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We live in Florida in a one story home. No steps at all.
We are visiting our daughter for Christmas and driving there to NJ with our Collie dog.
It's a 3 story house plus there are steps on the outside (7 of them) to get to Floor 1.
My husband wants to make sure our dog is not afraid of steps. We know of one person who has a 2 story home and may ask to try their steps.
It really shouldn't be a problem, unless the dog has arthritis. However, in the unusual case that the dog is fearful of the steps, a few treats at the top should resolve that issue quite quickly.
We adopted a 4-year-old dog who had never seen steps. He was very hesitant, wouldn't even try them. So several times a day my husband and I sat on the steps talking quietly to each other, ignoring the dog. It wasn't long before he was stretching his neck up and putting his front feet on the first step for attention. We petted him but didn't make a fuss.
Each day we moved up a couple steps. I think it took about four days before he was coming up to join us. Lots of petting but no pressure, and everyone was happy.
We moved with dogs from a single-story ranch to a house with stairs and they caught on very quickly. We also had a house visit by a rescue dog (whom we ended up not adopting), who had never done stairs. In the company of our own dog, the rescue dog had very little problem with the stairs.
OP, if you are able to go practice in someone else's house, that might be a good idea - just to ease your mind ahead of time - and IF you can find a stair-savvy dog to show your collie how it's done, that will likely go even more smoothly.
For all the dogs I have ever seen, porch stairs are no problem at all. They just treat it like uphill terrain, I think. So, if needs be, you could just set your collie up to stay on the first floor of the house you're visiting.
We adopted a 4-year-old dog who had never seen steps. He was very hesitant, wouldn't even try them. So several times a day my husband and I sat on the steps talking quietly to each other, ignoring the dog. It wasn't long before he was stretching his neck up and putting his front feet on the first step for attention. We petted him but didn't make a fuss.
Each day we moved up a couple steps. I think it took about four days before he was coming up to join us. Lots of petting but no pressure, and everyone was happy.
I love this approach! Having a few good smelling treats just sitting next to you or a few steps farther up is also a good incentive.
We did the majority of our fostering when we lived in a two story house with a long staircase with a landing halfway up. The background of the dogs was usually unknown but single story homes was the norm so I think most had never used stairs before.
The only dog I remember who had a problem with them was a blind puppy who, after a few starts and stops, got the number of steps down perfectly! She was a fearless little girl who "mapped" out the house in her head and navigated our home beautifully, rarely bumping into anything and never falling down the stairs.
I can't even take credit for teaching her. I just watched her do her magic and was there to help her if she messed up which rarely happened.
Your pup will be fine. He might even enjoy the novelty of them!
We moved with dogs from a single-story ranch to a house with stairs and they caught on very quickly. We also had a house visit by a rescue dog (whom we ended up not adopting), who had never done stairs. In the company of our own dog, the rescue dog had very little problem with the stairs.
OP, if you are able to go practice in someone else's house, that might be a good idea - just to ease your mind ahead of time - and IF you can find a stair-savvy dog to show your collie how it's done, that will likely go even more smoothly.
For all the dogs I have ever seen, porch stairs are no problem at all. They just treat it like uphill terrain, I think. So, if needs be, you could just set your collie up to stay on the first floor of the house you're visiting.
I live in a two story home and Zephyr has no issues with the stairs and goes up and down them all day long. There are also a few outside steps that he does fine on. When I took him racing we stayed at a Motel and they put us on the 2nd floor. The steps were not the type that had the open back and even had on skid strips on them. Chaos ran right up them but goofy Zephyr would got go up them. I ended up carrying him half way then putting him down and he had to decide go up, stay there or go down and he went up. But everytime I had to take carry him part way up. Do not know what it was about those stairs. We went racing last weekend and stayed there again but I told them ground level floor please. So sometimes it does not matter if your dog does stairs everyday or not as there is just something about some stairs. ( I can see where the open backed ones might frighten them).
My dogs aren't fond of open stairs either, they are food motivated so it usually works out ok in hotels that have them. The big problem we have is Forrest will not get in an elevator, I have tried everything but that boy believes they are evil so I always ask for a first floor room.
We live in Florida in a one story home. No steps at all.
We are visiting our daughter for Christmas and driving there to NJ with our Collie dog.
It's a 3 story house plus there are steps on the outside (7 of them) to get to Floor 1.
My husband wants to make sure our dog is not afraid of steps. We know of one person who has a 2 story home and may ask to try their steps.
Any ideas?
Not worried about the dog at all. You, on the other hand...if you haven't done stairs recently, I'd suggest you do some exercises. Be sure you USE the bannister. It's there for a reason. Lift your leg up higher than you think you need to, also.
Our dogs are never allowed upstairs. So they never learned either. On vacation with a group we wanted her to sleep in our bedroom but the home had wood steps. My girl could not or would not negotiate them as she kept slipping. I gave up and she spelt downstairs.
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We went racing last weekend and stayed there again but I told them ground level floor please. So sometimes it does not matter if your dog does stairs everyday or not as there is just something about some stairs. ( I can see where the open backed ones might frighten them).
