stairs + Dog =?

my dog is afraid to go down or basement stairs. hes still nervous bout going down just one step is he ok also hes 4 months. and a german shephard lab mix

Answer #1

walk down them with him, use treats,every step he takes he gets one, eventually make it two stairs, then three etc etc, and then he will no longer fear the staris! he will love them!

Answer #2

It’s not unusual for a pup to be afraid of the stairs…especially going down them. Their depth perception is different than ours, so it spooks them. Practice him on short spans of steps…like 2 or 3 steps…then increase the number. It only takes a few tries for them to build confidence. (GSD’s are longer than they are tall…so for them it takes more coordination to do stairs than a squarely built dog)…and I’m sure you’ve noticed that at 4 months a GSD isn’t real graceful… :)

phrannie

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