Getting dogs over stiles

[NobbyButtons]

There are no stiles where I normally walk my dog, only kissing gates. However, we went to the Yorkshire Dales recently and really struggled getting our dog over the tall ladder stiles; even the ordinary smaller stiles were a bit tricky. One of us had to lift the dog up and the other grab her, which she hated. If I'd been on my own I would have really struggled (she's a medium-sized dog, about 15kg). What do other dog-owners do when faced with stiles? Do you have a harness or have you managed to train your dog to jump over them?

Ddog wears a sturdy harness with a handle on it and we lift her over. She's 23kg though so not sure if I'd be able to do it on my own, it's a 2 person job, I go over first then DH hands her to me! Sometimes she fits under the bottom rung of the stile quite easily, so we always check that out first.

I had a Ruffwear (I think) harness which had a handle on the back. Used lots for helping my 17.5kg dog into the back of the car, over stiles etc.

Mine are little enough to be picked up easily, but sometimes there’s enough room under the stile for them to pass through.

Is that not an option?

There's sometimes space under the stile, but quite a few of them have wire at the bottom.

My dog is 15/16 kg and I pick him up but put him on my hip/ shoulder like you would carry a toddler but I think your dog would need to be used to sitting on you like that for them to keep still for climbing .

Mine just climbs over himself, but you can get harnesses with handles.

25kg - I lift him over. He was a bit skittish/nervy the first time but we established a routine and he's now fine with it.

I scoop him up, pass him over the top and then bend over so he's as close to the other side as I can get. He always goes back feet to the tallest step and I've always been able to get him at least that far. I say "Ready" and let go. He finds his feet and then waits for me to climb over.

The stiles in our area all have a doggy gate at the side that you lift up to let the dog walk through.

Dogs can usually manage stiles, particularly if there is a lump of cheese the other side for the first few times.
I do recall our daughter moaning about lifting our 40kg huge Dalmatian over a stile with her boyfriend and describing how difficult it was to our amusement. He could clear it with a single jump but usually crawled through on his belly with no trouble at all.

Nothing useful to add, but reminded me of a story my DH told me of when he was younger.

They encountered a stile whilst out with their Great Dane, so his Dad had to carry him over on his shoulders!

Both our dogs just climbed over. The short one needed a boost every so often.

My little dog can usually just squeeze under / through. However, he does know an "up" command which is very useful for getting him onto everything from the train to the sofa, so if he were bigger I'd use that command

I've also actively tried to teach him problem solving skills (which can be anything from food puzzle toys to letting him find his own route across tricky terrain / doggy parkour) so tbh I'd probably climb over the stile, call him, let him work it out for himself and call it a brain game.

Most of them have a doggy gate but otherwise I cart mine over (12kgs). He wears a Julius harness which has a handle. It's a bit inelegant but I have no doubt he'd scrabble over on his own if I went over without him. Dogs can jump fairly high when they want to.

We taught our 32kg boy to go over the talk ladder stiles. Most of the ones around us though there's a dog gap to the side or he can wiggle under he fence. He hates being lifted (and he's too heavy for me now) so we try and show him the way to do things himself.

We used to do a mixture of encouraging him to crawl underneath, lifting him (20kg) and encouraging him to jump over.
He really hurt his back once jumping over when he got quite old though

Think I might need to do a bit of treat training for the small stiles, and possibly invest in a harness with handles if we go somewhere with big ladder stiles again.

Patience and confidence is what it takes. I have styles around me. Some are ridiculously high to put walkers off and in a right state. I have had to learn my 35kilo recue pup to climb them. It didn't happen immediately. He got the hang after a couple of goes , lifting wasn't an option. I stood at the stile and I went over first a couple of times to learn him what to do.