Dog afraid to go UP the deck stairs

Question
I have read your bio & will read and rate your response fairly within 3 days.

About 3 weeks ago our 1.5 year old yellow lab began to stop going up the deck stairs.  We think he must have gotten spooked or hurt himself while coming up them one day.  We usually send him down the deck stairs to go to the backyard to pee or poop and then he comes back up when he's done.  For about two weeks he would come up sometimes and other times he would just sit at the bottom of the deck.  Now, he totally refuses to come up.  When we try to help him walk up the stairs by moving each individual paw up the stair he trembles and is almost frozen.  

A friend recommended offering him steak or something really enticing when he is hungry.  I did this today with a hot dog cut up into several pieces.  The entire time I pet my dog very affectionately and praised him a lot as well.  I offered him little pieces of hot dog as he climbed the steps, which he only did about half way.  There are a total of 5 steps and then a landing and then another 5 steps to the top of the deck.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Answer
Hi Maria,

Thanks for your question submission and for taking the time to look at my bio and agree to the Vitrual Contract in it.  

You write that you "send him down the deck stairs," so I have a hint that you don't always watch him as he interacts with the environment of your yard (and your stairs).  You also write that you "think he must have gotten spooked or hurt himself while coming up them one day," which offers me another clue that your dog isn't being watched when he's allowed outside and down the deck stairs to your back yard.  

With no judgment intended on my part, I hope you'll allow me to explain why it is I feel it's so important for dog owners to supervise their dogs' outside interactions at all times, even in fenced-in backyards.  Your having to do detective- and guess work now to try to guess what may have happened to possibly scare your dog makes the job of counter conditioning (changing how he feels about climbing the stairs) him through his fear that much more difficult.  In the future, So something like this doesn't occur again, I highly recommend supervising your dog at all times while he's out in your back yard, as a myriad of unwanted events can occur to dogs while they're out in backyards unsupervised, including encounters with other animals, teasing by neighbourhood children, injuries of which the owners may be unaware, eating of materials which may cause your dog digestive upset or poison your dog, and more.  Although I have a fenced-in, secure yard myself for my dogs, I do a walk-through of my property daily, in large part because I find bits of food and materials routinely dropped in my yard, probably brought there by other animals, which I don't want my dogs consuming.  In addition, while out in my yard with my dogs a few years ago, I saw a neighbouring six-year-old about to throw rocks at my dogs from the other side of the fence until I said, "What are you doing?!?" and he noticed that I was present and standing nearby partly hidden by a bush watching my dogs.  Thank goodness that family moved about two years ago.  While my dogs are great with children, had that child been allowed to throw rocks at them they might not have been so wonderful with children after that, and I would never have known for sure why if I hadn't been out there to prevent what was about to happen.  So, please make sure you supervise your dog when he's let out, even if you feel your property is secure. :-)

As to what may be going on with him, like you I can only guess, and here are a few of my best ones.  First, even though your Lab is only 1.5 years of age, he might be suffering some type of joint problem, such as hip dysplasia, which would be making it difficult for him to be going up the stairs (or even down, but for some dogs one direction often seems to be worse than the other).  Or, he could have a patella (knee) problem.  I would suggest having your vet look into such possibilities, even if your dog isn't limpling or otherwise showing evidence of an injury.  Dogs don't always limp or show evidence of pain or injury, but they can show avoidance of certain items, such as...you guessed it...stairs.

If your vet determines that there's no type of injury or joint issue going on, then one might assume that your dog slipped on the deck stairs and hurt himself, or became scared, or was "spooked" in some other manner on the stairs, to the degree that the memory has stayed with him and he's now scared to go up the stairs.  If there was snow or ice on the stairs at the time, he might have had a scare or an injury while losing control on the stairs from a relatively high up place, which could be very scary for a dog.

If the vet says there's no injury or joint problem, then I would go ahead with the method of enticing your dog would foods or toys he really likes up the stairs.  However, I would suggest that rather than trying to make him scale all the stairs at once, employ a slow and gradual programme of having him go up one or two stairs at a time, highly praising and rewarding him with special treats for doing so, then allowing him to go back down.  When you see that he's comfortable with that number of stairs, add one more stair on another day until you can see he's comfortable with that additional amount of stairs; and, so on.  It may take a couple of weeks or more for you to get him comfortable with all the stairs, but if you CAN get him comfortable again, I think the time and effort will be well worth it.  Once he's comfortable again, make sure you supervise him when letting him out and as he comes up and down the stairs in the future.  You may even want to snap a leash on him from now on as he goes up and down the stairs so that he never has an opportunity to slip again or fall through the stairs (if they're 'open' stairs, which might allow a dog to fall through).  Once he's on land in your backyard, you can let him off the leash if your backyard is secure.

Also, as you're doing the counter conditioning with food and praise, try using a leash, NOT to force him up the stairs, but with just a slight bit of tension on the leash so that he feels he has a "leg up" and some help getting up the stairs.  The tension on the leash drawing him slightly up may make him feel more secure.

In the meantime, until he's comfortable again with the stairs, is there another entryway into your home from which he can go out and come in?  Or, can someone securely carry him up the stairs so his fear isn't being triggered while he's becoming comfortable again (which would set back any counter conditioning work you'd be doing with him)?

I mentioned 'open' stairs earlier, and I'd like to offer a bit more information on this point.  I'd also consider whether the stairs are "open" or not, with open space behind each stair.  Many dogs aren't as comfortable with these types of stairs as they are "closed" stairs, which have no space behind each stair.  While it may seem odd that a dog would 'all of a sudden' become skittish about open stairs after a year or more of not being so, this can and does happen for various reasons.  It would be interesting to see if your dog is comfortable scaling other stairs which are closed at another location, and even trying 'open' stairs at another location, to see what kinds of results you get.  If your dog is fine with the 'closed' stairs elsewhere, but not fine with the 'open' stairs elsewhere, this could offer some insight into what's troubling your dog.  If the solution is as simple as 'closing' your deck stairs, you might want to look into doing so.

I hope I've helped by offering you some ideas.  I hope all goes well and your dog can become comfortable again over time with the deck stairs, and, if not, that you can find another solution for him.

Best regards,
Madeline, Volunteer in 'Dogs' and 'Dog Behavior' at AllExperts