My dog can walk up and down stone steps, but is afraid of wood steps, how do I fix this?
My dog is very afraid of walking up and down our wood steps, problem is he's getting about 7-8 pounds heavier every month, so its becoming a chore to have to carry him down the steps 8 to 10 times a day to go out (he's still a puppy). He runs up and down our stone steps, and there are a lot of those going up into my home, however when it comes to the second set of stairs that lead even higher once you enter my home, he refuses to go. I read that you should sit at the bottom of the steps and use baby steps to help the dog, like I was putting a treat on each step and he would go up to the first one and put his front paws on top of it to grab the first treat, and I would praise him for it. But he refuses to go past the first step, no matter how long we work at it. Is there possibly another way to train him out of this phobia? Because in the next month or so he'll be about 40 pounds and I'd rather not be hauling around a medium sized dog lol
Oh also he's never fallen down the stairs from any high distance or anything, at a little over 2 months old though he tried to climp up the steps and he got to the second one and he kind of found himself to be "stuck" and fell that 1 step back down, and hasnt tried ever since.
I'm not going to carpet my steps, but only because this is the only dog I've ever had who had this problem. My German Shepherd walked up and down these stairs just fine, and my Doberman puppy figured it out also (I had to put him to sleep, but he was getting the hang of it). This is the first dog I've had who is having problems with it.
I have four dogs myself. Three of them are German Shepherd/Siberian Huskies and the last one is a terrier. The very same problem was true for my terrier. Being a small breed, it must find going up the stairs to the second floor of the house daunting as she has to hurdle 18 steps to go up. I finally made mine go up the stairs by staying with her the whole way one step at a time. We did the routine once a day until eventually she made it to the top! It was well worth the time and effort made to make her comfortable enough to go up on her own.
Dogs have very good memories and that one time when he was much younger must have stuck in his mind and therefore he doesn't feel too keen on trying to go up your wooden steps. It takes a lot of patience to make him come up. You seem to be doing already the right things, just don't give up.You will also have to be more firm in training him. Have you ever tried leaving him then going back to see if he can be prodded to come up rather than stay all alone? Something like reverse psychology at work? Keep giving him a treat if he makes it one step at a time. He has to get over his fear of falling down again. Stay at his back so he knows you will be there to support him in case he falls. Gently prod him to go up holding on to his waist if necessary and giving his butt a boost. Dogs learn very fast. It's only the first time that is the hardest. Before you know it, he will be the first up on the top of the stairs with you tailing behind!
I really hope you will eventually find the best solution to your problem!
