Fear of Stairs

stephenbbq

I just got a year and half old Norwegian Elkhound mix named Zadie this weekend and while she is a very even-tempered, quiet, and sweet dog, I have been having a lot of problems with her in regards to going outside.

We live on the second floor of an apartment building, with the stairs on the outside of the apartment. She will follow me to the door, stay still when I put on her leash, but needs to be coaxed out of the house to get outside. Once outside, she refuses to even attempt the stairs, even though she's climbed a small set of them outside the house before.

When I try to pick her up so that I can carry her outside, she turns herself perpendicular to me so I can't grab her or she presses herself up against a wall and lies down.

I've been able to grab her two times before to ferry her up and down the stairs, but maybe she distrusts me now? If I'm unable to coax her down the stairs or to get her to let me carry her down, are there any good ways to get my dog to go outside for walks and for the bathroom?

(As an interesting aside, she will willing jump on the couch but is really really reticent to jump down off of it. Even getting out of the car was scary for her.)

suzukigirl

Burger was scared of stairs when he was a puppy but he got over it soon. I would put treats on the top of the stairs. Or lure him with treats on each step.

But I have to say I got lucky with my dog, he isnt scared of long car rides or elevators like some of the previous dogs my family have had.

Renoman

Zadie may never have seen stairs like yours before. You just brought her home and she needs some time to get used to things. Spend time with her teaching her she has nothing to fear from the stairs. Try walking slowly up and down with her and for every advancement up or down she makes, give her a treat. With patience and work you can get her to come around.

You didn't say where you got her from. Maybe she's got a very unpleasant memory of stairs like yours in her previous home. Be gentle with her, it sounds like when you grab at her she becomes very scared.

RufusRockz

My pup was very unsure of stairs for weeks, she would act scared - and she's a very confident dog! Now she is just used to them. She's still not allowed upstairs in the house though

Tess&Coco

I agree with Renoman that you don't know what associations your pup has with stairs - she may have been hurt on them previously, or an impatient owner may have scared her by pulling her down.

I know that going *down* stairs is much harder for dogs than going up - it took us about two months to get Coco to come down the stairs on her own. She would walk up fine, but we encouraged her by putting a bit of treat on a step about three down from her, then another three so she came down gradually.

It sounds like at her age and size, encouraging your dog to manage the stairs on her own may be preferable all around to trying to carry her on them each time. Good luck!

And I also think big breeds may have more difficulty because the treads are that much smaller in relation to their body (although I've never had a toy breed and I imagine there may be a converse difficulty there!). My friend's male wolfhound was about two before he worked out how to come downstairs on his own, very distressing when you've got a HUGE dog stuck upstairs...

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