Eight months old. Sophie has become a fiercely independent girl. She's happy to sit out in the cherry orchard on her own , watching the blackbirds, hurtling after butterflies or barking at squirrels. Bob is the opposite. He has been put on this earth to spend every waking moment with his family. Wherever you are you can be sure Bob will find you. That unmistakable " Hello ! I was just wondering what we're going to do now ? " approach to life.
Our male PON has a problem. He will not climb the inside stairs. He's happy to trot up and down the stone steps to the terrace , but the wooden polished ( slippery ) , dark ( spooky ) inside staircase is quite beyond him. The fact that his sister has no problem climbing it drives him to distraction.
Bob may not be able to make his way onto the newly painted bedroom floors but he has worked out that if he sleeps at the bottom of the staircase all the comings and goings in the house have to pass him by. That sheepdog herding instinct.
17 comments:
That looks like an easy rise on those steps, Bob. You can do it - we know you can!
Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly
Oh Bob, the solution is obvious. Demand a stair carpet.
Toodle pip!
Bertie.
Perhaps Bob is waiting for you to carry him up the steps! ;-)
Hope springs eternal but he'll be waiting for a very long time !
Sweet loving dog "parents" - love from Southern Italy Susanne, Daisy and ever so happy Kiri
Angus, have you done any research into the ROF? Maybe Bob is sensing something that we know nothing about. Dogs are very In-tuned that way.
I'm sure if you put some coconut ice cream on a plate on the third step, he'll not let it melt. Keep Sophie elsewhere while you try this ploy.
Is there anything bright at the top of the stairs that he can focus on, like a mirror? Perhaps it's just the slippery sensation, under paw.
The painted floorboards look very nice so perhaps it is just as well that Bob prefers to stay down stairs!
x
Bertie's got the right idea. Perhaps just a
runner would do the trick. Poor boy must
yearn to be with the rest of the flock upstairs.
Milton for Obama?.
awww....
would the owners of the ROF consider installing a beautiful runner carpet on the stairs just for bob? LOL.
come winter... won't he want to be with the rest of his pack? or do they sleep downstairs and the humans upstairs?
love seeing bigger glimpses of the ROF rooms. simply lovely. so lovely.
Your home is so very very beautiful! When you figure out how to get Bob over his stair fear, will you let us know? Our pup is fine with outdoor stairs, but will not even consider putting one paw on the basement steps. Even offering treat hasn't helped. Each step has a rubber tread cover.
Hi All -
Beautiful home and Wonderful Pictures as Always!
We have had 2 beautiful labs and both never like the inside staircase! (It's carpeted, but pretty steep.) Anyhow both labs always slept at the bottom of stairs.
Bob is right on ... what goes up MUST come down. :=) He is like a Gate Keeper!
Yogi & his Mom
Precisely the personalities of our two.
Apple is independent beyond any enticement to be otherwise. One feels quite special if she chooses to ask for a cuddle.
Edward, on the other hand, is at my side ... always.
Perhaps something about boys and girls? :)
Maybe a treat placed on each stair step with Bob starting at the bottom and working his way up. That way he can take his time and advance at his own pace.
Isn't it amazing how they cam be so alike and so different at the same time?
Even little human girls are much more independent than boys. Guess canines are the same.
XXXOOO Daisy,Bella & Roxy
Isn't it amazing that two littermates are so very different from each other?
Shyla had similar issues with our hardwood stairs. So, we put her meal at the top of them, and she learned extremely fast! We started with having her go up (and helped her down). Later, we changed it so she had to go down to get her meal. We now have a dog who is completely unafraid of stairs!
My trainer tells me that some even more timid dogs need to have it set up so that they only need to do a few steps on the stairs to start with to reach their meal.
Bob - En Gard!
Floors are looking good!
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