Handling Stairs?

Question

I have a 15 week old Yorkie/Chihuahua mix. She weighs just a little over 4 lbs. She is afraid of going down stairs. She will go up just fine, but stands at the top and whimpers when she can't go down. Drives me nuts when she follows me everywhere and I keep having to pick her up to haul her back down the stairs. Sometimes having to make a couple trips to retrieve her. Can she be trained to go down or just has to learn on her own?

P. S. She will run and jump up on the couch too, but is also scared of jumping off there.

Yea Kiki, that's my problem. Yours is that you talk out your azz.

Answer 1

Try training her to go down with a little treat. Make her come down just one step, each time giving her a treat. When she'll do that good, go to two steps at a time. She's probably just intimidated at how it looks going down from way up high, once she sees it's safe she'll get better about it.

Answer 2

She's scared of heights! Imagine what that staircase looks like from the top when you're that tiny.

Get a leash and slowly tug her down the stairs, encouraging her as you go. She'll learn how to do it eventually.

Or, what I would do, is not go get her when she cries. She's either going to have to manage on her own or stay up there forever. You might want to go to the bottom of the stairs and egg her on.

Answer 3

You got some great suggestions on getting her to come down the stairs... I'm not usually one to jump on these things, but I do want to make *one* suggestion. I've known very small dogs that had this problem not just because they were afraid of heights, but because they had bad patellas. Luxating patellas are fairly common in tiny dogs, and it makes it painful for them to bend them for going down stairs, etc. (What it is, is a rear knee-cap that slips out of its groove.)

Just to be sure, have her patellas checked over. The vet can do this quickly by simple manual manipulation. If that is cleared, then you know for sure that she is just afraid of heights... also quite common in tiny dogs... ;)

All the best to you and your puppy!

Answer 4

you can work with her coming down stairs by putting her up just one or two stairs and use treats to coax her down. Eventually, she'll learn. Be careful about her running down stairs and off couches too quickly as small dogs often have frail bones and are prone to breaking legs doing this.

Answer 5

my dog did that when she was a puppy too. She will learn on her own, right now it just freaks her out cause she's so small and seeing how high up she is scares her. You can fall down but you can't fall up, and she knows it. Give her time and she will get used to it.

Just watch her and give her treats when she does try to get up on her own, even if she does need some help.

Answer 6

our dog used to be scared of jumping out of the back of the jeep and was a real wuss when it came to stairs and jumping up anywhere or jumping down....
i just don't think he realized he could do it!

we finally stopped helping him and decided he needed to do it on his own.

so, next time your pup is whimpering to come down the stairs, do the right thing and practice some tough love. just keep walking away and she will come down if she wants to bad enough!

when she comes down give her lots of "good girl" praise!

Answer 7

just remember, your puppy is just a baby even adult dogs have some difficulty going down stairs. your puppy is relying on you to show her how to get down them, that is what her mother would have done for her.

Answer 8

she'll have too learn but your problem is that you are LAZY

Answer 9

make somebody carry you