My poor, sweet dog has developed a fear of stairs also know as Bathmophobia. He bounds up the stairs not thinking about how he is going to have to go down or it could be that, in the moment, he's unconcerned with the getting down the stairs part.
When Brad is away I don't stay in the garage apartment. I choose to stay in the house. In the morning, Schroeder and Cash come upstairs to get me out of bed for a potty and a play. Schroeder runs up and down with ease. Cash, on the other hand, stalls when it's time to go downstairs for his morning constitution. He looks at me with eyes screaming, "Mommy, ummm, get me down." I can't pick him up. He weighs 92 pounds. I've tried treats even hot dog weenies, getting Schroeder to push him down the stairs, putting his leash and harness on him and giving him a mighty tug. He doesn't budge, and he cries, mournful, I'm in pain cries. Then it makes me anxious, upset, and I yank at my hair in frustration and exhaustion. This went on for an hour yesterday until my dad came home to pick him up and get him down.
Today, the same the thing happened, and I was going on an hour of begging and coaxing my scared dog. It's so much worse when a big dog is afraid. I called my dad to see when he was getting home, but he didn't answer, so I took matters into my own hands, and started brainstorming about alternative ways to get him down. I decided it could be a traction issue, so I draped a bath towel down the first six stairs, and he came. At the sixth step, he had too much momentum going to turn back, and he came down. Problem solved. He was rewarded with a hard, tongue hanging out play.
Sheena, this was going on the whole time we were texting today.
Looking at his leash saying, "What? That's not going to work, lady."
Here's his despondent I'll just lean on the banister and watch you have a good time.
The look that breaks my heart.
Me anxious, upset, and tired wondering how the hell I'm going to get this 92 pound, fluff dog downstairs.
Fix the pictures!! I can't see it. I've got a pretty good imagination though. Oscar is afraid of linoleum. He freezes and gets himself so worked up that he eventually wipes out (sometimes involving loose bowels). Fortunately, he seems to have forgotten about this because he hasn't had an episode in our new place.
ReplyDeleteI'll fix them when I'm on my own computer. Promise! Loose bowels, oh jeez, when you have a dog you just have to become impervious to vomit and poop.
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