Critterchat: Dog, slick stairs don't mix

By GRETCHEN HALL

Special to cdapress.com

Dear Gretchen:

Recently, my miniature schnauzer, GG, has once again become reluctant to climb up our stairs.  Ever since she was a pup the stairs, wood, have scared her when she tries to go up.  It took me a year and a half of carrying, giving her treats on the stair well, etc. to finally see her climb up the stairs. Jazz was quite the opposite. He zoomed up the stairs the day we brought him home when he was a puppy.

 I like both GG and Jazz to sleep upstairs with us at night. GG could stay downstairs at night, but I think she would get lonely? Carrying her up the stairs is not good on my back, as she weighs 24 pounds.  She is a big, stocky mini schnauzer.... not overweight.  Do you have any suggestions on how to help me get GG over her fear of the stairs? She thinks she’s going to slip and hurt herself, as the stairs are smooth, being laminate wood. So I understand this. If Jazz can zip up and down, GG can do this, at least at a slower pace.

 Cheers,

 Barbara

Hi Barbara:

Some dogs just don't like the slick wooden floors and sometimes they never get over it. You may have to try putting some runners on your stairs. Nothing permanent, just  see if the slick flooring on the stairs themselves is what's causing the problem.

 It could also be a vision problem and she's afraid because she can't judge the distance and then she gets afraid of the height. When you got her to go up the stairs, would she go back down?

You might want to have her vision checked - she could be either near- or far-sighted. She could have too much hair around her face that interferes with her seeing things properly. When their vision starts fading, their behavior starts to change. Can she jump up on your bed without any problems and then jump back down?

How old is GG? A trip to the vet might be in order to rule out any actual physical problems.

She also might be one of these dogs that likes the extra attention and coaxing she gets when she doesn't go up. Don't laugh - Schnauzers are very good at figuring out stuff like that. Pugs are too. My Hannah hurt her leg once and was limping. She got special treatment because of her ailment. She got to go for a ride in the car (to the vet). She got special treats (hidden pills) and she figured out that if she favored a leg or two, this would happen more often. I caught on to her act when she would favor one leg and then forget and favor the other and then not favor any of them when she thought I wasn't looking. Dogs are very smart.

 Hope that helps.

Gretchen

***

Gretchen Hall is a Petco employee and dog trainer in North Idaho. Her columns are a cdapress.com online exclusive. Email your questions to her at talkinboutcritters@yahoo.com