Afraid of Stairs?

charlie052009 · Post by **charlie052009** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:55 am

I recently (as in October 10) brought home a 5 month old Lab puppy named Charlie. The first day, he was pretty scared of the stairs leading up to my condo (I live on the fourth floor). However, after a bit of coaxing and encouragement, we made it up the stairs in roughly 10 minutes.
Now he has no problem going up the stairs, recently though he has begun to shy away from going down the stairs.
This morning, I tried to coax him with encouragement and when that didn't work and he just sat down at the top, I turned around and sat down waiting for him to come down to meet me. However, he didn't so I began to think it was something more than his just being stubborn. I tried to use a treat and thats when I discovered that he wasn't just being stubborn but was (I assume) scared to go down. He would stand on the very edge to try and grab the treat, but would not go down the stairs. It took many attempts for him to finally make it down the first stair and repeated treats to make it down the other 3 flights.
Any suggestions?

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:54 pm

Stairs are dodgy for growing pups, and four flights is a lot to ask of him. Could be it is hurting him. Labs are prone to hip and elbow problems, so might be worth getting him checked out.

Mattie · Post by **Mattie** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:47 pm

My vet told me that stairs can do a lot of damage to growing pups and small dogs, they have to over extend the back legs to get up and down them which can cause problems.

I would carry him up, you can make it easier for him by putting him in a bag.

charlie052009 · Post by **charlie052009** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:31 am

Thanks for the advice

I'm going to see my vet today, so I will ask her about it also. I was wondering if it was hurting him since the stairs are pretty far spaced... good thing he's still small enough to carry...in another month or so...not so much!

mselisabs · Post by **mselisabs** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:21 am

Hey, I graduated from Mason. Small world!

For now maybe you can just take it easy. A little stairs here, a little carrying there...

charlie052009 · Post by **charlie052009** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:16 pm

Wow that is a small world!
Did you graduate recently? I'm a junior right now...almost through first semester! YAY!

mselisabs · Post by **mselisabs** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:38 pm

Yeah, May '08. Husband and I have since moved down to NC but my sister takes classes there too