stairs

[boomervt]

So Boomer is now almost 11 weeks (and growing like a weed) Hes getting close to being house broken but, I live up a long and steep set of stairs, and at first i had to carry him up and down the stairs, now he'll go up on his own. I can't get him to go down unless i put a treat a few stairs down for the entire set of stairs. He won't go down them unless I do that.

So how do I train him to go down stairs?

[bruinsBoxers]

I personally would give him more time to go down on his own . He is still very young and I worry about damage to his joints , ligaments etc... if he twisted a certain way or fell . I would still carry him down and up too if her were mine , at least untill he is older and willing to try on his own .


You can not force him to go down . You can do exactly what you are doing by luring him down with a treat . When he is ready he will do it .

[KeeperBoy]

I agree. Continue to carry him down, at least for another month or so.

[Ron]

In my experience, boxers are weird about stairs. Tie, who's 8, is picky about which types of stairs he'll use...especially going down.

My brothers boxer Lennox was the same, i remember carrying him down the stairs to the basement when he was like 70lbs hahahah

[KeeperBoy]

Lots of sizes and breeds of dogs have issues with stairs. Many greyhounds, even those who have not raced will never go down stairs. It took our small dog until she was about 8 months old to go down stairs. My friend's pug will still not go down stairs and he's almost 1.

Boo used to run up the stairs and then sit and the top and cry because she couldn't come back down. The way the banister is made it very hard to find a gate that would work, I was so happy when she finally started coming down on her own. We never trained her to go down, she just got older and more confident. I'm not sure I would want to go down stairs walking on four legs, seems a little scary.

[boomervt]

Ok I will be patient about going down the stairs, but he loves to chase me up them so I think i'll continue to have him walk up the stairs. Thanks