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.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

Oh Bob, this brings back memories and makes me smile. My Cassie was four years old before she would go up or down the stairs. She was not 25 pounds but only 16. She came to work with me and I had to carry her up and down 2 sets of stairs so many times during each day. She never learned to use the stairs until visiting relatives and they had carpeted stairs to the bedrooms. My guess Cas did do want to be left alone at night so after a few little pushes she would race up them. She never learned to go up or down casually. I will be watching this post to see what ideas people have that actually worked. Good luck, Bob. Sofie is just adorable.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

It brings smiles to my face, also.  Hurley will not get into or out of the car unless he WANTS to.  When I take him to our kids to play with their dogs he cannot get out of the car fast enough but when we leave he goes rigid and I have to lift 35 lbs into the car. Then he tries to twist around fast so I cannot shut the door.

As for steps, the kid's house is a two-story.  Hurley had no problem catching onto the up and down.  He practically rolled down the steps at first but he did it.  The first couple of times we coaxed him downstairs but he wouldn't come until he saw their dogs at the bottom.    Now he flies up and down so fast it actually scares me.

I don't have an answer that will help you other than a pronged collar and leash and working her down the stairs that way.

I think Doodles are so smart the play us in ways the can and when they can.  I must say that when Hurley pulls his car refusal stunt it does make me laugh.   

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

That's a bit of a frustrating one, isn't it? I went through that with Lachlan when he was a pup, and he was about Sophie's age when I finally said "right, no more being carried for you." I ended up having to do a combination of treats and "force" ... got a bag of really high-value treats and a flat collar and basically walked him down one foot at a time, slowly and gently but firmly, with a treat at each movement until he reached the bottom, then a handful of treats and "woo-hoo!" His problem was clearly fear of doing it by himself, so once he'd done it the first time he was like "oh! I CAN do this!" and I never had to "help" him again.

Of course, I had to repeat that for the front steps, the basement steps ... but once he knows he can do it, and it only takes once, then it's no problem ever again.

[Rachel and Ollie]

I had to do this with Ollie (3rd floor apartment). I hate to say "force," but it's the closest to what I had to do. I used a leash and just tried to get him as close to the stair as possible then I called him from lower on the stairs and got really excited as he started to go down. He just had to realize it was okay...he still will only go up and down on the wall side of the stairs. Funny dogs. 

[Marcy, Apollo & Phoebe]

We are going through the same thing! Only Apollo is 6 months old, over 40 lbs, and will not go up or down stairs. My husband ends up carrying him. Two labs next door to us have tried to show him and he is still afraid. It looks like there is still hope--but I hope it's not when he's 4 years old!:-) Who knows how big he'll be by then...

[Sue & Lily Grace]

I hope it does not take that long.  Cas, for some reason was afraid.  I think she was dragged to make her go up at work by someone that took her down.  Even when she did go up she ran and then always hit her front paws on the next higher riser.  So altho she learned she was never happy.  Treats and slow going I think is the way to go.  Good Luck.

[Bob Johnston]

We are working on it every day now she did go down a set of long half size steps out front when we went to the vet. I did it on her leash and did have to give her a little extra tug when she started down but she followed very slow behind. But out back is still a no go. I've been watching her and it looks more like a frustrated puppy face then one of fear. Since she is going to be 4 months old soon and we will start puppy training classes I may have someone come out to the house an see what they think about the stairs.

[Theresa & Duncan]

We had this EXACT problem with Duncan. I visited a friend one day when her trainer was over, and we were able to nip stairs in the bud pretty quickly. She put the leash on him and started pretty far back from the bottom of the stairs, then she walked toward the stairs with Duncan quickly and with confidence, but at the same time like it wasn't a big deal. The first time up she had me at the top of the stairs calling him while they went up (with a little tugging at this point) and praising when he got there. After a few times he was running up like a champ. We repeated the process for going down, and I have never carried him since. It's hard to insist when you know they're scared, but in this case pups usually need to be coaxed out of their comfort zone. I hope this helps!

[Bob Johnston]

the picture is horrible but its more about the subject and her action yay.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Yayyyyy!!!

[Rachel and Ollie]

Awww! Look at her go! So cute. 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

She is so pretty and seems to have going downstairs figured out.   Yea!!!