Dog Won't Go Downstairs
Trevor Astrope
else in him from the pound. He's about two years old and his history
is uncertain. He was picked up as a stray outside the city where I
live and brought to the pound. The report listed his paws as being burnt
when he was brought in. We don't know if they were burned by fire
or frost bitten, but it wasn't all that cold during the time before
he was brought to the pound.
Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
go down the stairs. We tried standing at the bottom and calling him
down, and tried standing at the top and in the middle of the flight.
He'll come when he's called most other times, except for in the case
of the stairs. However, he will go down the two stairs to the landing
in order to go outside.
It seems he's fearful of the stairs or the basement itself. He sometimes
acts anxious, as if he would like to go down but is unsure of something.
I don't know if he's just never encountered lots of stairs before or
has experienced some kind of trauma related to stairs or a basement
or something.
The reason I want him to go downstairs is because there's a finished
rec. room in the basement where I like to spend alot of time. I would
like Charlie to keep me company at least some of the time when I'm down
there.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Trevor
Todd Robinson
> [will not go down stairs]
--
Dillon was the same way at first. Try using his favorite toy/food and lots
of encouragement/excited talk. He will try eventually. Also, you should
work on both going up and down. It is just a new experience to him.
=TR=
___________________________________________________________________________
trob...@spd.dsccc.com
{sig under construction, Merge Left}
Mike Smith P125
The fictional detective, Haskell Blevins, of Pigeon Fork, Kentucky (or is it
Tennessee?), has been carrying his dog RIP up and down the stairs to his deck
for bathroom duty since the series began. I believe the author of the series
is Barbara Taylor. I recommend it.
I know this is no help for a serious question, but it was funny in the book.
mps
Greg
(Trevor Astrope) wrote:
>
he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
> stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
> go down the stairs.
Trying coaxing him down one stair at a time with a treat and lots of loving
praise for every single little step he takes.
--
Greg
J. Lee
ast...@cc.umanitoba.ca writes:
> It seems he's fearful of the stairs or the basement itself. He
sometimes
> acts anxious, as if he would like to go down but is unsure of
something.
> I don't know if he's just never encountered lots of stairs before or
> has experienced some kind of trauma related to stairs or a basement
> or something.
Trevor,
My malamute had the same problem with going UP stairs. Now he and his
sister runs up and down stairs as part of some wild-exercise program.
Anyway, I corrected the problem by introducing him to stairs that
were only three or four steps. Such as stairs to neighbors porches,
and steps from kitchens to family rooms etc... It seem that the
overwhelming number of stairs was more of a problem, then walking
up the stairs...
jeff
Sandi Shrager
> > It seems he's fearful of the stairs or the basement itself. He
>
> sister runs up and down stairs as part of some wild-exercise program.
What type of stairs are they--what are the floor materials? Sometimes
this is a factor--if it is dark or shiny then they'll be more reluctant.
Mine don't mind stairs in the slightest usually, but on a narrow
staircase or linoleum, they'll refuse.
Anne Cotton
just fine) MAY be afraid of that big dark cave down there. Turn on a
LOT of lights; that may help. And by all means use food as a lure.
Do the dog's feet slip on the stair treads? You may want to nail down
either carpet or those rubber stair mats (won't hurt your own footing,
either!).
(My dog, by the way, has NEVER been abused! -- she has NO reason to fear
basements. She just hates them, as yours apparently does. I think it's
all that dark down there that does it...)
____________________________________________________________
| One advantage of a black Flat-Coated Retriever is that |
| you can easily see the hairs while you're picking them |
| out of the butter. |
| -- Pet Partners Anne Cotton, and Flattie |
| Cinderbin Neg's Molly Malone CD, CGC ("Molly") |
|____________________________________________________________|
amy young-leith
who runs up and down the front stairs to our apartment (dark brown
linoleum like material) will NOT go down the back stairs, which are
concrete, as is the landing below. We think it's because she has a
hard time SEEING the stairs; they are the same color as the bottom
so... it must go straight to the bottom.
She will NOT go, regardless of what we do. So we go down the front
stairs all the time now. =-)
amy
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ Amy Young-Leith Bloomington, Indiana Lifetime Student
\ /\ (That thing to the left is a bunny!)
( ) The views expressed within represent only my opinions.
.( o ). http://nickel.ucs.indiana.edu/~alyoung
Trevor Astrope
Problem solved. Thanks to everyone who posted and replied privately
to me. Your advice was very helpful.
I got him to go down the stairs by standing at the bottom with a dog
biscuit. I held it out and called him down while smiling and giving
him lots of encouragement. At first he would only go down one stair
and then retreat. Next, he went down a couple stairs and promptly
went back to the top. Although I was encouraging him while I
kinda bounced up and down and held out his treat, he didn't seem like
he was going to make it down during this cession. As a last resort
I put the biscuit in my mouth and pretended I was going to eat it while
I turned away as if to leave. Apparently, he wasn't going to have
none of that, because he then went all the way down the stairs and was
rewarded with his treat and lots of praise.
The best part is, he now goes down the stairs with no hesitation and he
doesn't expect a treat for doing so.
Oh ya, there is/was no problem going back up.
Thanks,
Trevor
Regina M. Seaner
I think this is pretty common. Maybe the dog's afraid of the
basement itself (and not necessarily because of a specific
trauma--basements smell different than the rest of the house),
or maybe it's the type of steps. I had a dog that was afraid
of any "see-through" type steps (no risers). Solid steps were
no problem. A lot of carrying, coaxing and reassurance should
lick the problem.
May this be the worst problem you ever face with your dog!!! :)
--Regina M. Seaner
David G. Clark
(snip)
: Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
: stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
: go down the stairs. We tried standing at the bottom and calling him
: down, and tried standing at the top and in the middle of the flight.
: He'll come when he's called most other times, except for in the case
: of the stairs. However, he will go down the two stairs to the landing
: in order to go outside.
: It seems he's fearful of the stairs or the basement itself. He sometimes
: acts anxious, as if he would like to go down but is unsure of something.
: I don't know if he's just never encountered lots of stairs before or
: has experienced some kind of trauma related to stairs or a basement
: or something.
(snip)
: Thanks in advance,
: Trevor
--
Hi Trevor,
I'm certainly not the most experianced dog person on the list, but
my fiance had a Standard Schnauzer (sp?) pup that was the same way, so
here are my two cents.
Although your dog MAY have had some stair-related trauma, it is
more likely that he just hasn't seen that many stairs all in one place.
We started with Dottie by carrying her down to the basement with the
lights on, etc and let her check things out for a while. After a few
minutes she was right at home in the basement (as long as someone carried
her down).
Within the same day, she would run UP the stairs on her own, but she
still wouldn't come DOWN from the top no matter how much we coaxed her.
Next, I took her down and set her on the last step and then called
her. We repeated the process several times moving up just a step or two
at a time. It didn't take more than a few minutes and she would go down
MOST of the stairs. It took a little longer for her to get used to taking
the first step on her own, still the whole process took less than an hour
total spread over a couple days.
Good luck.
David Clark <dac...@nmsu.edu>
Ellen Leise
>
>Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
>stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
My dog was the exact same way, but one night when I went down to the
basement, he suprised me by following me down. He acted like he had been
there hundreds of times before. Just give him time and I'll bet he'll
follow you down when he gets curious enough.
Ellen
Rod Taylor
(while it works in training some other tasks), will often
traumatize the dog even more (since this is probably fear
based instead of not knowing what you want). What you want is for
the dog to learn on it's own that there is not a problem.
What has worked for me is to give the dog opportunity (leave
door open to basement) and a reason to do it (you are doing
something fun that it would like to join you). It will creep down
the first couple times and then eventually forget it was afraid.
This has worked for me and friends with both steps and swimming.
Hope it works.
Rod
JCSC...@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
ast...@cc.umanitoba.ca (Trevor Astrope) writes:
>
>Hi, we just got a yellow lab with possibly some Setter or something
>else in him from the pound. He's about two years old and his history
>is uncertain.
>when he was brought in. We don't know if they were burned by fire
>or frost bitten, but it wasn't all that cold during the time before
>he was brought to the pound.
>
>Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
>stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
>go down the stairs. We tried standing at the bottom and calling him
>down, and tried standing at the top and in the middle of the flight.
>He'll come when he's called most other times, except for in the case
>of the stairs. However, he will go down the two stairs to the landing
>in order to go outside.
>
2 stairs to the outside, you know that he can maneuver at least a few. Here's
what I would try: get him to the bottom of the stairs (this may require more
than 1 person to carry him depending on his size). Put him on the bottom
step, you go to the bottom, call him down. When he comes to you, lots of
praise and treats. Gradually back him up to 2, 3, 4 steps, etc. until he
can get down the full length. Many dogs are afraid of open staircases, or
he may just have never been exposed to more that 2 steps at a time. Give
this a shot and see if it works.
Janice Scherzer
>
>
Steven Szep
My GR Cashew also came from a shelter. She was totally afraid of the
basement, too. I surmised that was where she stayed at her former home:
she is very affectionate & probably fears being confined there away
from family.
The first time she even ventured down a few steps was when my brother &
I were going up & down the stairs repeatedly to move lumber from there
to outdoors where we were working. She just followed us indoors & into
the basement on her own. Perhaps the presence of my brother was the key:
she likes him very much.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Szep & Cashew & Memphis
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sue Jeffrey
(Trevor Astrope) wrote:
<snip>
> Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Either he is unfamiliar with the stairs, or it is possible he used to get
locked up in someone's basement and is fearful of that?
Teaching stairs is pretty easy, just use treats and do it one step at a
time. Otto (small, 4 month old of mine) will still only go down one at a
time, and once in a blue moon needs a treat to make it down the first step.
After one he's fine on his own. I think the staircase is intimidating when
it looks like one big long hill.
OTOH I think it's more likely he's afraid of being locked up... so if you
can get him down there, keep initial visits short and sweet, and make sure
you go down before him. How about trying this: go down and hang out awhile,
try and make noises like you're having fun so he can hear from upstairs.
Have someone else try and encourage him to come down while you are down
there... don't know if it will help...
Sue Jeffrey
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York City
email: sjef...@ski.mskcc.org
jgil...@mailgw.sanders.lockheed.com
>Subject: Dog Won't Go Downstairs
>Date: 6 Dec 1994 06:15:57 GMT
>Keywords: dog, lab, stairs
>Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
>stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
>go down the stairs. We tried standing at the bottom and calling him
>down, and tried standing at the top and in the middle of the flight.
>He'll come when he's called most other times, except for in the case
>of the stairs. However, he will go down the two stairs to the landing
>in order to go outside.
>Trevor
If the dog isn't too heavy, try carrying him down the stairs for the first few
time in the basement. Let him enjoy himself down there with you. Don't make
a big deal about him going up or down the stairs.
After he gets over being anxious about having to go down those monster
stairs to be with you, carry him to the third or fourth step from the bottom
and set him down there. Don't coax him or prod, or act like there's anything
else left for him to do. As you carry on with whatever you're doing, he'll be
thinking about getting down to your level. Even if he never comes off the
stairs, leave him be.
He will go down the stairs when he understands there's nothing to it. A lot
of dogs never experience stairs in "flight" quantities. They may be used to
one or two to go in or out of a house, but 13 or more may be an entirely new
experience for him.
The key is to make like you don't expect anything from him. His anxiety at
the top of the stairs is a desire to please by coming down to you while
knowing there's no way he's going to be able to.
Jan Gilcreast
Theresa Costello
>Hi, we just got a yellow lab with possibly some Setter or something
>else in him from the pound. He's about two years old and his history
>is uncertain.
>live and brought to the pound. The report listed his paws as being burnt
>when he was brought in. We don't know if they were burned by fire
>or frost bitten, but it wasn't all that cold during the time before
>he was brought to the pound.
>Anyway, he's been at our home for only two days and won't go down the
>stairs to the basement. No matter how much we try to coax him, he won't
>go down the stairs. We tried standing at the bottom and calling him
>down, and tried standing at the top and in the middle of the flight.
>He'll come when he's called most other times, except for in the case
>of the stairs. However, he will go down the two stairs to the landing
>in order to go outside.
Are your stairs carpeted? Our dog will not go up our one set of stairs
because they are hard wood without carpeting and she just cant get a
grip and is afraid of sliding. She will use the other set in our house
just fine. This holds true when she goes over my mother's house too.
One set of stairs is carpeted and she will use them but the other set is
covered in kitchen tiles and she will only use them when we wont give
her any other choice.
We got her at 7 weeks too and this has always happened.
Theresa
Adam Price
case of Hip Dysplasia. We used to think that our pup was scared of the
stairs because he would take a long time to take the first step, then he
would fly/roll the rest of the way down. Then we learned that he had NO
ball and socket on the back end. He has learned to take the stairs, but he
was six or seven months before he was ready to try.
--
This is my signature.
Adam H Price
(it looks better when I write it.)