I've recently aquired a 3yo lab who is having some issues with my stairs. When we come to my apt., she bounds up the 6 granite steps without any issue. However, once inside she will not go down or up my 33 steps (3 sections of 11) to my apt. Going down if I place her on part way down she sprints down the rest, yet I can't coax her up any of them. At 55 pds its getting tiresome of carrying her. Please help.

Hello,
Have you tried coaxing her with lots of praise and a few tit bits?

I have a child gate at the foot of the stairs to stop my Labs going up stairs. When "The Flower" was a puppy I decided it was time to redecorate the stairs and landing so removed the gate. On the Monday around 10 o’clock in the morning I received a call to say "The Flower" had gone up the stairs but could not get down. I had to get a pass out, drive 9 miles home, carry her down stairs and drive the 9 miles back to work! I must admit that I did not have the heart to give my boss the full reason for going home but used the cover all excuse "Personal Reasons" :D

As for getting her to go up and down one her own, encouragement! Plus judicious use of "The Invisible Lead" (food)

Regards, John

I have a 6 month old springer who loves going upstairs, but could never get down again. We used to stand at the bottom with his box of bonios coaxing him, but he would never come.

One day not so long ago, we heard this thudding noise, and it turns out that he discovered he could slide downstairs by stretching out on his tummy, and now that's the only way he does it. We've tried to stop him, but he seems to like it! Mad dog!

Hi there,

you did'nt say how long you have had the lab, so I hope this helps. When we got our lab he was 12mths old, terrified of everything!! Even his own shadow (quite literally). He looked at the stairs with absolute horror! But like everything else time and patience concored. Like everyone else says, being a lab often the encouragement of food and the 'happy' voice to go with it did the trick for us. The other thing we had, he was frightened of water, we foolishly thought being a lab he ought to like it, so encouraged him to do so - funnily enough now we wish we had'nt.

Good Luck with your lab, theres lots of people on here who can help with any problem you might come across.

Lynda:)

Well the saga continues. My girlfriend and I are climbing instructors so I took morgan (my new dog, of 3yo) out with us for a pretty normal weekend. She was climbing and jumping up and down rocks twice her height. Not once did I see the "stair scared" dog I have at home. This leads me to believe that its something stair specific.

I tried making her skip a meal and that displayed little progress. I had her skip a full day with no reall progress. QUESTION: HOW LONG DO I TAKE THIS FOOD THING? What I've found that kind of works is carrying her part way up the stairs and let her climb the rest. On the flight going to my door I can get her to do all but the first four. Interestingly enough, If I put food on the steps as been suggested by many people she can reach the first four steps for the food without her hind legs leaving the landing. I'm not really sure what that says. I've tried pushing from behind, pulling with a body harness and walking side by side with her. But I"m sure many of you know, when a lab doesn't want to do something, they can be quite stubborn. So any help as usual would be greatly appreciated

I have to ask why you are trying skipping meals? I can't imagine what that will do to help. I look at it from the direction of your dog weighing 55 LBS which for a bitch is definitely not over weight. I know The Flower" is a large well muscled working bitch but she’s 79 LBS and not an oz of fat on her. I still maintain that the way forward is encouraging her with treats and in the end this will do the trick.

Regards, John

I would also be worried that a lab weighed that amount, the average weight for a lab is 70 lbs why do people make their dogs skip meals? how would people like it if we withdrew their food? if this dog has a fear of stairs paitence and kindness should win out in the end not starving the dog.Have you also stopped to think that in her previous home she may have been trained to NOT go up stairs.
I know in america lots of people live in apartments but maybe she has been taught not to go up steps.

I had a labrador who was afraid of the stairs. I bred her and nothing bad happened to her on steps or stairs. The rest of the litter were fine with their new owners. Georgia was confident with everything else.
I had a behaviourist come to the house as she didn't believe a dog would be afraid of the stairs! She didn't really know what to suggest other than rewarding her if she did a step etc. With Georgia if I put her in the middle of the stairs she would just freeze and the look in her eyes was pure fear. We started off doing one step and I would get so excited with her if she did it and give her something really tasty. Then we progressed to 2 then 3 etc.
In the end if we went out and we came to steps she would either run as fast as she could up or down them dragging me on the lead or simply refuse to go anywhere near them. At 2 and a half we suddenly had a breakthrough and she was able to go up and down and turn on the stairs, no reason I can think of for this breakthrough, other than letting her do it in her own time. Yes 2 and a half years is a long, long time but there ids no point forcing the issue.
I live in a 3 storey house and the lounge is on the middle floor, so Georgia has always needed to go down the stairs to get to the garden and we managed. At the house we come in on the 2nd floor and the steps up to the front door have a drop on either side and I really think this may have been the problem and caused this phobia!!!!
Georgia went to live with a friend of mine recently and she has 3 steps up to her frontdoor, and although by then she was better with our steps, Georgia will go up Jay's 3 steps but is then very nervous to come down.
I don't think Georgia will ever be totally confident on stairs etc but it is a problem that is now managable.
All I can suggest is encouragement but do it in the dogs time, on their terms. GOODLUCK.

One of the dogs my other half had as a child (they were all black labs) actually fell down the stairs and broke his neck dying instantly:( Needless to say he makes sure the kids close the stairs door after them to prevent Kass from going up.

Stacey x x x

Are your stairs open backed? I used to have a dobbie who was petrified of backless stairs cos as a puppy he fell through from the top stair at his first owners home. Are your stairs carpeted or wooden - it may be she's had a nasty experience and slid down them.

How much do you know about the stairs where she was before you got her? Could be something like this has happened in the past - or that a previous owner has not allowed her upstairs and she thinks it's not allowed. Only suggestions - we never really got Loki (dobbie) over his stairs issue I'm afraid - must have been pretty scary for him I must admit, food for thought I hope if nothing else. Sorry I can't be more positive about getting her round this issue or more like up it. ;)

KirstyS
:)

A friend of mine has a lab who was terrified of the stairs, and what we did was to give him a treat one step at a time

After he got to the fourth step it took much longer to get him to go to the fifth and upwards, after about a month of doing the work with the treats every day he finally got over it and climbs stairs all the time now

Good luck!

Theresa

Hi, I read your story with interest. I'm a reporter for an online animal healthcare magazine, called VetCentric (see http://www.vetcentric.com) and I'm writing an article about dogs that are afraid of the stairs. if any one would be willing to do an e-mail interview for the article that would be great. It would just be answering a few questions on this topic and we would print your first and last name. If you are interested, please e-mail me at cmehra@vetcentric.com.

Sincerely,
Christina Mehra
Staff Writer
VetCentric