stairs

ok howie soon mastered how to go up stairs but he wont even attempt to come down them, hes coming up 5 months and starting to get a bit of a lump, i live in a coach house so when i take him out i have to carry him down the stairs. how can i teach him to come down them on his own, ive tried holding a treat out just infront of his nose but doesnt really work.

Hi

This will take time and patience I think....I would suggest leaving your pup at the top and you going to the bottom with lots of treats and toys. Keep on encouraging Howie to come down, I imagine it will take time but will be worth it when he flies down them stairs! Then take him back up and repeat.

Im sure someone will be along shortly with more advice

Try asking him to go up just one step, then down from that. One step is much less intimidating that a whole flight. When he can do one, then try two, and build up from there.

Any time you hit something like this, break it down into something smaller. You'll find you can break down just about anything, even if it's to tiny steps. So for example if you have a dog who won't go through a certain doorway, you can ask them to take a step towards it and reinforce that with treats, and build up from there. Find easy and reward that, so that trying harder is worthwhile.

LizP wrote:Try asking him to go up just one step, then down from that. One step is much less intimidating that a whole flight. When he can do one, then try two, and build up from there.

Any time you hit something like this, break it down into something smaller. You'll find you can break down just about anything, even if it's to tiny steps. So for example if you have a dog who won't go through a certain doorway, you can ask them to take a step towards it and reinforce that with treats, and build up from there. Find easy and reward that, so that trying harder is worthwhile.

Good advice

Arlo wouldnt go down them either but I knew he was physically capable, so I used a chunk of cheese a couple steps down and that lured him. Try and pick a really high value treat that he drools over and even position them halfway down a stair and they'll understand pretty quick that its not as hard as it looks

As soon as he got down 2 he was flying up and down constantly !

Excellent advice again liz

just got off the phone to my mum who is lokking after howie today while im working, and she informed meshe gothim to go down the stairs! slightly gutted its like missing your babies forst steps but hopefullyhe will keep it up for me.

all she done was put the lead on him persuaded him past the stair gate and gently pulled him and he done the rest. yey!!

Aww fab