English Mastiff and Stairs

[Myleo]

Hello everyone, I have a 4 1/2 month old English Mastiff and I've noticed he won't go up stairs in our home. we have 2 sets of hardwood stairs on both sides of the house, they are about 18 steps each. He goes up and down the 5 steps from house to gaurage no problem.
when we are upstairs he will just lay at the bottom and wait for us. Does anyone know if this is normal ? he's not in pain or ever limps, he runs everywhere out side and he's very healthy.

 

[Bentley]

My mastiff, is exactly the same, Ben won't even come upstairs when my other 2 dogs do, except for at my grandfather's house where the stairs are execeptionally shallow. How steep are your stairs? Also, try laying something down on the stairs that may give him a better grip than the hardwood, also I suspect that this will be easier to address as a pup than if you leave it until he is older (this is just my opinion).

 

[Sabrina]

Its actually not good for mastiffbreeds under 5 months or so to go up or down stairs because it is such a crucial time in their hip development...

 

[moose]

I agree with sabrina, I would not force an EM to go up stairs when they are a pup. If they have to go upstairs, which when they grow so fast you cant carry up anymore, I would move slow. If he already knows how to go up and down stairs, he is probably more scared going to the upper floor. EM's can go through fear stages, they will grow out of it, just use positive reinforcement to show them that their is nothing to be scared of and grow his confidence.

 

[Sabrina]

You also may need to add carpeting to your stairs...hardwood stairs are very hard for dogs to navigate...

 

[Bentley]

I agree with Sabrina completely about the hip development and should have thought about that in my earlier post.

 

[mastiffluva]

My mastiff is 13 months old. Same problem. Sometimes she will go upstairs. Other times she will lay at the bottom of the steps and woof because she wants someone to come downstairs. I put carpeting on my stairs for her. It helps but it didn't solve the problem completely. She has hip problems so I thought that was the reason but sometimes she goes up and down with no problems, so I am not sure.

 

[Dino]

Start with treats just get him to put his front paws on the stairs.lead him to the stairs with the treats .and have a few on the first or second step.and go from there he'll see that there not a bad thing.if you force it it's gonna bite you in the butt.

 

[Tailcreek]

I completely disagree with the statement that going up and down stairs is bad for young mastiffs. What's bad is racing and bounding up and down stairs. That is hard on their fast growing joints. But avoiding stairs until adulthood only gets you dogs that are afraid to navigate stairs entirely. Try forcing a 200 lb dog to go up a flight of stairs against their will...not going to happen lol! I agree that it could be the slippery wood that your mastiff is trying to avoid on those stairs.

Jennifer
www.tailcreekmastiffs.com

 

[acoz47]

I would say count yourself lucky as long as the dog is healthy.;-). My dogs go up there and taunt me come and get them. They sit at the top and make funny faces.