Climb Every Staircase
May 21st, 2009
Filed in: Uncategorized
Young Toby used to be afraid of the stairs.
Stair phobia is a fairly typical new puppy challenge … stairs are big, scary and slippery. Going up usually isn’t a problem for most dogs, but going down? Yikes.
The secret to conquering stairs is taking it one step at a time, literally.
To start, I threw some of my cheapie Home Dept stair treads down (slick wood steps can lead to traumatic spills – pups appreciate traction when they’re figuring out how to navigate the mountain.) I placed a treat on the bottom step, which Toby had no problem reaching. Up, down, up down on that bottom step, until Toby looked ready to conquer step #2.
It only took a few minutes and some tasty hot dogs before Toby was going up and down the bottom half of the staircase with ease:
We didn’t bother going to the very top, as that’s a lesson for another day. Baby steps, folks!
The only drawback to teaching a pup to navigate stairs is that the potential explore, chase and pee zone gets bigger!
