Teaching a dog how to use a spiral staircase?

[KFC]

I had to move from my rented house with a garden recently, into an apartment. So my primary focus on the search was that it needed to be suitable for dogs, as I'm going to be here for at least 18 months while my house is being built

I thought I had found the perfect place - It has a huge tiled outdoor area (50 m2) and the apartment is over a split level. So this means the walls on the outdoor area are 7 feet high. I thought this was briliant for me as I could then safely give the dogs free access to outdoors even when I wasn't home. Every other apartment I looked at just had regular balconies, or outdoor areas with 4 feet walls that my dogs could get out of (or stolen from).

I'm now wondering if I've made a huge mistake - one of my dogs is refusing to go down the spiral staircase. She will go up it though. This might actually be worse as she goes upstairs then needs a pee and refuses to go back down and to outside so does it on the floor...

My bedroom is downstairs, the dogs sleep there with me. I need to carry one dog down (the other one is absolutely fine using them). A couple of nights ago she went upstairs in the middle of the night and then sat at the top of the stairs crying until I got out of bed and came to carry her back down. At times I have trouble with my sleeping patterns.... the last thing I need is being woken up when I am sleeping Keeping the bedroom door closed while I want to sleep solves that for now I suppose, though I'd rather keep it open to keep fresh air flowing in.

I've tried standing at the bottom of the stairs holding a half roast chicken and offering it to her - she just sits there and cries. I tried this for 20 minutes solid and she just refused to budge. Tonight I took the other dog for a walk and chopped another half chicken into pieces, and left a bit on every step. When I got back the one from the top step was gone, and the rest untouched. So she's probably lay down without actually going on the steps and grabbed that one and left the rest of them

I'm sitting at home now in my lounge (upstairs) its not practical to have to carry a dog downstairs every now and then to see if she wants to go outside or not. She's perfectly fine being carried down the stairs, or being outside etc - its just the stairs themselves she's not keen with.

So, any suggestions how we get around this?

Thanks!

[Mobile Chicane]

If she can go up, she can go down.

I have a spiral staircase (an old Victorian cast-iron jobbie) and while Bob the cat was initially reluctant to use it, he soon overcame this when bribed with steak.

No red-blooded beast can resist... steak.

[KFC]

I don't think changing the food type is going to work - roast chicken is one of her favourite foods so I can't really see her being unwilling to do it for that but willing to do it for something else

I don't have a fridge yet so I've no other food in the house to try it with unfortunately. Other than a packet of pasta, digestive biscuits and some cup-a-soups the last owner left in the cupboard

[4G63T]

the dog got a fave toy?

try walking down the stairs with it so she can see, or even try working her? up for walkies when she is upstairs holding the leash and trying to get herdown or even putting her halfway down the stair with you blocking to 'up route' so she has to go down

[KFC]

4G63T said:

the dog got a fave toy?

try walking down the stairs with it so she can see, or even try working her? up for walkies when she is upstairs holding the leash and trying to get herdown or even putting her halfway down the stair with you blocking to 'up route' so she has to go down

She doesn't have a favourite toy as such as she gets kids toys from the charity shop and regularly destroys them. She wasn't interested when I tried to coax her with the current one. I think if anything is going to work as a coax, its going to be food rather than a toy.

When she sees me go down the stairs she just sits at the top, or goes back to the sofa. At this point it just doesn't seem likely that she's going to go down there voluntarily.

I was thinking about putting her on the lead and trying to walk her down but I know whats going to happen - she's going to pull back and the only way to achieve it would be to effectively drag her down. I didn't want to try that without proper advice as I wasn't sure whether it'll make her realise she can walk down them okay, or whether it'll just scare her even more.

The other dog that I haven't had very long is 2 years old and been living on the streets before going to the pound... she seemingly has no problems at all. I think street dogs are far more resourceful and able to cope with random things you throw at them... dogs that have been pets all their life are spoiled in comparison and never really had to think for themselves I was on my upstairs little balcony working with them both sleeping on my feet, the stray gets up and runs downstairs and I could see her taking a dump outside then ran back up and went to sleep again. Its great that she's able to work out what to do but its just making me frustrated that the other one seemingly can't or won't understand it...

[hidetheelephants]

Possibly a silly suggestion, but could it be lighting? Is the stair case partly in shadow? does it have solid risers or is it one of those stair cases with just a gap, which might look alarming when you're as close to it as a dog is, you could experiment with filling in the gaps with paper or mounting some extra lights to see if it makes any difference.

[KFC]

hidetheelephants said:

Possibly a silly suggestion, but could it be lighting? Is the stair case partly in shadow? does it have solid risers or is it one of those stair cases with just a gap, which might look alarming when you're as close to it as a dog is, you could experiment with filling in the gaps with paper or mounting some extra lights to see if it makes any difference.

Its reasonably well lit - I don't think that can be the problem.

The stairs have gaps between them... but you can't see the gaps as you go down only when you're going up, which she has no problem doing.

[Catz]

My dog is fine with the stairs in my house but can be a bit funny with stairs in other places. She also will go up but not down, which is a slight problem when she weighs 40kg!
I've not found any solution except to install a stair gate so she can't go up. Not ideal for you as your living area is upstairs.

I'll keep an eye on this topic though to check out all suggestions too.

[KFC]

Catz said:

My dog is fine with the stairs in my house but can be a bit funny with stairs in other places. She also will go up but not down, which is a slight problem when she weighs 40kg!
I've not found any solution except to install a stair gate so she can't go up. Not ideal for you as your living area is upstairs.

I'll keep an eye on this topic though to check out all suggestions too.

I think absolute worst case if she simply won't ever learn, would be to install a child gate at the bottom. That way I can leave the bedroom door open to keep the air flowing, but she is trapped downstairs with access to outside when I want her to be.

[sooperscoop]

I guess there's a few things you can try before resorting to a swift boot up the arse.

Carry her down to the third step, then the fourth, and so on. She'll learn, although it may get difficult when she can't see the floor anymore. Big hugs and rewards when she succeeds.

Of the wall, but tie the dogs together? The lead dog may provide the encouragement required.

Does she even try, putting a tentative paw forward? Or just refuse point blank?

[karona]

What are the treads surfaced with? My mutt refused point blank to use the spiral stairs because the wooden treads were too slippery. I found self adhesive carpet tread covers, similar to these:



and now he's up and down them without hesitation.

[KFC]

sooperscoop said:

I guess there's a few things you can try before resorting to a swift boot up the arse.

Carry her down to the third step, then the fourth, and so on. She'll learn, although it may get difficult when she can't see the floor anymore. Big hugs and rewards when she succeeds.

Of the wall, but tie the dogs together? The lead dog may provide the encouragement required.

Does she even try, putting a tentative paw forward? Or just refuse point blank?

Refusing point blank. I'll try sitting her down half way but it'll probably be hard to stop her running back up rather than down.

Tying them together won't work - the other dog is bigger and stronger and will just end up hauling her down the stairs. Someones getting injured/bit if I try that

karona said:

What are the treads surfaced with? My mutt refused point blank to use the spiral stairs because the wooden treads were too slippery. I found self adhesive carpet tread covers, similar to these:



and now he's up and down them without hesitation.

Ah this looks like a good suggestion thanks. Right now they're just plain wood. I have the DIY skills of Stephen Hawking so I will probably need to get someone in to sort that for me...

[hidetheelephants]

KFC said:

Ah this looks like a good suggestion thanks. Right now they're just plain wood. I have the DIY skills of Stephen Hawking so I will probably need to get someone in to sort that for me...

Best get the landlord involved otherwise things might get ugly.

[KFC]

hidetheelephants said:

Best get the landlord involved otherwise things might get ugly.

I own the flat, so nobody else to get involved. There are a whole other load of dangerous things - electric sockets hanging out of walls etc.