stairs
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| Sheeeer fright! At least initially. It would help them and their confidence if you put the "rubberized" stair treds on each step giving them a visual clue that they aren't going to fall through and a firm, not slip surface to build their confidence. Stairs are spooky enough, open steps will be more hazardous but a dog who learns to slow down and concentrate should learn.
Our dogs learned if they crept down they'd be OK. In fact it was the steps that told us how blind our StB had become when he stood at the top and whimpered. He could go up, but not down. When he'd get stuck we'd back down the steps keeping a hand on his shoulder. Dangerous for us, but safe for the dog. |
| I have a spiral staircase and though it did take awhile for the dogs to get used to it, once they figured it out there haven't been any problems. |
| our pup did very well on stairs, her back end wanted to go faster then her front at first. we had someone walk downfirst just in case. |
| Both of our dogs came to us as pups, and did fine with the stairs. We worked on going up first, slowly, with lots of tasty treats. Then we worked on down the same way, but one of us was always going backwards down the stairs in in front of the pup, to prevent free-falls. Both navigated the stairs without any trouble after that.
Laurie and Oscar |
| Molly was very scared of open stairs we had in our old house initially as a pup - but to be fair it must look pretty scary from down there. We found it really helpful to walk her up and down the stairs on her lead to help her grow in confidence. There was a time when she could get up but was too scared to come down without you next to her!
Now she bombs up and down! |
We have open steps to the basement and baby Z does just fine on them -- we try to keep the dogs out of the basement but he likes it because it's cool and their is always a fan down there (the basement gets wet). Years ago we had a borzoi who would go down just fine but not be able to come up  We would have to walk her up the stairs one paw at a time  She was already full grown when we moved into the home and the house before had no open stairs so they were quite an adjustment but eventually she either got used to them or stopped going down (I can't remember which it was). |
| Depends on the dog. And the stairs. Steep, narrow staircases are harder for some dogs to go up and down.
With a puppy, you should gate, just as you would with a toddler or small child, but as others have mentioned, if you want your puppy to go downstairs, you need to accustom the pup to the stairs. Older dogs will eventually have problems with stairs, sooner if there is a problem with arthritis or hip displaysia, or if the dog is overweight. Some dogs never mind stairs at all, some don't much like them. None of my dogs has had problems with stairs going into the house or upstairs to the bedroom, except when Merlin was very old and having difficulty walking in general. Basment is different--darker, steeper, more narrow. Archie has never minded stairs going to the basement and will automatically head there if he's wet or messy. Merlin loved the basement, unless he was wet and messy and knew he'd be taken down there to clean up. But he liked to hang out there because it's cool. Archie has never liked hanging out in the basement. Sophie and Sherman were terrified of the basement, and Sherman will only go down under duress. Sophie has taught herself not to be afraid--if we're downstairs in the basement, she thinks there's a party and she has to come check it out. She is obviously very proud of herself, every time she comes down--you can see she remembers that she was afraid and now, she has conquered her fear, or is willing to go down those stairs despite her fear. She has also tried to convince Sherman to come down and you can see that he is very torn: he wants to do whatever his littermate does--except go down those stairs! |
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