Kort is going to be 7 months old on Thurs. He still will not walk down stairs....I have been patient with him, collies all move at their own speed..he's just moving slower then most!When Wendy & I went to Writing On Stone there were many many stairs...stone stairs, but stairs none the less....we came upon the first set & I had to pull him down, after letting him try & decide to come down on his own. Collies can develop crazy fears if you push them too hard, a bad experience in their heads & that's all it takes for them to remain afraid forever. Anyway, it ended well, Kort was doing stairs like a pro by the end of our walk, I was encouraged!
The stairs at home are different, they are not rugged & they are steep, at least in Kort's mind, but there are only 6 of them. I decided today to try & "make" him do the stairs. The main reason is he is getting bigger, & gaining weight. I'd guess him to be maybe 50 Ilbs now, I have pulled the muscle across my chest, no doubt from the numerous times a day I need to carry him down those darn stairs! It hurts, bad, I can hardly drive, or turn my neck without my chest hurting.
Ok, I put his leash & collar on, & walk him toward the stairs armed with treats, no go, he backs up & pulls. I pull him gently back toward me encouraging him all the while, no go, now he's getting worried. So, I take the bull by the horns, or in this case, the collie by the collar, & pull him screaming & pulling down the stairs, all the while telling him how brave he is!! He gets treats galore at the bottom! We go back up & this time he goes down much easier, but jumps the last 2 stairs..ok, up again, he jumps just the last stair. Then the most exciting part, he follows Tate down the stairs all by himself!! Yippee!!
However, this does not have a great ending! In his fear he blew his anal glands, if you ever have smelled them you know how unpleasant they are! So, I have to wash his butt to get rid of the smell, & later I realize after being outside, that my house stinks of anal glands too! So, I wash the rug at the top of the stairs hoping I have gotten the spot where the foulness may have dripped!!
But alas, don't get too excited about Kort's achievement yet, I just asked him to come down the stairs a half hour ago & he ran away!! Back to the drawing board I guess!
6 comments:
Yes those stairs...we all have them! Remember Chad...we had the opposite problem with him, he would go down stairs no problem but go UP stairs...no way.
We had the same problem with both Jurnee & Faith getting into the car...wouldn't go...used clicker...it worked...now they happily jump in.
Good luck with it...Kort will figure it out soon...I"m sure!
yes!! I had decided to try the clicker tommorrow!! Good to hear that it worked for you, thanks!I probably should have tried the clicker first!
Ohhhh. I know your pain with the anal gland smell. That sucks. That's weird about the stairs though, but then Sadie was never scared of anything!!! If you go down and leave him up alone will he follow?
I'm so sorry that didn't go smoother for you. I had pretty high hopes after watching him on the trail.
he'll get it.
what about feeding him at the bottom of the stairs?
put his bowl down there and walk away.
I didnt realize this was a collie thing. We had a collie when I was a kid. He would never go up or down the stairs in the house. We thought maybe something happened to him that caused his fear. He would go down the stairs off the back deck. There were only 6 steps. But coming back up was a problem. He would get a running start go up maybe 2 steps then come back down. He would do it over and over again with the running start go up a few steps turn around. Then finally make it to the top. It was strange. Glad to know it was a collie thing. Diana
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