Re: [pyrnet] Stairs

["Jessica @ DaVor" <woods@davor.com>]

on 3/17/03 00:07, jcone25 at jcone25@cox.net wrote:

> Hi - I just started reading the post.  I got my first pyr about 2 years ago
> and loved him so much that I got 2 more about 9 months ago.  One of the babies
> is afraid of climbing the stairs.  Does anyone have any advice on how to coax
> him up?  (He will do anything else for food or love but this)  At over 100
> lbs, he is too heavy to carry up for his bath and the bath in the backyard is
> out of the question as he likes to play in the mud.  Thanks.  Jen
> 


When we got Sam, he hated stairs and the basement stairs in particular.  We
think he might have spent a little too much time closed in the basement.
However, since you can't even get into our house without encountering
stairs, he pretty much had to get over it quickly.

For the front steps (leading outside) it helped that they were wide, and
outside, and he wanted to get out to the grass.  Inside, we decided that we
weren't going to push the issue of the basement--he never had to go into the
basement so forcing him onto those steps (which were steeper and narrower
than the outside steps) didn't seem like a good idea.

The second floor was another issue.  What we finally hit on, when we wanted
him to come upstairs, was for everyone in the house to go sit upstairs.  It
bothered him more to have us all away from him, eventually, than it did to
have to climb the steps.

This was almost 5 years ago now, and I'm happy to report that he no longer
has problems with any stairs--he'll even venture down into the basement if
he thinks we've been down there too long.  If your boy is an affection hound
like Sam is, try getting everyone else upstairs and leaving him downstairs
for a little while.  In the end, if he wants the company badly enough, he'll
come up.  Call to him every once in a while and rattle a few treats in their
box as added incentive.

Jess &:
Sam the Pyr (part-time); Elric & Tooki (cats); Caramun & Raistlin (bunnies);
 and Methos the black bear hamster
Levittown PA
woods@davor.com