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Post by rexation on Sept 30, 2007 13:13:19 GMT -5
I need some advice about stairs. Rex has lived with me for about six months and it took him a while to get over the fear of hardwood floors in the house. He is still very careful running across the ceramic flooring. Its quite funny actually because he looks like he is trying to tip toe while running towards the door. My house is two stories with 16 gleaming hardwood stairs to the second level where the bedrooms and my office are located. Rex has never walked up those stairs and for a long time he would not even get close to the first stair and landing. If he knew I was upstairs working he would sit at the bottom and whine for attention. As soon as I dared him to “come up” he would run towards the safety of the living room. Rex does not care for stairs. He usually jumps up or down the three stairs into the house. I was comfortable with the arrangement because my thought was slippery hardwood stairs and long legs on a slightly skittish dog do not mix. Well that was then. Rex has proven to me what an incredibly brave and determined dog he is. The other day I return home after being out for two hours and who do I find at the top of the stairs looking down – Rex the Brave, with helicopter tail. The nail marks on the stairs tell me it was not an easy climb up. I cannot imagine what went through his head that made him tackle the stairs while no one was in the house. He had no interest going down the stairs so I had to carry 70 lbs of dog down. My first thought was a barrier must go up. It worked fine, and all was well for a few days. Then I forgot to put it up while I went up stairs to get something. Well Rex thought I was taking too long and thought he would check up on me. I found him half way up the stairs, stuck. Can’t go up, can’t go down. I don’t have experience with dogs that don’t do stairs. And I am very afraid of him missing a step and falling or getting stuck half way up. I need some advice on greyhounds and stairs, especially non-carpeted stairs.
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Post by jiffer on Oct 1, 2007 9:35:06 GMT -5
I wouldn't let him do non-carpeted stairs... too slippery for a greyhound. He could seriously injure himself if he fell. If you want to let him up there, you may want to invest in small rugs designed for stairs (Winter Wheat in Sparta sells some really cool ones that are made from a type of seaweed).. it'll give him some traction going up. Otherwise, go out and get yourself a sturdy baby-gate. Set it up at the bottom of the stairs and that will keep him from trying to go up. Often you can set up a babygate as a swing door so it's not so inconvenient for you, we have done just this in our living room upstairs.
Throw rugs go a long way to help a greyhound navigate the slippery floors. Just asks greys4us... they have rugs everywhere because Scrammy just can't do floors. They're decorative and look nice.
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Post by jenschase on Oct 1, 2007 17:12:08 GMT -5
Hi there!
I've had Chase for a little over a year, and we have slowly worked up to doing the hardwood stairs to my second level. I'll admit, it was very scary some days...but now Chase has no problem. He knows to go slow, and he will only go up or down if he can do it on the wall side. He will wait until you move out of his way before descending as well. His favourite spot in the house happens to be upstairs so i just couldn't stop him even if i wanted to!
Hopefully your guy can work out a deal with the stairs.! Good luck!
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Post by greys4us on Oct 2, 2007 11:54:15 GMT -5
Yup, we have mats and runners all over the laminate flooring in our home. Scram simply refused to tread on it. He had a bad experience on the flooring of a pet store before we brought him home. He is a brave boy in many ways, except when it comes to any flooring he thinks might be slippery. To be honest the rest of the pack also feel more at ease on the mats and runners. It does make cleaning a bit more of a hassle, but on the other hand the mats catch most of the paw prints. Besides this way Scrammy is happy and that is very important around here.
We also have baby gates, used mainly to block off one section of the house from the pups while I'm cleaning in there.
Our Jordie doesn't do stairs and is quite happy to stay on the main level. Beau hasn't attempted them yet and seems content staying with Jordie while we watch TV down stairs. We have carpet on our stairs and the rest of the pack do them with no problem.
Since your stairs are slippery and Rex has had difficulty doing them I would either baby gate them off or try some sort of carpeting so he will have better grip. We bought a swing type of gate at Walmart that works very well and doesn't require two hands to latch or unlatch. Hope this helps and good luck.
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Post by GreyPoopon on Oct 2, 2007 16:04:07 GMT -5
I wouldn't let him have access to the stairs when you're not around--he might get stuck when you're not there.
There are three ways to handle the slippery stairs issue:
- train him not to use them - train him how to use them carefully, like Chase - make the stairs less slippery
To train him not to try them, you'll have to watch him like a hawk, and have a command that tells him to get away from the stairs. If he responds, reward him. When you're not there, block the stairs.
To train him to do them, you'll need to proceed slowly and carefully. jenschase would be a better source of info--my stairs aren't slippery, and, even so, some of my girls are not experts.
To make the stairs less slippery, there are several options: carpet, runners, non-slip stuff applied in the varnish, and gripper stuff. Before I had carpet put on my stairs (as a runner, but it's real carpet), I taped down the gripper stuff that's sold in rolls for drawer liners/jar openers/etc.
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Post by rexation on Dec 16, 2007 8:44:35 GMT -5
Thank you for all the advice. Just a little update on my stair master. Rex is comfortable with the idea that the main level of the house is “his crate” and the upper level is ours. For the past few months we have used of all things a plastic water bottle on the stairs as deterrent. Rex is deathly afraid if plastic bottles and is shaken when he encounters then on the walk. He has not expressed any desire to climb stairs and if I am working in the office upstairs he lounges on a temporary bed on the first lending (up two stairs and by the front window). He is happy in ‘his kingdom’ with toys and kongs and chewies, and this makes me happy.
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