# Does your malt go up and down stairs?



## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

My malt will go down 2 steps max and also the other way around. She will climb only 2 steps. I went to a friends house the other day and she has a 8 pound yorkie who goes up and down huuuuge flights of stairs....and they were steep too. 
I think she is afraid of going up and down steps. How about your malt?


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Archie, Abbey and Tink go up and down any stairs - no problemo - they range from 5 1/2 lbs to 10 lbs.

Ava, on the other hand can go up....but not down. I don't even know how she's goes up - the steps are higher than she is! (3 lbs)


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## labst60 (May 24, 2010)

I'm curious too - my parents have a 5-6lb Yorkie who is now 15.5. From the time she was about 4 months she did stairs. I was in HS when they got her and I remember the first time we got home and couldn't find her - I freaked! Apparently her parents never did stairs and the breeder told my parents that she wouldn't either. We were sure she was stolen - then we heard her whimpering at the top of the stairs! She still does the stairs, but just in the past year she has cut down to 2x/day as opposed to up and down all day!


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

We live in a 3 storey home and when she even see the stairs and I say"'come on lets go" she starts to go in circles and gets all panicky and Vanilla is 12 pounds.


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## aspen (Aug 27, 2009)

Coco is 4 lbs. and she is constantly up and down the stairs, following me.
Her breeder lived in a ranch house so Coco was not use to stairs when we got her at 5 months old. But after living with us for a few days, she was up and down, up and down all day long. lol


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## Dora's Mom (Nov 7, 2009)

When Dora was a little smaller we let her try doing stairs by herself. Our stairs are wooden and she seemed to be afraid and I was afraid she would slip. So we put a baby gate up, which also let us put the cat's food and litterbox upstairs. She goes up and down a few basement stairs and brick stairs outside, but she's on her leash then so we're right there to grab her. I'd be scared to let her go up and downstairs in the house. It would probably be just fine but this is an easy way to keep her away from the cat's stuff!


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## beckinwolf (Sep 2, 2008)

Micky can do them, but I don't let him. He has a death wish and jumps off the 3rd step from the bottom all the way to the floor if I let him go down them. So we gate the stairs off. He is 10 pounds.


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

Matilda goes up and down, B&B can but we help her she's a old girl


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## Hunter's Mom (Dec 8, 2008)

Hunter can go down the stairs IF they are carpeted or if there are just a few. He can get up smaller sets of stairs such as deck stairs or 3-4 carpeted steps but that's about it. He looses too much momentum (sp) 1/2 way up and we worry about him falling. Our stairs are finished wood so he is not allowed up or down them and there is a door to close them off from him.


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## cyndrae (Aug 30, 2009)

Lilly goes up and down the front step outside our front door but the rise is only 6 in. (shorter than standard). Inside is a different story she started going up but not down then a couple of weeks ago she stop going up inside. I don't spend a lot of time on it since there is talk about there knees not being the strongest part of them.


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## Katkoota (Feb 18, 2006)

the two malts of mine go up and down the stair... monster snowy skips the last 2 steps by flying to the ground (jumping high to the ground) He prefers to save time; jumps happily. I have no idea on how to teach him to stop doing that because it scares me-I worry that he might get hurt.

Kat


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

Yeager loves hopping up and down the stairs! He thinks it's great exercise haha


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## barefoot contessa (Mar 9, 2010)

*Halle is 4 1/2 months old now and wont go up or down any steps , even the the 3 steppers for the sofa and bed. Tessa and yorkies I had in the past all went up and down steps. Is it a Malt thing? I will place Halle on the 1 st step to the sofa and she hops right off.*


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## majik921 (Apr 27, 2010)

Berns took a long time to figure out steps, she looks so cute going up and down them cause she's so small. I like to think of the sound as "bop bop bop bop". Anyway, I'd be patient, sometimes it's hard for little dogs to handle stairs... I've definitely noticed that over the years with friends' pups too.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Both of mine do our stairs which are carpeted. Didn't have to teach them, just came naturally I guess.

Sophie is a big girl, but does them quite well at a decent pace. Annie, who is 5 lbs, flies up them pretty quickly, but sometimes stumbles up a step or two as they are about as tall as she is. 

It's when she goes down that makes my hair stand on end - she goes so fast I can't even see her feet hit the ground and I swear she only uses one of her back legs - I think she thinks it makes her go even faster. Thank God we don't have a long banister or I do believe she find a way up there and just slide all the way down! lol 

Linda


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## SugarBob62 (Nov 9, 2009)

Andy was 12lbs and could NOT do the stairs. The cat lived upstairs when we got him, so we never encouraged him to learn. So he just lived downstairs. As he got older though and it stormed and no one was home, we'd come home to find him halfway up the steps :HistericalSmiley: Poor guy...

Our steps are hardwood with rubber liners down the middle, and they are dark, and very slippery. So I was glad he didn't go up them regularly.

Nelson however came to our house already knowing steps, musta learned at his breeders house. We then had a baracade to keep him from going up. Our cat now too has all his stuff upstairs, and needs peace and quiet. So he have something low enough the cat can get over but not Nelson. It is annoying to have to walk up and and down over it, but otherwise Nelson FLIES up the steps. And he is 7lbs. He is much more agile too than Andy was. He actually jumps around like he is Jack Russel or something, he boings up and down :HistericalSmiley: So I dunno if that has anyting to do with it or not? Andy was very sturdy and not as flexible in that way.


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## Alice Ana (Mar 17, 2010)

i got alice today and she went up the stairs for the first time  a little unsuccessful coming down, but she did it all on her own <3


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## Orla (Jul 5, 2009)

Milo goes up and down now - he used not when he was younger though - he'd sit on the bottom step lol.


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## pinkpixie1588 (Oct 12, 2009)

Leila loves dashing UP stairs. I think she tries to race me up..hopping like a bunny from stair to stair. She will absolutely not go down any stairs, though. It has taken us 2-3 months to get her to the point where she'll step off a curb or any raised surface (even 2-3 inches). She will do close to anything to get to me, but when I walk down the stairs to get something (and leave her upstairs), she will sit at the top crying and eventually barking so she can make sure I know I forgot about her LOL..


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## waggybaby (Jul 28, 2009)

Sasha is 11 months old and 4.5 lbs and she won't go up or down stairs.
I always thought because they were bigger then her.
She will go up and down wide stairs that are shallow.


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## Alexa (Aug 6, 2009)

My little Ullana doesn't walk stairs neither up nor down. She did it when she came in our house but one day she jumped under the stairs outside and I think she did hurt herself. Since then we tried everything, we put treats on the stairs, no chance.
My Dad made a little ramp for her. Now she walks up and down herself. Here in the house she's waiting until I come and pick her up.
The best think is that she can't run on the street if we open our front door! Our postmen love this, too, LOL! :HistericalSmiley:

Alexandra :wub:


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## Maglily (Feb 3, 2009)

Jodi won't go down hardwood steps (too slippery) but he'll go down the deck steps (about 8-9 steps) which are steeper. He won't go down my friend's carpeted steps, probably because here's alot of them. But he'll go up all the different steps.
I didn't teach him to go down the hardwood steps because it keeps him away from the door.


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## Chalex (Feb 19, 2010)

The first day that I got Preston he squeezed through the bars of the kitchen gate and ran up the stairs. He loves to race up stairs but won't attempt to go down. He goes down curbs now.


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## Maltese&LabMommy (Apr 20, 2010)

I am still trying to train Ponyo to know that she is NOT allowed on the stairs! She is SO little that once she is up, she cant get down w/out a tumble! SO scary! So when she sleeps in our room (on the floor w/ Cali) I put up the baby gate in our door way (on the 3rd floor) so Ponyo cants get out but we can still hear the (real) kids who stay on the 2nd floor!


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## jeannief (Aug 6, 2009)

Mason would go upstairs, but would stand at the top and not come down so I would have to go get him. I babysat my sister's Maltipoo a few weeks ago and she taught him, so now he goes up and down on his own. Occasionally he will still stand at the top and look at me; I think he just likes me to come up and carry him down.


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## NIMaltese (May 24, 2009)

Tobi will now go upstairs no problem - he races up them.
Coming down he prefers to be carried. He did come down on his own once, and was fine but I think he isn't comfortable with the height.


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## Rocky's Mom (Apr 10, 2010)

Rocky used to be afraid of his new steps up to the sofa...he'd go up, but not down. Now he runs up and down them. When we go to the park he doesn't have a problem with the steps there.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Cosy won't go up or down stairs but will do one step if it's not a big one. I think they scrape her belly.


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

Neither Casanova nor Bijou will go up or down stairs...Occasionally if they are desperate enough, they will go up one step. But it's after much hesitation...


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

Of course Daredevil Boo fears no stairs or steps. Hannah hates them & most of the time,she has to be picked up. Funny thing is, she will come up the back steps,all five, but once she does that,she refuses to jump the last stepup into the house. She usually just stands at the bottom of steps & wags her tail & waits to be picked up.


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

Lola wouldn't before we moved to this condo, but now she flies up and down, no problem.


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

Pepper had to be (patiently) taught to negotiate the stairs---took her about 2 wks before she'd do it without reservation...and with any speed. Now she zips up and down, as does Luigi.


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## wooflife (Aug 8, 2007)

Izzy at 4.4 lbs goes up down and all around. That girl is NOT going to be left behind because of stairs. She can also jump up and down from chairs and sofas.


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## bellasmummy (Apr 8, 2009)

Bella wont really, she just about manages half way up but will never go down. Floee and Mya however are up and down the stairs all day playing ...they never stop lol you cant even get to the bathroom alone since they learnt the stairs lol


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

dolce wouldnt go down the stairs at all but remember he didnt even wanna go out my apt door .. lol now he will go down the curbs and maybe one step but i think it scares him going down .. but he surprised me the other day n hopped up the six steps in the inside of my building tooo cute.. he doesnt jump from couches or beds though .. dolce might be 4 lbs now cause he feels chunkier than before.


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## Purple-peep (May 14, 2009)

A few months ago, Libby started working on going up stairs. One day, I came home and she was half way up, stuck on a stair. I felt so bad and wondered how long she was there.

Now, she does the stairs up but can't go down. It's too slippery/hardwood floors.

I also trained her to go up a huge step to get in our back door and up three more stairs.:aktion033: This seems so good, not having to bend down each time we go in.

She loves going to a house with carpeted stairs. She runs right up, no problem. Won't go down though.


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## MalteseObsessed (Mar 7, 2010)

My Cosettia jumps up onto couches but no no stairs.

My Tweety will do some stairs outside on walks, but never our house stairs, which are hardwood. Tweety never jumps on couches, though I am sure she knows how.


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## FortheloveofBuckeye (Mar 11, 2010)

Buckeye flys up and down our stairs now. When he was a little smaller, he wouldn't do it, but one day I went up to my room and all of a sudden, there he was behind me. Every since then, he goes up and down with no problem.


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## aspen (Aug 27, 2009)

HI,

Coco weighs 4 lbs. and she is constantly going up and down our stairs.
When we brought her home in Dec., she was only 5 months old and weighted 3lbs. After a few days she was up and down the stairs.

She gets a lot of exercise following me up and down.


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## Dora's Mom (Nov 7, 2009)

I wonder if there is a correlation between the type of stairs and whether a dog can/will go up and down on them. I would be much more likely to let Dora on our stairs if they were carpeted.


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## Kutsmail1 (Dec 26, 2007)

When Zippy was a puppy, she was way too tiny to make the stairs. My daughter and I would often go upstairs and leave Zippy with her Daddy just to get a break lol. Then one day Zippy found she could dig her nails into the carpet on the stairs.....our peace was over. My daughter and I saw her do it, and both said, "ohhhh noooooo"!

Zippy doesn't walk....she RUNS up and down the stairs!


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## Nissa Fiona (Nov 4, 2007)

Nissa flies up the steps and has now taught her 3 month old sister to do the same! :smpullhair: I thought I didn't have to worry about that for a bit but boy was I wrong!


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

Midis doesn't do stairs. He will do the steps from the back deck to the yard (about 2) but hates the front steps because they are about 4 and steeper. We also have a basement and our last Malt, Casper, went up and down those stairs everyday up until he got too sick at 14 1/2 yrs of age. He waited down in the basement for us to come home from work everyday. Midis will NOT go down those stairs to save his life! We are able to coax him to come up the stairs if he's got no choice, but it is sort of scary. He tries to skip the last two on the way up! (And he weighs 10-12 lbs, so it's not a case of size for sure.)


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