Greyhounds and Stairs

• If you have a home that has stairs, they will pose a particular challenge for your greyhound. Most dogs have no idea what stairs are or how to negotiate them. Some dogs like going up, some dogs like going down, some may go halfway up or down the stairs and suddenly freeze and refuse to move in either direction, some dogs can't do either.
• DON'T EVER FORCE your greyhound up or down the stairs by dragging them. If you lose your patience and force or hurt your dog you may lose the dogs trust. This will affect other areas of training and bonding.
• Have patience. It may take more than one day to get your hound comfortable with stairs.
• Do not train your dog for extended periods of time. Work on it for 5 minutes, stop and take a rest and then start again after an hour. Don't pressure your dog to get everything right the first couple of tries.
• Always use a soft higher pitched voice when coaxing your hound so it knows this should be fun.
• Going up - Having a second person in front of your dog baiting him/her with a piece of cheese or doggie treat, may give your dog incentive to continue up the stairs. The person in back of the dog is there to give the dog security that it will not fall backwards. Place the dogs front left paw on the second step. Then take the dogs back right leg and put it on the first step. Then put the dog's front right leg on the second stair next to the left one. Take the dog's back left leg and put it on the first step next to the back right one. Get the idea? Make believe you are going up the stairs on all fours.
• Going down stairs can be more dangerous since greyhounds are used to jumping down out of their kennel crates. A greyhound can and will attempt to jump to the bottom of the stairs in a single bound, which can end in a broken leg or worse.
• ALWAYS hold your new greyhound by its collar with your palm on its chest as it goes down stairs for the first couple of days. To start your dog going down, you may need to gently put him/her on the first or second step.
• NEVER let a greyhound attempt to go down stairs by itself until you are sure they understand the concept of taking one step at a time.
• All greyhounds have gotten up and down, no dog has failed yet. Some take a little longer.

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