Introduction to stairs... any seasoned advice?

[Dianne Carter ~ Trinity Doodles]

Hi! We have just flown one of our tweenage puppies to his new home today. I recieved a call that he is there and all is well and they are delighted with him BUT... It seems the little (actually pretty big) guy will not go near the steps. He is too big to carry and further needs to master them anyways. We try to introduce our puppies to every situation they may encounter but we do not have steps in our home. You can be sure that we are building some for our outdoor puppy play/training area though for the next litter : ) I would be so appreciative if those of you who introduced your doodles to steps if you would share some tips for our new puppy family and for me. Thank you sooo much!

[Leslie and Halas]

I carried Halas up and down the steps when he was really little. He would start up the stairs himself, but was too small and too scared, so he'd only get up about a step or 2. Then, last Thanksgiving, we were at my aunt and uncle's for the weekend. They have a front porch with 4 or 5 steps. Halas took his time, but he was able to get up those steps by the end of the weekend. Once we got home, he just started walking up the whole flight of stairs at our house. He was probably about 3 1/2 months old by then. I still carried him down the stairs for awhile, because he was still pretty small (mini - about 9 or 10 lbs at the time), and I didn't want him to fall. So I think it was a case of just starting small. A few stairs might be easier than a whole flight, just because they can kind of run up those and be done before they even realize what they're doing. Maybe it builds confidence to start with a small set of steps like a porch. That might not be practical for the new puppy family, but maybe if they don't have a porch they can find other steps somewhere around their neighborhood.

[Tamara & Giada]

Get one person on the top and one person behind the "little" guy and call him with the most irresistable treats you can think of. This might take some time......but he will soon be running up and down. We didn't push it with ours, because actually I didn't want them going down where I couldn't watch them. GL:)

[2hl9mp3c2fuam]

I think most dogs do everything at their own pace. My first doodle took FOREVER with the steps, but my 2nd did them in the first day (only a few, but still did them) however my 2nd took FOREVER to jump on the couch - but that wasn't a bad deal!!

If they have a reason to go up/down - food?? to play?? attention?? they usually find a way!!

[2m8pwebq0ydky]

Hi Dianne, I too have no stairs outside, . I suggest another dog, your tweenage watches his new family having a great time going up and down the steps with the other dog, the other dog gets the praise and rewards.Every now again you envite tweenage to join in.
There is an episode with Ceasar Milan on just this, he got a very little pom to come down stairs, using his other dogs.
Might br worth a try.

[Stephanie]

We just had to deal with this! We live on the first floor of our complex...and we don't go anywhere with stairs...until yesterday! We went to visit my grandparents and they have three steps to get from the ground to the door. Since we were going to be there for a while I wanted him to know how to use them. So this is what we did. I stood behind him...and my mom stood at the top of the stairs calling him with his favorite toy. He would only put his front paws on the first step...but no further. So I put his back paws on the step and his front paws on the next step...and he kinda figured it out from there. He was pretty slow with them, but he knew how they worked. He wouldn't go down at first either. We did the same kind of thing. Are the stairs outside or inside the home? If they are outside I recommend doing this is the daylight. Brody had been going up and down all day and then onceit got dark it was a whole different story. Hope the family gets things worked out quickly!!

[Sam]

My Ollie (who is 14 weeks) is still learning how to use steps, which is a bit of a necessity in our house. He is very good at going up but struggles with going down. We have tried coaxing him and doing the whole "well we are going...' to see if he will follow but he is very selective. He will go down one set of stairs outside the house but not the other set on the other side of the house. I don't suppose it helps that they are 'open' stairs (in that they have not back to them).
We will just keep perserving...... and meanwhile my biceps are looking better every day!!!!
Good Luck....