Dog afraid of stairs

Question
Hello.  My boyfriend has a 1 year old Labrador retriever (he has had
her since she was 12 weeks old).  Over the past 3-4 months she has
developed a fear (and refuses) to go up the inside 8 stairs from the front door
to the living room.  They are uncarpeted and somewhat narrow.  However,
she used to do these stairs and will do others (the stairs to the deck outside,
the outside stairs leading to the house, carpeted stairs in the house).  He has
tried using treats, leaving her at the bottom of the stairs, demonstrating
going up, feeding her on the stairs or at the bottom, has attached carpet
pieces to the stairs, etc without any result. She appears terrified of them; one
evening she spent the entire night at the foot of the stairs rather than coming
up.  She doesn't have other fears and is well-behaved and responds to
training.  One fear we have is that a family member who was staying there for
awhile who was having many difficulties (including aggressive behavior) may
have done something to her out of frustration.  At any rate she will not go
near the stairs, is too large to carry up and appears really anxious around the
stairs.  We would appreciate help.  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Julie

The training you have been doing is correct.  You need to link the stairs with a highly rewarding treat or toy, that is only used for training.  Over time your dog will build his confidence up and use the stairs.

Please make sure you do not reward any anxious behaviour by confronting your dog or carry him up the stairs.  The best thing you can do is ignore your dog and go up with stair whilst being clam and in control and eventually your dog will follow!

Kind Regards

Richella