Hi all, I have a 9 month old Bernese mountain dog cross who stopped being able to go up stairs 3 days ago. We live in a bi level and so he has to go up/down stairs multiple times a day to get outside. He’s not in pain or experiencing a health issue – it’s definitely a confidence/fear issue. He normally does a little hop onto the stairs and bunny hops his way up, but he’s lost his rhythm and can’t figure out how to pick up his back feet to go a different way. It leaves him stuck barking/crying/whining on the landing all day cause he wants to be with us but can’t get to us.
However – he won’t let us touch him on the stairs to show him where to put his feet – he bites. He actually now just bites if you come near him on the landing. It’s all fear and he’s just devolved so fast. He won’t let you pick him up – he bites. At the end of the day, we’ve been putting a cone on him to get him up the stairs to go to bed safely. We’ve tried every treat and high value item to coax him up. We brought him to a different, shorter set of stairs to try to build his confidence and he did great – and then came home and it was no change on our stairs. If he’d let us pick him up and carry him, it would be so much easier but the biting is bad.
He’s a cuddly lovable pup normally – this has been awful and he’s becoming so stressed and reactive. I’m so worried it’s gonna mess him up long term and it’s honestly been devastating to listen to him cry but have no way to intervene. Please, please if anyone has any ideas, I’m desperate to help my pup.
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