We have a 4 1/2 mo. old golden that is afraid to go up and down our basement steps. This is a problem because our bedroom is downstairs so he has to go out the back door, around the house and into the front door on the main level (or visa versa) 2 or 3 times per day. He will do 4-5 steps up to the porch but we have not been successful in getting him to walk up or down the basement steps. He is getting too heavy to carry and the "around the house" trip is inconvenient, especially in bad weather. Any tips?

Bentley would go up the stairs but not down them. He would get down about 3 stairs and sit there and cry. I spent one day working with him, I put his favorite treat on the next stair and after much whining he would step down to get it. We kept doing this until we got down all the stairs. It took him a few days to realize that he could actually go down them all by himself now he's a pro Good luck

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I did just what Bentley's Mom did. It did take awhile, but was necessary because we live on the second floor. Good luck!

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is there any other way for him to get out ... even if it is not as convenient... at 4.5 mos. I wouldn't honestly push the stair issue unless it is absolutely necessary ...

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Shalva and the Milbrose Retrievers and Irish Wolfhound
Milbrose Retrievers and Irish Wolfhounds

I taught all my puppies to do the stairs one step at a time. I would sit on each stair as they did them, and then would ascend or descend to the next step. I sometimes does take a while.

A young puppy doing a flight of stairs once or twice a day, probably won't hurt them, but I would discourage it multiple times. It really is not good for their hips and joints.

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I agree with this. I don't let Bentley do stairs on a regular basis, in fact outside he has a ramp because I don't want him to hurt his joints at this age. The only reason that I wanted to teach him about the basement stairs is that we've had two GR's in the past that were petrified of the basement. I'm assuming it was due to their abuse but during tornado time we need to get the dogs down there.

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I was "mean" to Buddy teaching him to go downstairs- He never had a problem with up. The stairs was only 10 steps from garage to basement so I went down the stairs and called him. I used food and praise. He cried and whined but after an hour he started to comedown on his belly- I had a harness on him so I could control the speed he went down and keep him safe but he had to do it himself. FYI He was an adult at the time- Not a puppy. My family room with TV is downstairs so he needed a crash course- Down the stairs is the only way to get there.

For my puppies I go super-slow though. We start at the bottom an go up/down 1 step at a time- Lots of praise and treats . Even the little Yorkies do stairs- Would have been much easier to just carry them but they can walk- Tough love.

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I do what I like and like what I do. Yorkies- Cozy (4/1/06), Roxy & Zoey (2/11/08), Lucy (4/6/09); Golden- Buddy (4/13/09- Rescued 12/11) Maine Coon cats- Mika (1998) and Tallulah (2000)

Wally was going up stairs (I have 4-5 stairs at either end of the house) at 7 1/2 weeks. Down took a little longer. We started by me setting him on the very first step, so all he had to do was go down one. Not too bad, right? So lets try two. He was OK with 2 steps for a few days, then he was ready for 3. Once he was comfortable with three, it just took him a few days to be confident on all of them.

I do have one long set of stairs (12 or so) to the bedroom and he goes up them (slowly) at the end of the day, and then down (slowly) at the beginning of the day. Then its just the short staircase the rest of the day. He is 12 weeks old now and 20lbs.

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Missing my sweet Howie every day. See you at the bridge, my love.

sorry i cant be help chester is STILL giving me a hard time going down the stairs lol and hes 10 weeks old.

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It takes Pups quite a while to be able to do stairs as their legs aren't long enough.
I did read something that they shouldn't do it too soon, or they can hurt their joints.

http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...&bih=598&ion=1

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Tonka & Tucker

SNOBEAR at the Bridge
Dec. 23, 1999-March 27, 2010


SMOOCH at the Bridge.
Feb. 14, 1999-Dec. 7, 2010