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Dog afraid of stairs

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Posted July 4th, 2007 by Aidan

Michelle asked - "I was reading a random article about teaching a dog about stairs, they recommended placing the dogs feet on the stairs one at a time and helping them move up the stairs. I would have thought luring the dog up the stairs a little at a time would be more appropriate. Wouldn't handling the dog in a new situation like that be a distraction?"

It's a very diluted (read "long and drawn out") version of "flooding" - forcefully exposing the dog to a fearful stimulus repeatedly until he just gets over it - or flips out completely! All too often, they just flip out and won't go near the fear-inducing stimulus. Doing it incrementally as advised in the article you mention just gives the dog more opportunities to flip-out.

Luring with a food treat is often recommended but, having had many such experiences, I would advise against luring also. Often it is just "badgering" the dog into doing something he doesn't want to do by offering a bribe, and does not really address the underlying fear (as it is intended) unless it is immediately successful.

What I do strongly recommend in this sort of situation is keeping the dog's "thinking brain" active. You can do this by either:
1. "shaping" him to walk up the stairs by his own accord using clicker training
2. "targeting" either with a moving target stick that he is trained to follow or using a stationary target placed on the first step, then second step etc

Both procedures are very similar. In both procedures your dog is "thinking" and not "reacting". In both procedures he is making the choice to walk up the stairs. In both procedures you can increase the criteria at the dog's pace.

The difference between targeting and luring seems subtle at first, but in practice they are distinctly different and I have had dramatically different results trying both in a variety of situations with dogs, horses and cats.

Comments

I remember seeing videos of

On May 8th, 2009 mikese says:

I remember seeing videos of dogs walking up and down step ladders i can't imagine a dog being afraid of stairs.

re: I remember seeing videos of

Aidan's picture
On May 8th, 2009 Aidan says:

One of my dogs will climb step ladders. She will also use a slide in a kids playground.

Nevertheless, stairs are a problem that comes up every now and then. I suspect part of the problem is that at home dogs will never dog some of the crazy, fearless stuff they will do when they are playing outside the home. Different drives.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

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