my dog is afraid of stairs - help!

[MD99]

i just adopted a dog a few days ago and have discovered that she's very afraid of going down our building's internal hall stairs. she's ok with the stairs that lead out of the building but i'm guessing that is because they are shorter and more manageable for her.

this is a big problem b/c i live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building and you have to go down the stairs to get outside. my boyfriend and i have had to resort to picking her up but she hates that and is making it harder and harder for us to do so.

we've tried to coax her down with treats but that's not working - she's too afraid. we also haven't had the proper time to train her either as we both work full time and have just enough time to try to get her to pick her up and take her for walks. we're hoping to spend the time this weekend to try to train her but i'm afraid we're going to need more time than that... everything i've read says it could take several days or weeks!

does anyone have any advice?? ...is it bad if we're picking her up in the meantime (and in between training sessions)??

she is a rescue dog and they got her from a shelter. so we don't know her history at all. she's just getting comfortable being with us and so i don't want our lack of training or improper training to make her more nervous or turn her off from us.

help! any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Camsy]

I think you should talk to the shelter to find out more about her history. Also, maybe you could take the alternate route while she's still too afraid of the stairs or while you're not training her? Dogs are creatures of habit. If you keep carrying her around, she might get used to it and might ignore your commands when you're already in training mode.

Hope that helps.

[Lyka_01]

Same problem with our Bubbles, she can't go up and down to the stairs...When she was at the second floor of the house she can't go down we need to carry her for her move down... Now she about a 10 months and still afraid...

[Camsy]

Hi Lyka,

Ever tried taking her to a vet behaviorist?

[fighterchick86]

I just adopted a dog named moonlight from a shelter as well just a few days ago. He is a siberian Husky. He is great with kids, strangers, other animals. He is an all around great dog. But terrified of stairs. Dogs with fears usually have a reason why they are scared. it's gonna take time and patience to get him to go down the stairs. You have to asscoiate the stairs with something he likes and praise him when he does well. this may take a few weeks before he/she get it right. and forcing them to do it will make the situation worse. The best thing to do is to take your time and use positive reinforcement. it's been 3 days with moonlight since we got moonlight and he has made it as far as the top of the stairs. he still wont go down but he is progessing towards getting there and seems to be not as scared. dogs take alot of time and patience. They are like children. It is hard to do with both of you working but you will have to take time to make time for him. He is a part of your family now. Whatever you do ... don't give up on him. I'm sure that his previous owners prolly gave up on him... and he deserves a great home.

[melody]

Maybe what you can do is to put your dogs favorite treat on every steps to encourage him/her to go down.

[Tux]

My puppy was absolutely terrified of stairs for the first six or so months, he would actually bark and growl at them (kind of entertaining) ..He got over it with time. Those stairs were in my house though, so your situation is a little different. My suggestion is to try carrying her halfway up the stairs, and if it's not too stressful on her, set her down on one of the middle steps. Make sure you're gentle and friendly as she'll probably freak out. Then you walk the rest of the way up (up is easier than down for a dog) and leave her in the middle. It may be really hard for her the first time, but she HAS to go up or down sooner or later, right?

[glaiza]

Like what the others have said, try going to the shelter where you got her to find out more about her history, if the shelter does have it then maybe you can use it to try and figure out why your dog is scared of the stairs.

Also, how about coaxing her down a portion of the stairs at a time. She may just be afraid of the angle and of the length. You can try sitting at the end of the first quarter of the staircase. Try coaxing her down from there by calling her name of by using treats. Maybe seeing you there can help her become more comfortable with the length. Do this for a couple of times and as soon as she gets more comfortable try getting her to go farther until she willingly goes down the steps on her own.

Hope this helped.