Training Tip # 2: Stairway to Heaven

Those of us crips (note: only crips can call themselves crips!) who use a wheelchair and/or have no stairs in our homes often forget that we need to train our sdog pups how to go up/down stairs.

Just because we, the crip, may never walk our sdog on stairs doesn't mean they'll never use them. Here's a few instances where a wheelchair service dog may have to use stairs:

  • Non-crip trainer may want/need to use stairs.
  • At an airport, may need to ask an airline employee to take the dog outside to potty.
  • At a friend's two-story house, if the dog is allowed the run of the house.
As for training for stair use, keep a few things in mind:
  • Go UP before going DOWN! It's easier for a pup to pull up stairs than it is to stop momentum when going down them. At first, you may even want to carry the pup down the stairs and just work on going up.
  • Train on all kinds of stairs. Open back stairs are the scariest because the pup can see how high they are. Spiral stairs, cement stairs, rug-covered stairs, creaky wooden stairs...
  • Slow and steady. Use food as a lure if your pup responds to food.
  • Keep the leash on at all times and hook it to a harness or buckle collar. This is your safety line!
  • Work on just a few stairs at a time. Keep the sessions short.
  • Big praise when you get to the top/bottom.

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