As you can tell by our previous postings, we have been preoccupied with Neva's stair phobia. Our little girl is capable of ascending and descending stairs, but avoids them like the plague. The past week we have attempted to build up her confidence with smaller stairways.
This morning, I thought that she was ready for some tough love. We played outside for a bit and entered the house through the basement door. I dried her off from the rain and left her downstairs.
We called her upstairs, "Neva, Neva". Eventually she came to the bottom of the stairs and whimpered. We kept calling and coaxing her with treats from the top. As she began ascending, we were speechless and she stopped three quarters of the way up.
She had a decision to make and looked down and turned around, almost slipping. I had a decision to make: rescue or motivate. Getting her to refocus on us and the treats, she climbed the final four steps. To prove that it wasn't a fluke, we repeated the exercise four more times later in the day. Even though she won't descend yet, we are two proud puppy raisers.
No comments:
Post a Comment