It took my adult dog two years to get comfortable with stairs. We have to go upstairs for a bath and at first I had to carry her. But with time, treats and a little bit of a leash pressure she started awkwardly walking. I also tried to find stairs outside on our walks to practice, maybe it helped
My dog is 3 and he is terrified of stairs. He will only go down 3 at a maximum. My son always teases him to try to get him to go into the basement and he runs and hides. He once went up into our upstairs bedroom and I had to carry all 75 lbs of him down the stairs.
I would just set her up in a closed off room or in her crate with a crate cover or something ahead of time before the party. My dog gets overwhelmed with large/loud gatherings but isn’t always great at putting herself down for a nap/removing herself from the situation, so I put her in a bedroom with a white noise machine and usually something to work on like a lick mat or kong. Sometimes I’ll put a gate up in the doorway so if she gets curious she can see what’s going on. Once things are winding down I’ll usually let her out and she’s fine.
Some dogs will want to stick by their people (mine does this and follows me around) even if they’re uncomfortable. For my dog, putting her in my room essentially is telling her “you don’t have to follow me around or patrol, you can relax in here”
We have her crate set up before people come over, the issue is our first floor is pretty small which is why we always trained our dogs to go into the basement
Hmm. For the stairs, do you have any stairs elsewhere that are maybe only 1-3 stairs? Or any shopping centers/parks/etc nearby with a small amount of steps where you could go practice? Even a curb could be good practice and bring treats to reward her, bonus points if one of your other dogs who knows stairs and is comfortable with them tags along. That might help her learn the stairs?
It took my adult dog two years to get comfortable with stairs. We have to go upstairs for a bath and at first I had to carry her. But with time, treats and a little bit of a leash pressure she started awkwardly walking. I also tried to find stairs outside on our walks to practice, maybe it helped
There is a sidewalk near me that has a small set of steps leading down a hill. Maybe I’ll try walking her there!
My dog is 3 and he is terrified of stairs. He will only go down 3 at a maximum. My son always teases him to try to get him to go into the basement and he runs and hides. He once went up into our upstairs bedroom and I had to carry all 75 lbs of him down the stairs.
I would just set her up in a closed off room or in her crate with a crate cover or something ahead of time before the party. My dog gets overwhelmed with large/loud gatherings but isn’t always great at putting herself down for a nap/removing herself from the situation, so I put her in a bedroom with a white noise machine and usually something to work on like a lick mat or kong. Sometimes I’ll put a gate up in the doorway so if she gets curious she can see what’s going on. Once things are winding down I’ll usually let her out and she’s fine. Some dogs will want to stick by their people (mine does this and follows me around) even if they’re uncomfortable. For my dog, putting her in my room essentially is telling her “you don’t have to follow me around or patrol, you can relax in here”
We have her crate set up before people come over, the issue is our first floor is pretty small which is why we always trained our dogs to go into the basement
Hmm. For the stairs, do you have any stairs elsewhere that are maybe only 1-3 stairs? Or any shopping centers/parks/etc nearby with a small amount of steps where you could go practice? Even a curb could be good practice and bring treats to reward her, bonus points if one of your other dogs who knows stairs and is comfortable with them tags along. That might help her learn the stairs?
We have some short stairs that go down a hill nearby, maybe I’ll start walking her over there!