Going down stairs?

[K and Racey]

How old was your pup when he/she started going down the stairs. Racey will go up them, but doesn't go down, and hasn't had the courage yet to try.

Thanks!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Took Remington a long time... I remember him being 40 lbs and I was carrying him up and down them... but he got the hang of it eventually! :)  However, I worried that I would be carrying an 82 lb doodle around for the rest of my life :)

[Melissa]

Buddy was probably about 4 months old.  He could go up ok, but got really scared to go down them.  I remember sitting at the bottom of one set ( we have a split level house) and I would put him on one step them get him to jump down one.  I would do this several times to try to get him used to it.  It would seem he would misjudge and when I would put him up 2 steps he would jump over the bottom one and right to the floor.  Gosh it is so fun to remember how much trouble he had with steps and also getting up on the bed.  He would have his paws on the bed and bark out of frustration.  Now he leaps up so easily!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

We don't have stairs at our house here in FL but over Thanksgiving we fly up to Michigan and my daughter's house has stairs.  Rooney was 3 months and he didn't know how to go up or down.  We taught him to do it by letting him smell a treat and showing him that we placed it on a step (one up or down depending on which direction we were trying to get him to go).  Then when he stepped down one we'd place another treat and so on.  He got the hang of it quick!

[Maxwell & Lilly's Page]

Our puppy was about 4 months old before we tackled stairs. He didn't want to go up or down the stairs, so we really had to work with him to get him to go up. Once he felt comfortable going up, he just tackled going down on his own. I was shocked, because I thought he'd have a harder time going down than up, but it wasn't the case. Our stairs are pretty steep, too. Our main training tool was patience, encouragement, and lots of treats! Now he runs up and down with ease and confidence.

[Kathy Hoppe]

Lauscha did our outside stairs the day we bought her home.... Which I know is not the normal case. I THINK it was because our breeder has a great way of teaching her pups to do stairs... She told us how. For going downstairs. Place your pup only 2 to 3 steps up from the bottom of your steps. You are standing at the bottom with a treat. Hopefully your pup will see it's only 2 to 3 steps to come down to you and the treat. Do the same thing for going upstairs only your at the top of the stairway. Keep adding a step or 2 at a time....

[BG and Gavin]

We taught Gavin after he was home about three weeks (13 weeks old or so).  We waited a bit because we really did not want him going down into the rec room on his own.  We put treats on each step as has been suggested.  To note, he was at my parent's who have wooden not carpet steps and he would not go down those stairs - just because they were different.  I got him moving and made him go up and down a couple of times so he would not be fearful and get "stuck" on this one thing.  He is 16 months now. 

[Toni McCann]

It took a couple of weeks. It is so funny to see them at the top of the stairs. It is like they are saying (no way). We started to help him by putting frount paws down then the back. When he started doing it on his own, it was so cute. Really slow it will happen can you imagine how it looks to them?

[Toni McCann]

The top of our bed is 36" off the floor. He is really big now, but still can't jump that high. He lay's right next to the bed and I've come so close to stepping on him.

[K and Racey]

Thanks everyone. I'll try the 2-3 steps with a treat and see how she does. Kort