He's so handsome!  And, way to go Bailey!  Stairs, that's huge! Keep up the good recovery, Bailey.  We're pulling for ya here!

I'm wondering how to handle the stairs here.  It sounds like you're letting Bailey do what he wants when he can.  We also have about 12 stairs to get Jackson out and we've been carrying him in our arms.  That's an awkward weight, especially first thing in the morning!  I know he wants to do it himself, but we're nervous he'll go too quick or put stress on his wound.  We helped him onto the couch (yep - still no leakage, so we're all safe!) and he's loving the change of bedding and scenery.  Getting back to his routine is good.  Now, if we can figure out the stairs.

Dakota lived in a house where he didn't really have to go upstairs after he became a tripawd. He had a dog door that he was using within a week of his surgery, and he occasionally went up the stairs to see what we were up to, but his preference was to stay downstairs.

Then a year ago, we moved into a townhouse where the garage is under the house, so when you go inside the front door you must immediately go up 15 stairs to the living quarters. I put Dakota into his harness the first couple of weeks we lived here, and I kept a tight hand on him. I was terrified he would slip and fall down those 15 steps. But I quickly discovered I was hindering him. When I let him go, he was able to pace himself more naturally and he never fell. He was a front amputee, so going down was harder than going up.

He was managing stairs just fine up until his last day. He really surprised me, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. 

Funny thing, when Dakota would go back up the stairs, he would make a serpentine route. He would start on the left and end up curving back and forth and ended on the right side of the stairs. I couldn't walk beside him on his way up or he'd run me over. 

Shari