dog won’t go up/down stairs

[Anonymous]

We have two dogs, older, that don't do stairs. One, a pug that's 13 yo, hasn't done steps in four years. He fell down the stairs and is scared coupled with horrible arthritis. We get him monthly a monthly monoclonal antibody injection along with daily glucosamine and hemp oil. The other dog goes up, but not down. This dog does not have severe arthritis, but we do giver her daily glucosamine and hemp. The vet said that it is easier to go up steps, rather than down. We have placed runners on the stairs, but it is a lot of work to carry each one up and down a million times a day.

[Anonymous]

I could have posted this! Our 12 year old mixed breed dog has the exact same issue but it’s been going on for 18 months. We thought it was knee pain or arthritis but ruled that out. For the record, he runs around like crazy in the yard and even jumps on and off a low retaining wall with seemingly no difficulty. I thought it was vision but the vet said no. We can’t carry him up and down the stairs because he flips out and panics. Same if you try to harness him and help him up. Thankfully after a few minutes of gentle prodding he will eventually go back down but never up. I even tried bribery with his favorite treats. We live in a 70s split level and he insists on spending his days on the lower level which means he has no access to water or food and whines like crazy that he can’t greet visitors. We have to walk him out the back door and through the yard to the front to bring him into the kitchen at meal times. If he’d at least be willing to spend his days on the kitchen level all the issues would be eliminated but he is very on edge when he is on that level and won’t even lie down. I assume there is something about not only the stairs that freaks him out but the main level. It’s been really hard.

[Anonymous]

My almost 12 year old dog won’t go down our main stairs anymore after a couple of incidents where she slipped. Dogs aren’t stupid. They learn to associate the stairs with the fear or pain of slipping/falling and avoid them accordingly. Our dog is small so we just carry her. I don’t blame her for being nervous. Dogs know their own limits. She will usually come up the stairs on her own. This is one reason I prefer smaller dogs. When they get old it’s much easier to carry them if needed.

[Anonymous]

I feel like a dog’s whining because he can’t go up stair steps is probably an indicator of pain, while being reluctant to go down the stairs could be pain or impaired vision. Fearfulness when going down stairs would make me think it’s related to vision.

Have you had your dog’s vision checked? Waving your hand doesn’t tell you much about a dog’s vision. My dog isn’t elderly, but he went blind slowly due to a genetic defect. When he could still see well enough to chase after a ball in the backyard, he started having difficulty with stairs because he didn’t have good depth perception. Though he’s now good on our stairs 95% of the time, occasionally he’s unsure of how close he is to the stairs and he’s too anxious to let us guide him. Other times, he’s reassured when I use a leash or harness and walk beside him because he knows I can see the stairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your dog is dying.

We're all dying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog is dying.

We're all dying.

Is callous this comment was, it is a sign it’s the beginning of the end.

[Anonymous]

Do you have carpet or rugs on the steps? That may help. Check to see if the tow nails are too long as well. My parents dog suffered from this when older, also had arthritis. I think it was the pain.