's good exercise and all ... but he turns 4 months on the 9th..

Is it time to try to start teaching how to do the "big boy" stairs? I've tried once, starting at like the 5th stair to the bottom.. but he acts frightened and just lays on the one stair.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to force him if he isn't ready, but I think it may be time to at least start making him try.. no? Maybe? Am I just being super lazy? haha

Edited February 5, 2009 by thepupstuff

[kcsheperd 13]

I taught Payslee how to go up the ramp I made her, to get on the bed, with Liver.. I would coax her up to the first part of the ramp..give liver..2nd part of ramp..give liver..Onto the bed..give liver. She picked it up right away, and now she bounds up the ramp..Usually after they figure out they can do it once, thats all it takes. Sawyer is going through a 'fear' phase right now, and he won't do anything out of the ordinary..but they usually grow out of that period pretty quickly. Yesterday Payslee jumped onto the couch for the first time, so I bet if you coax him a little with treats he will go..

[CrazyTzuLady 16]

Be careful what you wish for. LOL Sometimes I wish mine had never learned how to go down stairs. Thai is the only one that won't go down them now I tried to get him to once and he jumped from the top step all the way to the bottom, thank goodness it was only 4 steps he just about gave me a heart attack. anywho I used to be able to leave Gizmo on the porch he could'nt get into any trouble that way because he was afraid to go down the steps, then I got this bright idea one day to teach him how and it was all down hill from there. Delila has NEVER been afraid of steps (unless your talking about the doggie stairs they are all terrified of those) and neither has Huey.

[borzoimom 24]

Well I know you are trying to help but actually by carrying it is convincing the puppy even more steps are something to be scared of by sheer elevated height when you pick up. Start with the basics. Take the puppy out first so the puppy doesn't have to go potty. Go to the steps and you go down like two or 3 steps. Call the puppy to you and when the puppy comes to the top of the stairs give a treat. ( I use cheerios- quick small easy). Then you back down another step- staying in that low position- so the puppy is still seeing you only slightly down from them. Call and gently pet the step- puppy comes down that step, treat again- and so on... You are showing the puppy its not that scaring by taking it only one riser at a time.. See?

Does the puppy come up the stairs okay?

Another thing you can do is if the puppy is lead trained, put the leash on the puppy slightly away with the steps then in their " happy voice" ( whatever that sounds like) get silly with them for a few minutes on the lead and just walk to the steps and maybe the pup will come with you.

Edited February 5, 2009 by borzoimom

[tzukeeper 12]

Don't try to coax him from the top of the stairs....thats scarey to a tiny pup. Start at the bottom on the first step and coax him to jump down. Once he has mastered that, move up to the second stair. Gradually increase one stair at a time. It may take a couple or three days for him to gain his confidence about the stairs. It doesn't look so frightening if it's only one step to conquer. This is how I taught all of mine and it worked great. I would not encourage using a leash to pull at him from the top of the stairs....his fear will only increase. By starting at the bottom you are giving him a task that doesn't seem quite so scarey and big. His confidence about the steps will grow with each added step. :signthankspin:

[MaryBebo 3]

Cricket will go up but we have to carry her Down, if there are alot of stairs. She will go down 3 to 4 but not more than that. She is 6 mo. old. From what I have read here these pups do not like alot of stairs. We have tried to put treats on the top few stairs but she wouldn't budge.

Good luck :signthankspin:

[Alicia 0]

I have been trying to teach Lucy this for a couple days. She is definately scared at the top to go down but is fine when we get to the 3rd step from the bottom. She has no problem going up.

[borzoimom 24]

Thats very true if the puppy is afraid to even come to the top of the steps. I was not sure which the situation was. If the puppy is afraid trying my method- try what was mentioned by first step from the bottom etc. I would not suggest jumping down from a few steps up. If the puppy slips, you have put in concrete the steps are scary..

[FairyTail Josette 14]

Don't try to coax him from the top of the stairs....thats scarey to a tiny pup. Start at the bottom on the first step and coax him to jump down. Once he has mastered that, move up to the second stair. Gradually increase one stair at a time. It may take a couple or three days for him to gain his confidence about the stairs. It doesn't look so frightening if it's only one step to conquer. This is how I taught all of mine and it worked great. I would not encourage using a leash to pull at him from the top of the stairs....his fear will only increase. By starting at the bottom you are giving him a task that doesn't seem quite so scarey and big. His confidence about the steps will grow with each added step.

Josey will be 2 yrs old in May and still won't go down our steps. She goes up fine. Our steps inside our house have backs (you can't see through them) on them and are carpeted. This is good advice, I think I will try it again. We tried this when she was younger and on the 2nd to 3rd step, it was a no go, maybe, that she's older now she won't have as much fear.

[Apeke 4]

I'M SORRY...

I am so dead set AGAINST stairs where small dogs with short legs are concerned.

My Bridgette fell down our stairs, landing head on HARD into our backdoor.

I thought I was going to have to rush her to the vet.

Even tho the vet to this day DOES NOT KNOW the actual cause of her death back in Oct. of 07, I somehow feel her falling and going down head first caused some neurological damage and it resulted in her organs shutting down slowly.

That happen about 5 months prior to her passing.

Stairs are very difficult to go down for the short legged little ones and if they should lose their footing, the same will hapen to them as what happened to my baby girl.

Corkey loves to go up the stairs, but is intimidated to use them going down. I have NO PROBLEM carrying him. In fact I feel better carrying him. Suzie, hasn't even attempted the stairs up to the second floor, so I don't push her. If she wants up..she'll stand at the bottom and whine...I'll gladly pick her up and carry her..

I am just so cautious of second floor up stair climbing ( both ways) now...

[tzukeeper 12]

As I have 8 dogs carrying them up and down the steps is impratical if not impossible. Mine fly up and down the steps around here and we have lots of them. My house is 3 levels and there are at least 14 steps to each level not counting all the deck steps. My shortest dog is Kyli and she has been doing steps since she was about 4 months old. She went very slow at first but now she races up and down them like a pro. I don't doubt that a fall down the steps has the potential for causing great harm but lack of confidence and fear of them can create an issue in itself that can lead to one of those falls. Practice makes perfect and not one of mine has ever taken a spill down the steps. I'm glad they know how to navigate well in their enviroment.

[Sally 1]

Trudy has never liked jumping on any furniture or going on stairs. I never have stairs but she will not use even a few at my Mother in Law's house. My poodle years ago would run up and down and hurt her knees and needed surgery. I never had stairs again.

Tzu backs are long, legs are short, so that is a good reason to not make them do stairs. A fall could be scary.

[Luna 8,676]

Actually, they can ALL go down stairs if they feel like it. Gus has been whipping up and down our back stairs to and from the yard like they're nothing since he was 9 weeks old, but he simply will NOT go down the stairs in the house...unless he hears either the word "cookie" or "Daddy's home!", at which point he barrels down those suckers at top speed. We live in a VERY old house and our stairs are extremely steep (I've fallen both up and down them several times myself) so I don't really blame him for preferring to be carried down, but the simple fact is that he doesn't HAVE to be carried down...he can just outlast even me on this particular subject. Like our skinkids, our furkids just LOVE to push our buttons!

To teach going down stairs, I would suggest tempting the dog one-step-at-a-time with something irresistible. In our house, that would probably be liver or cheese. However, the older I get the lazier and creakier I get and frankly it's easier to just carry him down than to spend that much time sitting on the stairs with food in my hand!

Good luck, whatever method you pick!

[TheShihtzuation 0]

Thank you all so much for the tips - and for the horror stories. It's good to know both sides..

My Klepto (who has been going up and down these stairs for about 6 years now) is still a tad scared of them. He goes down one step at a time very, very slowly.. But when we come back in and go up the stairs.. he runs like the wind. (He's also scared of the little doggy stairs, go figure!)

There's no way Pokey would ever have to go down the stairs without me or my mom right by his side, as there's a door blocking them.. so we would be right there hopefully if he were to fall.

I think I'll try the cheerio - one step at a time - tip. I won't rush him though.. He's very eager and when I put him at the bottom to come up he tries.. but doesn't seem to know exactly what to do as his two front paws go on the first step and then he just barks!

everyone!

[TheShihtzuation 0]

POKEY DID IT!!!!!!!

Took the boys outside earlier and I carried Pokey down the stairs (per usual) .. but when it was time to go back inside he suddenly starts anxiously pulling towards the house. Um, ok.. As soon as we get to the porch steps, Klepto ran up and Pokerface went right behind him! My mouth literally dropped because we haven't had time to practice doing this.. and I didn't tell him to do it. I was actually in the middle of bending down to pick him up to go up the stairs!

So then he made it into the foyer area where the big stairs are.. and he started running up before Klepto!!! I was so shocked and so proud of my boy, he acted like he's been doing it forever. He must've had a dream last night about being a big boy or something.. haha.

Anyway, yaaay!

His (& kc's Sawyer!) 4 month bday is tomorrow too!!!

[Tzu and Me 0]

:yay:

Way to go pokey!!

The little stinkers can surprise you sometimes can't they!

Glad to hear he's such a big boy now!

and

Happy 4 month b'day also!

[Riquena 2]

Don't try to coax him from the top of the stairs....thats scarey to a tiny pup. Start at the bottom on the first step and coax him to jump down. Once he has mastered that, move up to the second stair. Gradually increase one stair at a time. It may take a couple or three days for him to gain his confidence about the stairs. It doesn't look so frightening if it's only one step to conquer. This is how I taught all of mine and it worked great. I would not encourage using a leash to pull at him from the top of the stairs....his fear will only increase. By starting at the bottom you are giving him a task that doesn't seem quite so scarey and big. His confidence about the steps will grow with each added step.

This is exactly what I did this afternoon with Mia.. she started walking up the stairs last week and runs up with no problem. Going down was scary for her so I put myself in her situation and thought "yeah, the stairs look scary from up here". So I carried her down, put her on the last step, let her jump down and praised her. I repeated that a few more times, then took her up to the second. She was scared, but reached the bottom again. I had her do it two more times and then praised her and we came upstairs. It was so cute to see Chico trying to "rescue" her. She ran up to the second step, kissed her, then went down and he did it twice. OMG I wished I had my camera at the time!

[Kisses 0]

hmmm, i thought kissy was just weird LOL. She has always gone up the stairs but refuses to go down the stairs if there are more then like 4-5 steps. I blamed it on her falling once down like 6 steps when she was real small. She has never come down my steps for anything...she will just watch me and cry and whine till i come get her...

[TheShihtzuation 0]

Awww @ the babies learning the stairs. Pokemon is a master now at the stairs. Never would have thought a month ago he didn't know how to do it!

Our routine now is.. I open the door and grab the leashes, both dogs come running to me. I sit on the top edge of the stair and Pokey goes down one step and sits between my legs licking the hell-o out of Klepto while I put Klepto's leash on. (We call that "getting dressed" lol). Then Klepto will start his journey down the stairs.. sometimes Pokey runs ahead and then gets to the bottom only to see me still sitting there going "Pokey! Come awwwn! You have to get dressed!" So he runs back up, gets his harness on, then runs back down again.. lol. I have video of him learning but I wanted to mix it with video of him doing it with ease.. Maybe that'll be our project tomorrow.

Good luck moms! The cheerio on each step worked for me. Then eventually I'd put it on every other step.. then every 2 steps, etc.

[Kae+Gizzy 5]

Gizzy has just turned 1 and still refuses to go down the stair's. He will fly up them but simply refuses to come down. I tried putting him on the 3rd stair hoping he would feel brave to attempt just a few, he just looked up at me as if to say What on earth are you doing woman, it's your job to carry me down these darn thing's!! :mad:

[Kecats 0]

Unfortunately Holly learned how to go UPstairs before Downstairs. In a 2 Story House. So, she would always go up the steps for fun, and then cry because she couldnt get down, so I had to teach her quickly! I got sick of running up there after her!

Fortunately Cooper taught her how to do steps, I cant take too much credit. He would literally go up the steps and come down 1 step at a time, slowly, and she got the courage and just followed him 1 step at a time, and now she comes down like a pro.