do some greys just not do stairs or is it something that can absolutely be taught to any grey? odie seems to get hurt on our front steps every time he goes up and down them and there are only 3 steps! he won't even attempt to climb our stairs at home. we are building a fence and then building steps from our deck that go down into the fence. do you think he will learn to use them eventually?

Hey Traci. Greys can be strange about stairs. My Sam won't climb stairs inside my house but he will go up and down the 9 stairs from my front porch. Sam knows that negotiating those stairs means he gets to go for a walk or do a pet therapy visit.

If you are adding stairs please make sure they are closed on the back. Our dogs do better with stairs when they cannot see open places below their feet.

Best Wishes!
Karen Ferguson

My three will do very short staircases (2 or 3 steps) but want nothing to do with long ones. My two girls have no problem with tile floors but My big boy won't go near one. Each hound has their own quirks, sometimes You can get them out of it and sometimes you can't.

Gary

my dream is to open the back door and let them out to potty but seeing how odie is not one to go up and down stairs, i don't know if that will happen. i was definitely planning to close the backs of each step.... that even scares me i guess if he absolutely refuses, i can always walk him to the gate from the front yard. i was just wondering if anybody else had the same problem i was having! thanks for responding!!!!

Traci, When Stormy got here, he wouldnt even go up and down my front steps. If you remember there are only 2. In about 2 weeks, after watching my dogs, he was going up and down the basement steps, the deck steps, and up and down the steps inside. I think it was a big help having the other dogs doing it. He didnt want to be left out. Maybe you can bring Odie over one day (that way I get to see Stormy) and we can work with him.

OH, and I agree with Karen. make sure that you close the back of your steps. Mine are open so all we did is get some indoor/outdoor runners and attached them to the steps. that way they cant see through them and they wont slip. You may remember them when you were in my back yard.

It took Escort about three weeks to master our basement stairs. He would completely freeze up at the top. Finally, Jim found the key. Jim would pick Escort up, carry him down to the basement, play with him and treat him. Lee would call Escort up the stairs. Jim did this a bunch. (Bless Jim's heart for carrying the 80 pounds down every time.) Eventually, Escort learned that is was fun in the basement. Now we have to be careful he doesn't bolt down them when we open the door. He acts like the basement is an indoor track and loves to chase Jessie around the circle.

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I had a tough time with Angel going up and down the staris in my house. We did a training routine for a few days where i would stand behind her, and manuever each leg up the stairs to teach her the movements. She didn't like it and would shake the whole time, but after some work, she is now running up and down the stairs like she has always done it. It was a work out for me, but totally worth it. She was so proud of herself when she finally did it on her own, that she made me run up and down with her like 20 times!

thanks for the tips... i will see what happens when we actually build the steps off the deck. after seeing stormy do it, he may just go down them on his own. who knows!?! thanks again everybody!!!!

Will was awesome at steps...he was very sure footed when I went hiking also...Tara not so much...if they weren't carpeted, she wouldn't walk on them unless it mean't getting to go outside...at my old house she would avoid the three steps on the deck and jump over them when going out and coming back in.