Help with going down stairs.

[Bob Johnston]

Sophie will be 4 months old in a few days and refuses to go down the stairs into the yard and its the only way into the grass. She has no issue flying up them but has to be carried down them. She is starting to push 25 lbs and while carrying her is a blast for her its getting harder to do. If I leave her out side with out carrying her down she will pee or poo right on the deck. I have tried putting a treat on each step, sitting on the step in front of her and calling her to me and countless ideas that I googled. Other then building a ramp I am out of ideas. She watches the other dogs go up and down them everytime she is out so i know she understands how they work she just wont go down.

[Yelena]

I just got my puppy this past weekend (he's 8 weeks old). But he already managed to climb up the stairs to the second floor (about 8 steps). Still too scared to go down. I'm not sure if it's even safe at his age to be going up the stairs... but it was pretty adorable to watch. Only tried it once. Other than that he only goes up the one step to the yard, but won't go down it. These responses were great to read. I really hope I won't need to carry him down the stairs for another 2 months!

[Kevin,Keri and FRED]

The treats are the way to go. I don't agree with people saying to "just give them a yank". He probably won't be big enough to walk down the stairs safely until 14 - 16 weeks.

Just set him up at the top so there's nowhere else for him to go and set a treat on each step. Eventually he will be tempted to get the first one and so on. Just congratulate each step and be there to catch him in case he decides to flop down the stairs.

Every morning Fred walks to the top of the stairs and waits. I grab a couple pieces of his food and place them at the bottom of the steps and walk away and a few seconds later "plop, plop, plop," down the steps he comes.

Don't yank him down the stairs, it's always best to avoid any negative association with your dog.   

[Sue & Lily Grace]

I so agree, negative association will never help anything. I believe my Cassie was pulled to get her to go up the stairs, she ran and just kept hitting her legs on the next riser. She never outgrew this and even though she finally learned (at five years old) to go up and down carpeted stairs she was never comfortable with it.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Our Sophie didn't do stairs (going down) until she was probably 3 y/o or so.  She would have a problem with the ones in Bob's picture above ... where the backs and sides are open.  She also had a problem going down if the stairs were steep or not real wide.  DH has had to carry her (60 lbs) down more than one flight of stairs.  She is pretty good at them now though. 

[Toddworth & Allison]

How's Sophie been doing with the stairs, Bob? I'm guessing from the picture that she started getting used to it. We carried Bartleby up the basement steps for the first few weeks and then when he looked interested in going up the first 2-3 steps, I stood above him and coaxed him. He'd put his front paws up but then not really lunge his back legs, so I then lifted up his butt onto the next step until he did it himself.

Going down took a bit longer but I put him on the third step and stood at the bottom with treats. He was apprehensive for some time but eventually got it. The other day we were at a cookout and there were back yard steps--there were people at the bottom of them and he bounded down the stairs like they were nothing.   

[Bob Johnston]

For the most part stairs have been conquered? We still get a little hesitation when we first wake up in the morning but as long as I walk down first she follows.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

Yea for Sophie!