Dog and stairs

HDMike

HDMike

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Location
Kingsport, TN.
My lab is scared to death of stairs. As far as I know she has never feel down the steps but she is scared to death of them. She will pace back and forth like this for several seconds, and sometimes she will just sit down. We have hardwood floors and she is getting worse with the floors.

Any ides what I can do to break her of this?

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10200089654115577

Sorry not good at this embedding videos.
 
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first of all remove everything from the stairs, my wife used to put my clothes on the step for me to put them away and the dog wouldn't go up the steps if anything was on the steps. also make sure the top of the stairs is clear, it may be something that the dog sees that you don't pay any attention to.
 
Does she have alot of hair sticking down thru her toe pads she steps on?, My dog did and was shy of walking on linolium and a trim seems to have helped her.
 
two of my three labs have simular issues. I think it's a depth perception issue. I would start making her come to the top to eat, and to the bottom to potty. Love her up at the top when she makes the trip, and at the bottom when she decends.
Also, my black lab, male attacks the stairs, will not walk up them. But jumps from the forth highest step to hit the ground running when I take him out.
 
will she let you pick her up and carry her up/down stairs? if so, what you could do is carry her upstairs and get some treats or her favorite toy and have it at the bottom and kind of make going up and down the stairs fun...
 
How old is she? My black lab has developed a fear of grass/dirt in the yard. It is bizarre. We took her for a hike on a wooded trail by our house yesterday and she was bombing around everywhere, splashing in the creek, everything. Bring her home and it is like the backyard is hot lava. We literally have to babysit her to make sure she does her business, or else we come home and she has peed in the house. Fucking rediculous.
 
transman731 said:
first of all remove everything from the stairs, my wife used to put my clothes on the step for me to put them away and the dog wouldn't go up the steps if anything was on the steps. also make sure the top of the stairs is clear, it may be something that the dog sees that you don't pay any attention to.
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On the other steps going down to the den there is nother on the steps and she does the same thing. That box just happened to be there and I wanted to see what she would do when she got to it coming up the steps and as you see she turned and when right back down. When she goes down or up she has to have her left side up against the wall. When we are camping you have to pick her up to get her in the camper. At almost 80 lbs. my wife can't do that.

mommucked said:
Does she have alot of hair sticking down thru her toe pads she steps on?, My dog did and was shy of walking on linolium and a trim seems to have helped her.
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I have heard about the nails being long and clipped them to no avail. I'll check her paws and if there is long hair between them I'll trim it and see what that does.

upnover said:
two of my three labs have simular issues. I think it's a depth perception issue. I would start making her come to the top to eat, and to the bottom to potty. Love her up at the top when she makes the trip, and at the bottom when she decends.
Also, my black lab, male attacks the stairs, will not walk up them. But jumps from the forth highest step to hit the ground running when I take him out.
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I have tried this with her food and treats.....nothing. She will just lay down on her stomach and look at me.

Cherokeekid88 said:
will she let you pick her up and carry her up/down stairs? if so, what you could do is carry her upstairs and get some treats or her favorite toy and have it at the bottom and kind of make going up and down the stairs fun...
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I'm not carrying an 80 lb. dog up and down the stairs.

I'll have to get some other video of her walking around the house. We have hardwood floors and I believe this is most of her problem. At top of the step we have put a runner down and that has helped her for the most part going down
 
Blaze - she isn't that bad. She does very well at not messing in the house. She is crate trained. The one thing she did do was puking in the early morning. Come to find out she would have an empty stomach and the breeder told us that dogs get like an acid reflux when their stomachs are empty and puke. It was green and foamy. We started splitting her evening feeding and she has stopped.
 
Blaze said:
How old is she? My black lab has developed a fear of grass/dirt in the yard. It is bizarre. We took her for a hike on a wooded trail by our house yesterday and she was bombing around everywhere, splashing in the creek, everything. Bring her home and it is like the backyard is hot lava. We literally have to babysit her to make sure she does her business, or else we come home and she has peed in the house. Fucking rediculous.
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Ever had any fire ants in the yard?? and most dogs will go nuts when exploring new places w their best friends!
 
Oh and she is a little less than 4 years old. I can't wait for her to get some of the puppy out of her. You can't hardly pet her without her getting all excited, jumping, panting, going in circles, etc. etc.
 
:nopics:
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Young Tyrannosaurus Brandy
 
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Imagine walking on smooth finished concrete in a pair of old school metal spiked ball cleats. I can only imagine thats what a dog feels like walking on hardwood or laminate flooring. Steps are even worse.

We are working on a house,removing all carpet and installing hardwoods..the womans tall poodle cant stand it. She is actually contemplating tearing out the new wood and going back with carpet. The dog hates it..I can see it. The claws sound like a tap dancer. Its gotta suck for the dog.

Just my .02 but it could be a depth perception thing.
 
Here's my girl! The pic isn't that great. With her being so black it's so hard to get a good pic of her.

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Dylan W. said:
Just my .02 but it could be a depth perception thing.
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I mentioned this to the vet but he said her eyes are fine. I still think this could be her problem. Going up the camper is worse due to the steps being see through. I have to pretty much just pick her up and put her in but an 80 lb. dog is alot for the wife.
 
I'm no expert, but it sounds/looks like she's never learned how to tackle steps and panics/rushes them and stumbles and does'nt like that. Maybe walking her slowly up and down stairs on a leash would help her overcome the fear? Good looking Lab there, looks like a Black Bear :D and that big board might be scarin her too.
 
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HDMike said:
My lab is scared to death of stairs. As far as I know she has never feel down the steps but she is scared to death of them. She will pace back and forth like this for several seconds, and sometimes she will just sit down. We have hardwood floors and she is getting worse with the floors.

Any ides what I can do to break her of this?

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10200089654115577

Sorry not good at this embedding videos.
Click to expand...
 
Start by placing a rug at the bottom of the steps. She looks like she is having issues with the floor. She paces back to the rug in front of the door and then gets a little courage. Clear everything from the steps. Go down to her, put here on a leash, grab a treat and help her make those first few steps. Use your best higher pitched girlie voice, "Come XXX, let's go... Goooood girl" Don't try to get her up all the stairs, going up and down she looks like she has figured. It's the start and completion piece so remove all the distractions, have a treat ready, and only take the first few. Work with her two or three time successfully, praise her, praise her, praise her, and walk away after success. Go back later and repeat with success, treats and lots of praise. Key is gonna be that rug at the bottom and you're uber attention on what a good girl she is. Add a step or two each day and she'll be running up and down before you know it.
 
put some treats on the stairs and walk her up with a leash. keep the treats away where she doesn't have her left side against the wall.

food is a HUGE reward for dogs and they will do most anything for it. do it slowly, maybe 2 or 4 steps at a time, then 5 or 6, and so on and so forth until she tackles the stairs.

Maybe feed her on the stairs or even upstairs so she is forced to go up the stairs and get comfortable with them?
 
I agree with a treat on every 2nd or 3rd step. have her go up and down eating treats several times. then spread them out farther and farther until she becomes comfortable with stairs.
 
I had same issue with my dog.. I got some carpet squares they use in commercial building cut them up and tacked them down on my stairs.. my dog now runs up and down stairs with no issues..for her it was the slippery step she did not like..
 
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