[bluetick]

I adopted a 3 year old GSD last weekend. Already here was a 2 year old GSD that had been depressed since I had to have my 10 year old gal put to sleep in February.

I've had as many as 3 GSD's in my bedroom at night, and none had problems with the stairway to the second floor where the bedroom is located. All were adopted as adults.

The new one lived in a house for a while when young, and apparently went inside now and then as he got older. He is housebroken. More recently, he was in a kennel with an older female.

I haven't been able to get him upstairs yet, but haven't pushed him. He spends the night in a crate downstairs because he is sometimes too eager to play with the cat, and he has made toys out of a couple of things that aren't toys - like a couple of boxes of tissues! To his credit, he did find the toybox! Before settling down to sleep, he whines and obviously wants to be with me and his buddy, but not if it means he has to climb the stairs!

What are a couple of things I could try to get him up the stairs? The stairway is typical of a 2 story house, and is "enclosed" in that you can't see through the steps.

 

[Karin]

I have the same problem--only just the opposite! Heidi won't go down in the basement no matter how we try to entice her. This is an old house and the stairs are pretty steep, so I don't think we'll ever get her to do it!

 

[raysmom]

Kaiser didn't start going up and down stairs until he was about 8 months old -

When we started teaching him the stairs, I put slices of hot dog on the step and as he went up one step and got the hot dog, I put another slice on the next step and so on. After a few times he was fine.

Coming down I put him on a leash and just coaxed and encouraged him to come with me - he did that a few times and was a pro in no time!

 

[bluetick]

Thanks! I had considered the food angle, and will give it a try.

 

[middleofnowhere]

Put harness on dog. Move dog up stairs. Probably will only have to do it once.
I have a long stupid story that's really quite funny. When I lived in Wyoming I was visiting in Denver. It was about 2 am the first night there when my friend and I decided it was time to turn in. We head upstairs along with the other dogs. The youngest (these stairs have no risers) parks her butt in the dining room and looks up at us on the landing and starts barking! Loudly. Repeatedly. She's not goin' up those stairs! After laughing my butt off, I brought her upstairs with her harness -- I only had to do it once. It was that or get now sleep. Food wouldn't have stood a chance as the other dogs would have grabbed it first...

 

[wrenny]

My boy started up and down steep stairs around 4 months on his own. He has courage. But randomly he will slip and won't come back upstairs. He'll go a few few and jump off because he's scared.

He has these episodes about once a month. It's like he remembers when he slipped.

When he does this I do a few things. First I didn't have to lure him with treats. Encouragement was the best. When he put that first step on, I would praise like crazy and he would go up.

If that didn't work, I would tell him it's time for a walk and he goes crazy for that. It eventually works.

Lastly if nothing is working, I go behind him. Put his front two paws up and give his hiney a little lift and this sets him into a sky rocket running up the stairs on his own.

He does the usual barking, whining, going crazy when he doesn't want to climb the stairs.

I think they are afraid to lift those back legs up a lot. That's the key. Once those go up, he is fine.

I think with time it will be fine. Let him grow into it and don't force him. Also don't cater fully to him because then he will think stairs are a bad thing.

 

[sklippstein]

Lola runs up and down the stairs like an elephant....are you sure about this? We have 3 bedrooms upstairs and master down, when the kids run upstairs so does she and you know exactly when. LOL. Actually, have you tried walking her up and down on a leash?
Our stairway is also enclosed, but is he too heavy for you to carry a few times up and down so he knows where everyone is at night? Don't laugh but I have had hubby carry our older GSD up and down tthe stairs because she couldn't walk up to do hind quarter problems.

 

[bluetick]

I took him to the vet today so he could give the dog a once over prior to neutering him. He weighs 84 pounds - a bit too heavy for me to carry him!

The dog smells, and I assumed it was from being in a kennel situation. The vet found a spot with no hair on his lower chest, and did a scraping. He didn't find anything, but agreed he needed a good bath! They will do that at the vet's in a couple of days when he goes in for neutering and having his teeth cleaned. I will put more effort into getting him upstairs when he smells a little sweeter!