The Laws of Physics..

Physics and wolfhound puppies apparently do no agree. What goes up, must come down, for everyone except Remus apparently.

I put him outside with his wireless collar on after I got home from work so I could sleep before my next shift. He had the usual spoiled puppy assortment of toys, and his bed, water, and food out on the deck. I played with him a little before leaving him to entertain himself while I took my nap. Yeah, so, when I got up seven hours later and walk out on the deck, no Remus is to be found. I call his name, not panicking yet, he sometimes roams under the deck. No Remus. I call again. Panic! Maybe he's in the front. So I walk back inside, open up the front door and lo and behold, there is my stupid puppy doing the "I gotta pee really bad" dance on the front porch. Sigh. Judging on how long it took for him to completely empty his bladder, Remus had been stuck on the porch for at least four hours.

I let him walk through the house to the back so he could run down the ramp and pee, but we really needed to tackle the stairs issue. As I've written previously, wolfhounds and stairs on a regular basis aren't a good idea, especially while they're growing. On the other hand, waiting to teach a wolfhound how to master stairs until he's full grown is also a problem. Remus has managed to figure out how to get up the four brick stairs to the porch, but no amount of coersion can convince him that it's safe to come down.

I told Brian when he got home, and he dutifully got the leash and tried multiple methods of getting the puppy down the stairs to no avail. If anything, Remus is now even MORE terrified of them. We tried gentle tugging, physically lifting him and setting him down on each step, luring with treats, nothing worked. Remus has a mental block, and it's only with the first two stairs. Once we get him on the third step he trots down without a trace of angst. We figure if we keep working at this Remus will either master the stairs, or develop a fear of the entire porch. Oy.