my puppy will not go down stairs!!!!!

[olsmum]

i have a 14 week old black lab and she just will not come down the stairs, she will run up but refuses to come down!
ive tried everything!
i dont mind her going up and im not putting a stairgate back on- just took the bloody things off!
i have a grown up lab and she was never as daft! it wasnt a prob but she is getting a bit hefty to carry now and when i stay at boyfriends its a nightmare as he lives in a flat!
has any one else had this problem?

my dog was about 8 months old before he worked out how to go down stairs (going up was not a problem!). Hi first attempt at down involved a flying leap, crashing into a wall. I taught him to come down by putting his front paws down a step, then his back paws, front paws then back paws. It took a while but he got it, eventually. But he is a good bit smaller than a lab, though.

yeah, we got our current dog when he was 10 months old - he was overweight and had lived in a bungalow in Kent so was totally clueless about stairs, boulders - and he's a dachshund.

didn't take long to transform him into a lean sleek beast who descended the steps at the side of Malham Cove in fine style a few weeks ago so don't worry. She'll get the hang of it soon enough with some gentle coaxing. Can you think of anywhere with a short flight of not-to-steep steps to practice with her? She perhaps needs to get up her confidence on something less daunting than a full staircase - I mean, you imagine going down headfirst with 4 legs to coordinate!

meanwhile - you don't need a proper stairgate to stop a dog. We have a couple of pieces of (not sure what to call it) rigid plastic-coated wire mesh which we used to block the stairs from the dog (now used to barricade the playroom door to prevent toy carnage!).

i tried going down with her and she just started shaking because she was so scared, i also tried putting a treat on every stair to entice her down but she wasnt having any of it! i will just have to wait and be patient, maybe once she is bigger and her bones are stronger she will feel a bit more confident

When we were looking at getting a retriever pup we were told not to let it go up and down stairs until it was 6 mths old as it can damage their joints. I though labs were the same?

I had this with one of my springers. He thought it was a terrific game to go upstairs and make me chase after him and carry him down. He grew out of it by the time he was about 16 weeks, I think. We did the 'treats on lower stairs' thing too, and he soon overcame his fear.

My mum got a nine month old rescue dog who was like this. I spent the first evening sitting on the stairs with him coaxing him up and down until he got the hang of it. He was fine after that but we just wondered if he'd ever seen stairs before because he seemed confused. Seems like it's quite a common thing though!

yes Mumbomama

• whilst we have an old english I seem to remember getting the same advice when we were researching breeds - that they should not be allowed up or down stairswhilst puppies. with our Old English we were told a year.

Are you sure puppy is supposed to be using stairs yet ?

the advice from the kennel club is that all puppies (and dogs) should avoid stairs where possible. this is obviously a lot easier in theory. my pup is now beginning to think of it as a game but i disipline it the same as my daughter (ignore the behaviour but not the individual, reward the positives etc etc this could be lost on a 14 week old puppy though! ha ha)