Border Collie pup help

My friends Karen & Paul need suggestions of how to encourage their 6-month old Border Collie pup down the stairs. They have tried 1 sitting behind her & 1 gently coaxing her from the front & pushing her down, but it is not working. They said she is scared to go down the stairs. When she was younger, (she was adopted at 8 weeks). Paul & Karen would pick River up & carry her down the stairs. But she is now 6 months old; they live in a 2nd floor flat. River pup lives with a 9 year old Collie/Retriever mix dog & cats. Any help would be appreciated.

Karen & Paul would also like to know please, if there are both Long Hair & Short Hair Border Collie's. The veterinarian's office is trying to tell them that River is a Short Hair Border Collie; & neither she or I have heard of that.

Thank you so much for your time.

Re: Border Collie pup help

Hi Crittermum. My friend had a similar problem when one of her dogs was a puppy. She has an open-staircase and the puppy would not come down. She started putting a treat on every other step and eventually that worked.

There are short-haired and long-haired collies-only know this because a lady who lives down the street from me has one, a short-haired one that is.

Good luck to your friends.....hope they can soon sort their puppy's problem out!

Re: Border Collie pup help

Collies can be quite sensitive dogs and its not unusual for them to be frightened of things, I've got one myself!! She lived on a barge boat for a couple of months when she was very young and then got scared of it which is how I got her!!

Is the pup food orientated? If so then your friends could try putting treats on the stairs, or even a ball and make a game of it. Its probably not a good idea to rush it though or it might make her even more frightened. You say they've tried coaxing her gently from behind, when they do this perhaps somebody could also be in front of her as well, just thought. They could search on the internet for solutions as i'm sure other people with dogs will have come across this problem.

As for your other question about long hair and short hair collies, yes there are both. Mine has long hair but I know lots of collies with short hair

Re: Border Collie pup help

Thank you so much Merz & Marpaul for your suggestions. I will tell my friends what you suggest. My friends do not own a computer, this is why I am trying to help them out via my pc.

Re: Border Collie pup help

I did a quick search and there's lots of info about this problem, so you could probably print some stuff out for your friends

Re: Border Collie pup help

That's my thought too. Hope it works! My Sheltie didn't seem to be shy of steps at all.

Re: Border Collie pup help

Like all dogs they will follow you, so you go down stairs in front of the Collie but facing it and on your knees, A bit difficult to do but I am sure the pup will learn from you if you do this.

Re: Border Collie pup help

That's what I would suggest too, also with a treat on each step. Hope it all works out, collies are such clever things.

Re: Border Collie pup help

I put my dogs on a lead and take them downstairs one step at a time encouraging them all the way. After a couple of times they were away.!

Re: Border Collie pup help

Yes I did that with my German Shepherd many years ago, after he learnt he would go upstairs and sit on the bed and grumble at people passing.