I thought I'd share an experience I had last night that shows that even people who have owned a number of dogs sometimes make silly mistakes....

My youngest elkhound is almost two, and he's never been upstairs in his life.  He suffered an injury to a tendon as a youngster, and as a result, we never got round to practising on stairs as I've done with all the others.  He will go up short flights of steps, but he's never been up a full flight before.

Following the Houndshow, we had to wash his rear end outside using buckets as he'd sat in something sticky.  He's never had a full bath, and I have decided the time has come.  First, we'd have a trial run at the stairs.

I managed to get him up the stairs without too much difficulty, after an abortive first attempt.  He spent several happy minutes visiting people in their bedrooms and jumping on their beds to look out of the windows.  OK, now time to go back down.  Here's where the fatal flaw in the plan revealed itself.

Ekko is much larger than your average elkhound, about 55 cms at the shoulder, and very gangly and heavy - about 26 kilos.  I got him to the top of the stairs and gave him an encouraging shove, expecting him to go down as easily as he had come up.  He went down a step and then slammed the anchors on - "she's trying to kill me"!  My stairs are, admittedly, steeper than is usual.  A small struggle broke out, not without its hazards for either party - he went down another couple of steps, and then, to my horror, he desperately twisted himself sideways and somehow went through the bannisters!!!  And there he lodged, apparently stuck fast, with his back legs hanging over the handrail and the wall, and his front end sprawled on the landing.  The gap between the bannisters is wider than normal, but still it was a squeeze - I've no idea how he fitted his shoulders through.  My cries for help were answered by my eldest teenage son - pushing him backwards the way he had come did nothing, and pulling him didn't help either.  Finally, my son bodily lifted his rear end in the air, and managed somehow to feed his hips through the bars.  Then he picked him up and carried him down the stairs, over his shoulder so that he couldn't see the drop.  Luckily, the dogs are used to being carried, and he didn't struggle at all.

Both dog and owner were extremely upset by the experience.  I berated myself for my lack of thought - why on earth didn't I go in front of him and encourage him down, as I'd encouraged him up?  He seemed uninjured, but was quite distressed.  When my husband came back from work a couple of hours later, he could tell from his ears that he was still upset.  He seems to have forgotten all about it this morning, but I'll bet we'll never get him up the stairs again.  Not that I'm inclined to try.

Oooh Poor Ekko (and you!! what a heart stopper moment!)
One small step for man..... one giant leap for the Elkhund!

(He's been reading the Siberian husky 'Houdini' manual!! ;))