Dog Suddenly Won't go up Stairs?

[Beardo]

My dog, Lola, is a great pyrenees-brittany spaniel mix. She's fairly large, 60ish pounds, and a year old. Ever since we got her she was fine going down stairs (in our house) and though it took a few days, she learned to go up. We've had her since June of 2015 (I think) and she's never had an issue like this before. All of the sudden, about 5 days ago, she won't go up stairs. She sits at the bottom of the stairs and whines. We only have 7 stairs (that are a little steep, but nothing she hasn't done before) and she'll put her front paws about 4 stairs up, but won't put her back legs up on them at all. Like I said, this was very sudden and my whole family is confused. We've tried just about everything, minus getting her a medical exam since she can run, climb other stairs, and do everything else normally. Since we have wood floors and she slides around a bit, my mom was thinking of getting somg carpet runners to put on the stairs (my grandma has them, and they make going up and down a lot easier for her).

This is what they are, in case you don't know. http://www.bigfurnishideas.com/why-...ely-installed-in-your-home/carpet-runners-12/

This would be fine, but she's getting too heavy for any of us to carry, and the bathtub is upstairs, so bathing her will become incredibly difficult. Any ideas and experiences with this kind of thing?

 

[p e p p e r]

it could be her weight & possibly her hips. is she overweight for her size? if her hips are bad it might hurt her to go upstairs, have you taken her to a vet for a check up lately?

 

[tobi!]

I knew two dogs who has similar incidents. One dog was fine with tile steps until one day, he slipped. After that, he whined whenever he encountered tiles. Another dog had problems with steps because one day, she ran down way to fast and tripped. After that, she did not go down the stairs but she did go up.

Maybe your dog took a tumble and believes they are not safe. Did you try using another set of stairs to see if it's just those stairs or all stairs?

 

[Beardo]

I knew two dogs who has similar incidents. One dog was fine with tile steps until one day, he slipped. After that, he whined whenever he encountered tiles. Another dog had problems with steps because one day, she ran down way to fast and tripped. After that, she did not go down the stairs but she did go up.

Maybe your dog took a tumble and believes they are not safe. Did you try using another set of stairs to see if it's just those stairs or all stairs?

It's just the two sets of stairs in the house that she won't use. Considering her tendency to take things a little too quick, she may have scared herself going up or down and no longer wants to use them. It might've happened when we weren't home.

it could be her weight & possibly her hips. is she overweight for her size? if her hips are bad it might hurt her to go upstairs, have you taken her to a vet for a check up lately?

She's a healthy weight, and very strong and physically fit. Plus, she hasn't displayed any signs of pain or discomfort in her hips or legs.

 

[tobi!]

Okay, if she is using other sets of stairs then it definitely isn't something like her hips being broken.

 

[DJStarstryker]

If she's not hurt, she probably just scared herself by tripping on the stairs at some point.

I honestly don't think you and your family should be carrying her up and down the stairs. Otherwise she'll expect you to do it every time. Give her time and she'll probably try to do it on her own after a few days or a week of not being able to go where she wants to go.

 

[timecapsule]

I agree with the other posts, she's probably scared after a slip or fall on the stairs. You could try and start putting her dog food up the stairs, so if she really wants to eat she'll get it? But she might even be too scared for that.

Just give her some time to realize that not all stairs are out to get her.

 

[KarlaKGB]

its probs cuz a ghost moved in upstairs tbh

 

[King Dorado]

I would take her to the vet to be on the safe side if she hasn't been in a while. Dogs imo have a very high pain threshold and she may have some issue that impacts her when needing to put all her weight on hind legs like climbing stairs. does she jump up into the car, or onto the furniture, or is that also an issue for her now?

- - - Post Merge - - -

you said she climbs other stairs, are they shorter?

 

[Beardo]

Well, we've only carried her up twice, once was today for a bath, and the other was to see if she'd sleep upstairs. Until she goes up on her own, we're only going to do it if it's completely necessary

 

[King Dorado]

I have a dog now that wont go up the stairs-- she's scared-- but she has never gone up them before.

I had a dog years ago that suddenly seemed reluctant to go up stairs or hop up in the car. Took her to the vet and they found out she had tumors. (had to go to a specialist for xrays to discover that)

you said your dog climbs other stairs, are they shorter than the ones she wont climb? how old is she?

 

[tae]

i'd suggest trying to use a treat based method to re-teach her that the stairs are an okay thing. and if that really doesn't help, look into seeing if she does need medical help just in case it is her hips or something. but the sound of it seems like she might have taken a tumble once or twice on the stairs and has become afraid of them. like other's have stated, i do not recommend carrying her up or down them, since it will create the idea to her that she can rely on it.

take some treats and work with her a few times a day, first going up, and then going back down and heavily reward her with praise and loving for a good job.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

To me it sounds like a hip problem, but I'm not too experienced with dogs. My friend had a Yorkshire terrier who refused to go up the main stairs to the upstairs, but would be fine going up the even longer stairs from their porch to their backyard to go piddle and any shorter set of stairs like the one between the sunken den and the main floor, it was just the stairs to upstairs she refused to walk and nobody knew why... so we'd just carry her up with us when we went to bed and stuff it was really weird. She was perfectly fine and didn't have anything wrong with her hips or anything.

 

[Beardo]

I'm thinking that we should take her to get examined, just in case. After that, some intense re-training may be in order. If all else fails we'll have to get her one of those lift-chair things lmao

 

[nami26]

my dog has the same problem. but hes a black lab. it might be your dogs hips or just his weight. put him on a diet of carrots . chop up the carrots really finely and then slip a little bit into his bowl every day to eat with his normal dog food. and keep adding a little bit more finely chopped carrots everyday. carrots will fill him up, but not add weight, so its good for dog diets. hope i helped!*