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hi everyone.

Charlie just turned 5 months and is a 31 lbs rough haired cream bear. My concern is that he doesn't know how to climb up and down the stairs at our house. I desperately want him to learn as I always have to
bring him up and down in the morning and at night.

Our stairs is made of of wood. Our shih tzu can go up and down and she's so much smaller than Charlie. I find that Charlie slips even with his nails cut short.

Can anyone give me a solution to this? He's getting really heavy for me to carry. I can't just leave him downstairs aswell because we reside in the Philippines and it's warm here all year round. We use individual airconditioning which is why it's important for me to carry him up to the bedroom.

Have you trimmed the fur on the underside of his feet? If not, I suggest doing so. That should keep him from slipping.

And as for teaching him to go up and down the stairs, encourage him with something he likes (food, toy, etc.). That's how I taught Tippsy to climb stairs (she was fine going down them).

Rory is 15 months now. He is a shorter variety chow, and like you we have wood stairs.

We have resigned ourselves to help him with the steps. Going up he would attempt to develop some momentum and any mistep would result in him sliding all the way back down. One such incident led to a sprained knee. From then on, he was overly cautious, and wouldnt even try to come back down.

He is fine on other steps. 4 concrete steps out to the yard with no problem. 5 pressure treated steps up the front, no problem.

The issue (for us anyway), is the slippery surface. We can either fully carpet them, try carpeted treads, or keep carrying him. At least coming down, we get to play a game of tag in the mornings.

Had the same issue with Brutus on the basement stairs until I put a carpet runner on them.

Thank you for all your replies.

Charlie just went to the groomers to prevent hotspots.
Even with short hair he couldn't climb up the stairs.
Even when there's treats on the steps.
Although.. he could with concrete, so I guess our wood is
slippery and would have to test if he could do it with rubber
matting or carpet.

Just because your puppy is larger than your shitzu, doesn't mean his body is equally matured or developed. Larger dogs physically and mentally mature at a much slower pace.

Stairs are not a natural obstacle for any dog and they have to learn how to master them, but they can't, if their bodies aren't yet properly developed to "connect" and "connect" the rear to the front.

Give him time to physically mature. As time goes on and you work him over hills, gullies, you'll find t hat he'll develop a more natural apptitude to go up and down stairs.

My girlfriend's house has a spiral staircase, with dimensions similar to this one.
http://www.mustknowhow.com/wp-content/u ... ses_01.jpg

My question here is that can a Chow Chow climb up and down those stairs?

akithelionchow wrote:My girlfriend's house has a spiral staircase, with dimensions similar to this one.
http://www.mustknowhow.com/wp-content/u ... ses_01.jpg

My question here is that can a Chow Chow climb up and down those stairs?

I wouldn't want my dogs going up and down that staircase. Too risky in my opinion.

That's what we figured, so we just carry him up and down the stairs.

akithelionchow wrote:That's what we figured, so we just carry him up and down the stairs.

I would start just leaving him downstairs unless you're strong enough to carry a 60-80 dog up and down those stairs. Still too dangerous in ly personal opinion.