Question:
Our Shih Tzu is now 7 months old and he still doesn't want or even try to go up or down stairs. We have hardwood stairs that you have to go up to get into our house from the porch (about 4) and we also have completely carpeted stairs that go to the second floor and to the basement. When Sammy was younger and didn't know any better he accidentally fell down the front steps when one of us went outside and the other was in the kitchen.

Our house doesn't have grass yet and we didn't have a deck until recently so we had to take him out the front to do his business, which meant we had to carry him every time.

Recently we have tried to get him to come a couple of the carpeted stairs while enticing him with a piece of food. He is very reluctant. If he is two steps down, he doesn't move, even with food, he will just sit down.

Does anyone have an ideas on how we could work with our puppy so he won't be afraid to go up and down the stairs?? Any advice would be appreciated.


Answer:
This might sound like a wired question, but do you get the National Geographic Channel


Answer:
No I don't get the National Geographic Channel. The closest thing I have is the Discovery Channel. Why do you ask?


Answer:
Well there's a guy called Cesar Millan and he's a "Dog" Whisper and has a show on it, he helps dogs that are scared, aggressive, hyper etc. Well any ways maybe I can help, I watch him enough (even re-runs) . What happen when he fell down the stairs? Did you go runny to him holding & hugging him telling, "everything is going to be all right" "are you ok" ?


Answer:
I ran towards him to see if he was okay because its ceramic at the bottom of the stairs and you could hear him hitting every stair on the way down. I did do the motherly 'gooshy' thing making sure he was okay. We would just like it if he could climb stairs and not have to be picked up all the time. Other people we know who have a Pomeranian smaller than our dog who was climbing the stairs even younger than 7 months. I know every puppy is different, but we still want our puppy to do things on his own.
Let me know if you see anything that may be helpful.

Thanks.


Answer:
Your Welocme So


Answer:
Maybe you can take a Saturday and camp out on the stairs and encourage him to come to you- a little higher each time. Might take two people working with him. Praise goes a lot further than treats. If the side of the stairs are open, perhaps tacking up some safety netting will also not only increase his confidence, but prevent future accidents.


Answer:
What does he do when you try to take hime up/down the stairs ? What have you tried so far to help him not to be afraid of the steps? I hope I can help you .


Answer:
We tried to get him to go up a couple of stairs by having one of us behind him and another one in front of him coaxing him to come up. He would make an attempt when we would give him a little assistance. I tried putting him down one step further so he would have a total of 3 steps to go up (carpeted steps) and he would just sit or lay down on the stairs.

Recenty we tried to get him to come down some stairs rather than go up them. I started by putting him a couple of stairs up on our carpeted ones. He came down no problem at all with very little coaxing, I only had to call his name. Then I put him up another one and he came down all three. I tried one more and he didn't want to come down, he just stood there, making a motion like he was going to come down, but didn't. It seems like we are just going to have to keep practicing with him a little bit more each day and increase the amount of stairs.


Answer:
Have you tried them while he's on the leash? I hope you get it sorted- poor pup!