new dog is scared of stairs and/or heights

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lilly1

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Help please

I've just taken on a 3yo toy breed who is scared of the stairs. Its a problem as my other dog has the run of the house and this little one is going to be lonely if he cant master them.
He wants to, he can manage the first 3 and then his confidence fails him. I'm trying food and encouraging him one at a time but no joy. He's not keen on being carried up or down them either.

Any ideas? I've never had such a small dog before and not sure if his height is a factor.
 
If he is lonely he will go up them! Any pressure you put on him now will make it take longer, so as has been said, forget them. :-)
 
My rescue Shih Tzu then approx 3 yrs, couldn't do stairs when I got her. Wasn't a problem at home as i dont have dogs upstairs but where I worked was on the 1st floor which did cause her issues. It took nearly a month before she managed the single flight (they were fully carpeted) going up, and about 3 months before she managed to go down without stopping often. Mine has hind leg issues with luxating patella, so this didn't help with the going down!
Don't make it an issue, let dog work it out slowly and be prepared to spend time.
 
I'd start by actually redistricting your other dogs freedom in the house. Lots of small dogs can find stairs daunting and you do have to be careful in some cases that they don't hurt themselves on them (especially when coming down). So keep them both down stairs.
 
Small dogs can eventually learn. One of dad's terriers is only 4kg. He's like a black rocket up and down the stairs.

He didn't do them and asked to be carried, then just shot up and down!
 
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