dog won't go down stairs

[triangleman42]

Not all stairs, just the ones in my house leading to the finished basement where I live. They are steep, wooden, and obviously scare her. She knows that I get her food from down there, that I do things down there, and that I sleep down there. She really really wants to go down but is terrified. She often sits at the top of them with her paws & head hanging over the edge when I'm down there. She also often gives the stairwell a good sniff when she passes by and seems curious about them. I have brought her in through the garage and up the stairs many times so she is not afraid of the basement, just the stairs.

Are there any methods I should or should not be using to try and teach her how to go down these stairs? I certainly do not want her to hurt herself and am concerned that maybe they're too slippery and steep for her to ever go down.

I've been working on getting her comfortable seeing me go down them. I will stand at the top, call her over, make her sit and take a treat gently. Then I'll go down one step and repeat. I can go down about 4 or 5 steps before she won't sit or settle down. She just kinda bounces all over the place excitedly. When I first started this a few weeks ago I could only go down two steps. This is not something I've worked on every day but rather every few days. She's a border collie/lab mix, if it makes any difference.

[Herschel]

She's a border collie/lab mix, so these stairs are going to be the most fun she's ever had.

Materials:
-High value treats (cheese, pieces of hot dog, etc.)
-Pom poms, school uniform, and any other cheerleading materials you need (just kidding)

Give her a treat and guide her over to the stairs. Then put a treat two steps from the top, two steps after that, two step after that, so on and so forth.

Stand at the bottom of the stairs and in the happiest, giddiest voice you can, call her name, jump up and down and act as silly as possible. Make it clear that she needs to come to you if she wants to have the best time of her life.

Each step that she takes praise like crazy with "Good girl!!! Come on, good girl!!" Once she takes the first few steps she'll come right down (continue cheering). If she comes all the way down, praise her like crazy and give her a few treats.

It's silly and ridiculous, but it works. I've used it to get two 8-10 week puppies to go up and down the stairs within 10 minutes of trying. Your dog will probably cry a little bit at the top, but just make it clear that she has nothing to fear because the stairs are the happiest things in the world.

[triangleman42]

Thanks Hershel! I'll give it a try tonight. I've been hesitant to push her too much since the steepness of the stairs cannot be overstated. My guess is they are at a 50 or 55 degree angle. My thinking has been that if she is afraid of them then maybe she has reason to be. It isn't like when she got spooked by the foggy silhouette of a tire swing and I got her to approach it and see that it was not a scary beast or something. She knows her sense of balance more than I could pretend to so I've allowed her to continue avoiding going down them. I really do not want to see her tumble literally head over heals down the stairs and into the wall at the bottom. Neither my heart nor my checkbook can afford that.

[bubbatd]

Good post Herchel !! Saved me some typing !

[Doberluv]

How old is she? I'd limit as much as possible the number of times she goes up and down. It's rather hard on the shoulders and legs of a young pup. It's kind of like the same idea as not over doing repetitive exercise with a young dog until the growth plates close. However, Herchels got the good advice for getting her use to them. You could even practice just the last 2 or 3 steps by placing her up and coaxing her to follow you into the basement. But again, with a young pup, I'd be careful not to strain her joints and bones with too much going up and down the stairs. JMO.

[triangleman42]

Thanks y'all. Jetty is 2.5 years old so no worries about her young bones still forming.

[triangleman42]

I gave this a try last night, using some tasty bits of ham. She wasn't having it at all. She would lie down at the top with her front paws hanging over a bit and she would stretch to smell the ham, then she'd jump back and forth, whine, and pace around. She's never whined like that before. I was really trying hard to show her how awesome the ham was and how fun it would be to go down the stairs. Eventually I had to give up.

Tonight I will try to bring her to the basement from the outside, then walk her up two or three stairs and get her to turn around and come down them. Aside from that, does anyone else have suggestions? Are there any techniques that I could use to teach her to slowly and gently walk down the stairs?

[Lizmo]

Try and do as though the stairs are no big deal....just act like they are not their...jsut walk up them calmly and with no worries....as you get near the stairs...talk to her in a happy voise and keep doing this as you get to the stiars and start to go up them...try and keep eye contact with her :)

Best of Luck!

[dr2little]

Have you thought of putting a non skid runner down the center of the stairs? I know that my a few of my dogs are affraid of the hardwood stairs (one fell on them) so I put a small area rug on the bottom so that they had traction to go up and a runner on the stairs. I used an almost see through plastic runner that gave my dogs the traction that they needed. It was really inexpensive and not unattractive either.:)

Then I would start at the bottom or even position your dog on the second or third stair from bottom with yummy treats and coax her down. I wouldn't push things but keep things upbeat like the others have suggested. Starting at the top is way too intimidating but one or two from the bottom and working up to more stairs from there may just take the edge off.:)

[scottdancingale]

the nonskid material that gives traction.. sounds like something im looking for too.. ( problem described in my post) . however, im in Singapore so i would like to know more about the nonskid so that i can find some kind of equivalent material.. thanks