stairs and elevator.., Hmmmmmm

[chastity]

thank you everyone for such great advice and for sharing your own personal experiences. so its been 8 hours that she has been home.. everything is okay so far.. still hasn't really eaten.. has had a few treats when i ask her to sit but has been drinking water. so she finally went to the bathroom about 45 minutes ago.. i had to walk a little bit with her because the leash isnt't her fave. she doesnt fight it but just stops occasionally and looks at me like "I don't like this leash and collar thing." but she goes with it. big issue i'm having is that she doesn't know how to come up and down the stairs and doesn't like the elevator door. i'm on the 2nd floor so carrying her down isn't the easiest thing and i don't want her to get used to it. i tried getting her to come up and down the stairs with a treat but she doesn't even want to try... thats the only time she will pull back and come to a complete stop on the leash. i will keep being persistent, i know she has never been exposed to an elevator and i guess neither stairs! hopefully it will just be a matter of time for her to just get used to the surroundings and noises.. but i know.. patience patience..i'm not frustrated.. just a little worried i guess.. i feel kind of bad that she is a little scared..

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Chastity, I just wrote on the other discussion... be patient. It will take a day or two for her to get comfortable with everything. Be loving and she will come around.

[Leslie and Halas]

Congratulations on Charly! I don't really have any advice - just wanted to say that I'm sure she'll be really happy in her new home. She's just got a lot of new things to get used to. I think she'll be fine with the elevator and stairs eventually. She's probably never used either before, so it's just another part of her new world. With patience, love, and encouragement, she'll be fine.

[Maya]

Chastity, many things will change for the better as she gets used to her new environment and starts feeling at home.

When we first got Cassie, she was almost 7 months old, and semi-potty-trained. When I needed to go somewhere, and had to leave her at home - I wanted to make sure she went potty before I left. I'd take her outside for a walk, and she'd usually pee immediately, but it would take FOREVER before she pooped, usually around 30-40 min! Not good when I am rushing to be somewhere and I just cannot be late! Now, after 2 months, it's so much easier! I noticed that, when we walk the streets of our immediate neighborhood (not the trails we have nearby), there are two front yards that are her favorite poop spots! (How lucky for the owners of those lawns :-)) I have no idea why she picked those two, but it sure helps me that she did! When I am in a hurry, I just take her that way, and sure enough, she'll poop on one of the two lawns, and I can take her back home and then do my thing. When we do have the time, we take longer walks, go farther away from our house, and she'll eventually find a poop-worthy spot, or if she doesn't - it's still OK - but it's good to know where to take her if I need her to do her business quickly, so I can get on with MY business :-))

I don't know if this example helps you any - I just wanted to say that things will become easier as you establish some routines. She might be scared of the stairs now, but she'll soon realize that nothing bad happens on them - not only that, but she'll get to love them, because they mean 'going out for a WALK' (and what Doodle doesn't like going for walks)!

It'll all be fine, you'll see! Good luck and congratulations!

[Cam & Oski]

Oski's the same way--he has his "poop" & "pee" spots that whenever we go that way, he can't help himself & must go there. We live in a house & I haven't had to get him into an elevator but is there a toy or treat that she really loves? Maybe you could practice with another person & have them hold her on the leash while you walk into the elevator (or up/down the stairs), turn around, call her & hold out the treat/toy while the second person walks her toward you? Just a thought.

Congrats on the new dood, you guys are going to have so much fun :)

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

As posted in the other discussion........Lynne is right.....Just keep reassuring her and praising her......Maintain calm....They pick up on your stress so it's important to be calm.....You're her "safe place" and her mommy now....Praise praise praise....Love love love.....She'll get the hang of it and you'll be amazed how quickly she'll respond to positive reinforcement.....

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

I agree with making this a positive experience. My husband and I actually live on the 4th floor in a condo so our doodle had to learn about stairs and elevators too. We brought our girl home when she was 8 weeks old so I know it will be a little different for you since your baby is a bit older, but just wanted to share with you how we got over these same hurdles. At first we did carry Fenway up and down the stairs because she was way to small to make it up or down 4 flights of stairs let alone do it with any speed. I mean we were trying to get her to the bathroom so this needed to be pretty quick. Anyway when we she finally got old enough to go up and down the stairs by herself she was very leary of the them. She really just didn't know how to go up and down stairs so we had to teach her. We did this by practicing when we weren't going to the bathroom (so we weren't in any hurry). Our trainer told it would be easier for her to go up the stairs than down. So we started by putting her down on the last one or two stairs when we were going back up and slowly built on that until she was able to go up all by herself (it didn't take long). We didn't use any treats but she was pretty motivated to stay near us so I went up ahead of her and my husband stayed behind just in case she stumbled or fell. We did the same thing when she learned going down the stairs. We would put her down on the last 1 or 2 steps and then slowly worked her up to doing more and more. This took a little while since we had 4 flights not 2, but since your baby is older it may not take you that long and you may be able to move a little more quickly than we did.
Now the elevator was a whole other battle. Fenway was very nervous the first time we went up and down the elevator. She was not sure about this at all. Like others have mentioned it is very important for you to remain calm and non-chalant about this experience. Treats may help. What helped us, especially my husband, was for us to carry on a conversation while we were going up and down so that we were distracted and not thinking about how uncomfortable she was and communicating that to her. You would be surprised how much she feeds off of your emotions. Just act normal and she will eventually feed off of your confidence and become confident herself.
As far as the bathroom thing, what really helped us was taking her to the exact same spot every time we went out and then telling her to go potty. We would then tell her good potty when she actually went. If she didn't go we would go back upstairs and she would be crated for about 30 minutes and then we would try again. Now anytime I have to go anywhere we just take her to that same spot (her spot) tell her to go potty and she usually does. It's like clockwork. Took a little while to establish, but it's so nice now. I think when we get a house we'll probably do the same thing so that she only goes to the potty in one area of the backyard instead of leaving us lots of land mines all around!
Hope some of this helps and good luck. Just enjoy your little bundle!

[Chris & Boys]

Hi Chastity!
Well, I haven't had any experience with this, but I think the following may help. Just try to walk her into the elevator without letting the door close. Let her sniff around and then leave the elevator. Do this a couple times, staying in longer and longer (without ticking off your neighbors! hehe), then, after she gets comfortable with the smell, let her go down to the first floor. Let me know if this helps!