Labradoodle stairs training

[leejaneagles]

Hi guys. We have a little Australian Labradoodle that is coming up to 12 weeks old on Thursday. We were surprised how quickly he taught himself to go upstairs as all his litter mates are not interested. For the first week or so, he was the same but then one day, we walked upstairs, turned around and he was right there with us.

Since then, he always walks up to bed with us and no need to be carried. However, he’s terrified of downstairs. He’s particularly uneasy at the top 3 steps which are wider and turn, so he just barks and gets scared when we encourage him.

Yesterday, with lots of treats we managed to place him on the 3rd step and encourage him down. He has done this 3 times since, quicker each time but will still absolutely refuse to start the journey down.

I was Googling how to train it when I read something worrying - they shouldn’t be allowed to walk up or down for 6 months! Have we been causing our pup damage with this? It’ll be easy to untrain the down as he doesn’t want to attempt it anyway but he gets upstairs better than we do! It doesn’t cause him any pain or bother but do I need to stop this?

on the other hand; some websites tell me he needs to be trained ASAP to do the downstairs so I’m not sure what to believe.

 

[JoanneF]

There's quite a lot of conflicting information about restricting exercise and access to things like stairs in young dogs. It's based on the skeletal growth plates not having closed and properly formed. But, there are more recent studies that say juveniles in the wild wouldn't limit what they are doing - so it's a bit of a grey area. I'd be more concerned if he was a giant breed or a long backed dog like a basset hound or dachshund.

Here's a link.

https://www.mylamedog.com/post/what...ng-puppies-until-the-growth-plates-are-closed

If he was mine, I think I'd probably let him do a few steps slowly and gently to build his confidence. When I was training my dog to come downstairs I made him be in position behind my knee, one step above me, so he couldn't take a tumble.

 

[JudyN]

If I remember rightly, I wasn't meant to let my large, long-limbed dog do stairs until he was 6 months old. He also wasn't meant to jump off sofas, and we put cushions on the floor in front of the sofa for when he inevitably did.

I'm sure going upstairs is safer than down - we carried Jasper downstairs until he got too big and both he and I decided that we weren't safe.

If you can carry your dog downstairs safely, I would, until he's got a bit older. It might be easier to teach him to do it safely when he's more confident about it, too. And you might want to consider a stairgate at the bottom of the stairs so he doesn't have to go belting up with you every time... though as I recall, he wanted to follow you everywhere so this might not work...

 

[Feverfew]

As a rule, I would rather dogs didn't use the stairs at all, especially big dogs, for the reason that when they are very old and can't get up them any more, it is distressing for them, because they are too heavy to carry up there. I have known a few cases where people have installed a stair lift at that stage, which is a good solution if the dog doesn't mind the lift.

However, I know in Dug's case, he needs and wants to be upstairs with you, which is fine. He may later in life decide for himself to sleep downstairs - a lot of my dogs have done over the years, after starting upstairs. Sometimes I join them and sleep downstairs too, for old times' sake!

What I would say is important is never to use food to coerce a dog into doing something he thinks is unsafe. This is absolutely crucial to him becoming a confident, skilful dog who can make decisions for himself. So tempting him with food to come down the stairs, or 'training' him to use the stairs is a no-no in my book, growth plates notwithstanding.

I would suggest it's not strictly accurate to say that feral dogs don't limit themselves when out and about - they make judgements about what is safe all the time. As an example, my Lurcher, who was trained in agility, always jumped fallen trees in the path, but I notice that my feral dog never does - he always takes a detour around after stopping and thinking for a bit. My little collie quite often asks to be carried over now she is old!

So I would say, for the time being, carry Dug up and down. The stairgate is a good idea for getting him used to being separated, but at this stage, it needs to be closed just for a few seconds, until he is happy being separate from you (with you in sight at all times).

He'll use the stairs when he's ready - just leave the option open every so often, and see what happens. It is a much greater achievement if he does it under his own steam than because he wants the treat. Much, much greater! Good luck