utahraptr Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Does anyone have experience with a dog going up and down a spiral staircase? We have two sets of stairs at our house - the stairs off the deck (outside) and an iron spiral staircase inside. We use the outside stairs all the time, both dogs go up and down no problem. We have 2 entrances to the house, one with the outer stairs (straight staircase that goes to the back yard) and one in the lower half of the house, that we have to use the spiral staircase to get to. The lower half of the house is currently a garage/laundry room, but we plan on making that living space in the future. RIght now we take them outside via the outer stairs. On the inside of the house, it's a hallway with hardwood floors and the door to the outside - no foyer, no area for the dogs to walk around in/get wiped down when they come back inside. SO they make a mess of the hallway, especially when it rains. We put down a rug, and that's a mess now. We stop the dogs either on the deck (it's a very small deck, about 5ft by 5ft maybe) or just inside the door, make them sit, and then wipe off their feet. But when it rains, they're soaking wet, they leave paw prints all over, they shake and water goes all over the walls... So we want to teach them to use the spiral staircase, so we can start going out of and back into the garage area, where they won't make such a mess coming back inside. Especially when it starts snowing. And, it will be much easier to take them up/down the stairs inside, rather than get pulled down or fall down the stairs outside when they're icy or covered with snow. So does anyone have s spiral staircase that their dogs use? Or have any tips on teaching dogs to use this type of staircase? We tried a couple of times after bringing the dogs in through the garage area - walked the dogs over to the spiral stairs, tried to get them to go up. They sat at the bottom and wouldn't budge. I got Haley onto the first step, and she backed away and wouldn't go any further. Even tried walking them up on a leash. It didn't work. We had to carry them up the stairs ourselves, it's not fun trying to carry a 55 pound dog up those stairs! Any ideas? Here's a pic of the "scary stairs" as we call them (spiral stairs). We want to take them out this winter and replace them with a new staircase, but until we draw up plans and build the new staircase, we have to deal with the iron spiral stairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 oh scary stairs!! Never had a spiral stair way but if your changing them soon can you take them up and down there on a lead nice and slowly so they learn not to scarper up and down ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KERNOWHUSKIES Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Somethin i have experience in! If ur baby can see through the stairs they dont like it. My M&D have wooden stairs with gaps inbetween, they would never go up them until we covered each stair with some carpet. If its outside try tar felt and cover up the gaps with ply wood so they cant see through. I understand that u have beautiful stairs (they r gorgeous) but u have to cater for the Huskies im afraid. C if that works. Hope that helps Emily, Scooby, Nanook and Mushu x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhsweetness Posted November 27, 2009 Report Share Posted November 27, 2009 i have a pair of those stairs my husky loved following me up them i eventually started jumping up them to see if she could catch me now she runs past me and waits at the top lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utahraptr Posted November 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2009 i have a pair of those stairs my husky loved following me up them i eventually started jumping up them to see if she could catch me now she runs past me and waits at the top lol Did you have to teach her how to go up and down them? We've tried everything, covering the spaces so they can't see through the steps; putting a blanket all along the outside so they can't see down; setting treats on every step so they have to walk up to get them; sitting at the top and bottom and calling them to come to us while they sit at the oposite end; carrying them up and down so they can see its safe... Nothing has worked yet. We can get Kahtadin to go up the first step, but that's it. Haley won't even go on the upper landing, even f we use her favorite treats and toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhsweetness Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 Did you have to teach her how to go up and down them? We've tried everything, covering the spaces so they can't see through the steps; putting a blanket all along the outside so they can't see down; setting treats on every step so they have to walk up to get them; sitting at the top and bottom and calling them to come to us while they sit at the oposite end; carrying them up and down so they can see its safe... Nothing has worked yet. We can get Kahtadin to go up the first step, but that's it. Haley won't even go on the upper landing, even f we use her favorite treats and toys. umm she use to sit down the stairs as a pup because she couldnt follow me up. She use to howl because of it and then day by day she slowly figured out she could climb then as she got bigger she went up them all the time and she use walk up them with me and then we started running up them my full grown roddy cant climb them he hates heights lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 What about feeding her upstairs and don't feed any food or treats at all downstiars? So she has to go up to get food? It might take a day or two but once she's done the initial climb i'm sure she'll be pounding up and down in no time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val (Zebedee) Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 Good old Cesar Milan had a dog like this on his show, he had it on a leash & pulled it towards the first step, then pulled it up the first couple, then let the dog go down & kept repeating the first couple of steps till eventually the dog went 1 or 2 more steps, then down, just encouraging the dog 1 or 2 steps at a time. After about 10 - 15 mins the dog was leading him up & down the full set & it was a big dog, too, like a weimeraner or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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