Afraid of the stairs

Kara is 7 months old and she won't come up the stairs. She climbs the 4 to go in and out of the house and there are about 8 to go into the vet's office, but they are wide and carpeted. I've tried treats and all sorts of things. Kara is able to sleep out of her crate at night and she loves to sleep with us or the kids at night but I really want her to learn to go up and down the stairs without being carried. Any advice? They are hardwood, I think that is the biggest problem, but the floors aren't carpeted, so carpeted stairs would look stupid. She's spoiled, but not that spoiled. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on October 9, 2008 at 11:30pm

I would find a treat she really loves and try and persaude her with lots and lots of encouragement, all I keep thinking of is just keep trying a little each day dont give up. Turn it into a training session but keep it short.
Maybe the repetitiveness will eventually work? Maybe you could start out with one training session a day
and then add another one as she gets older if she doesnt catch on by then, but I bet she will! Maybe have one of the kids standing calling her at the top of the stairs while someone is encouraging her from the bottom. Good Luck.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie & Lola on October 10, 2008 at 3:48am

Lola is 2 years old and she won't/can't go down the hardwood stairs in my house. She can go down the same number of carpeted ones just fine. She can go up however, but it took her a long time to get up enough courage to even attempt it. Try leaving her downstairs and everyone go up, maybe that will motivate her enough to at least try. Good luck!!!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Crich on February 9, 2009 at 9:48pm

hi, My Holle is 9 months old and will not go down my side stairs. They are the stairs we usually use and it is so inconvient to go out the front door all the time just for her. I do realize that the stairs, especially the top one is extremely high and the width of the step is short so she is having a great deal of trouble

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Permalink Reply by Amy on February 9, 2009 at 10:21pm

One thing you might try is to put a trail of treats on the stairs to entice her to go up. You know like they did with ET. My corgi has no trouble going up and down the stairs due to my 18 month old son. They actually race each other up and down the stairs. I do know that I have wood flooring and my dogs find it hard to keep their grip on them making them very cautious about hurting themselves. You need to have her associate the stairs with good things.