what is going on?

Okay, I have a serious question. I dont know whether this is just a behavior or if it is something medical.

Maya has been doing really good with housetraining lately. Usually right after she finishes eating we go straight outside and she will potty and poop.

Well after supper tonight we went out and she pottied and then squated like she was going to poop, so I did the normal calm "good potty, good Maya" deal then when she got up to come to me for her normal ear scratching I noticed that she infact did NOT poopy or pee. she did this once more during this outting and then we came inside and in the crate for 20 minutes and then back outside... again she faked me out....

could this just be becuase it is REALLY COLD or is it something i should call the vet about.
I know that she hasnt eaten anything but her dog food and a few dog treats today so thats not my concern. I guess I am just worried.


Also I think i may have started something bad. Maya doesnt walk well on a leash and she absolutly will NOT go down any stairs which proves to be a problem as to get outside we have to go down 4 stairs on the deck. I have been carrying her. I realize that she is going to get big and fast and that I wont be able to carry her. I have tried luring her down the stairs with a treat (which didnt work) and I have tried putting her down so that her front paws are on the second to top stair and her back paws are on the top of them but she just backs up. The farthest I have gotten her is if I put her front paws on the second to bottum step and her back paws on the next one up, if I do that she will go down the rest of the way. What do I do about the stairs?

update... she finally pooped.... but I hope she doesnt keep tricking me about this. It is COLD outside!

why i am geusing its just the cold if you ask me i think you have started a promblem with the stairs. i mean i spoil my three dogs and they go up and down stairs so you might want to work on that.

Yeah, I talked to a dog trainer in my town today (I was signing Maya up for puppy obediance classes) and I asked her about the stairs and she gave me some tips. She also invited me to go visit one of her training classes on Monday. So I think I am going to do that.

I really kind of want some private training sessions as well but that is like three times the money than the public classes. The reason I wanted to have private sessions as well was becuase that way we could focus on specific issues.
Oh well, If there are some issues that come up I can always just ask if she will help out.

My previous dog hated stairs with open risers as a puppy. He'd go down ok once he was old enough to reach the stairs reliably, but forget going up. Imagine what the stairs must look like to a pup. I don't doubt they're very frightening. I got my dog up and down with gentle coaxing and massive treating. I'd hold his collar a few steps down and get down to his level. Even a tentative foot put down was worth a treat and lots of praise. He learned pretty quickly that any foot put on the stair merited a treat. It took a while, but eventually it worked. I couldn't have it not work as I couldn't carry a 90lb dog up and down stairs forever as it's not only inconvenient but dangerous.

He didn't really do it with confidence until he was about 4-5 months old. He did this thing where he hopped his entire body sideways down one tread then another. Puppies sometimes look like they could do it but going down stairs requires a lot of body control and extension. It may just be an issue of time and gentle coaxing. Start on one of the lower risers, like 2 or 3 up from the ground, place the puppy on it, then coax him down like I did. I found it worked well and the dog had a yummy time.

Wrigley too..

Wrigley too was scared of many stairs as a pup although 4-5 was no problem...but then again we don't have a 2-story house so besides the few times visiting my mom he hadn't been exposed to full flights of stairs. Both my husband and I would unleash him at the top of the stairs and call for him at the bottom and lure him with treats--eventually he got better and better until he would do them (probably around 5 months)