Help! My dog is scared of going up the stairs

Dear Jennifer

Please can you help me. My mom has this weird house on top of her house. She goes there all the time. She climbs up these weird things called “stairs” to get to this house on top of the house. She calls me to also come to the top house but I don’t trust those “stair-things” for one second! Please can you maybe explain to me what those things are and how me and my mom can figure out this issue because she really wants me to also be there when she’s there.

Love, Coco.

Hi Coco,

Sorry to hear that Coco you are having some “issues” regarding the stairs in your home. There are a number of reasons that could be responsible for this behaviour but the first thing that your mum must rule out is the possibility of any medical problem i.e. something that may be causing you pain or discomfort when negotiating the stairs. Obviously if it hurts to go up and down the stairs you are going to be reluctant to do so.

A lack of exposure to or a traumatic experience involving a staircase when you were a puppy could also be the cause of your anxiety/distress when confronting them. Any kind of negative association with the stairs in the past could be a reason for you treating them as a “no go area”.

So the best way forward is a process of counter-conditioning and desensitisation – simply put this means using positive reinforcement to replace your fear of the stairs with a happier and more enjoyable association with them. Obviously if there is an underlying medical condition this would need to be treated first.

Ask your mum to start the process by simply standing at the bottom of the stairs “armed” with some very high value treats that she knows you enjoy. Tell her to use her calmest and most relaxed voice to encourage you to approach the stairs. When you get there mum must give you a treat and lots of praise. The idea here is to have you focus on the treats and forget about the scary stairs.

Once you are readily approaching mum and the stairs, she can advance the exercise by standing on the first step and luring you to her again with a tasty treat and lots of praise. Tell mum to continue this process for each step one at a time until you have overcome your fear of the entire staircase. Mum must make sure you are readily climbing each step to get the treat before she progresses to the next step. Remind mum that the secret to success here is patience. She must not force you at any stage and must allow you to progress in your own time. Depending on the severity of your fear it could take a few days or even a few weeks to get you confident enough to charge up and down the staircase.

Tip

Here is a tip you can suggest to mum. She can follow this program each meal time by placing your food bowl on the step. Once you are eating willingly from the bowl then mum can move it to the next step at the next feeding time. She can continue like this until you are happily running up to top step without hesitation.

Hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Jennifer