Hi Jamie, we are all rear leg amps in our house so have no direct experience in your issue. Our dogs don't have any trouble going down stairs but some of them do need help going up and we use a harness for that. Here are a couple of questions, ideas. How steep and how long a flight of stairs do you have at home? Is there a landing? The most critical question is ... are they slippery? If they are then you will definitely want to fix that. I looked into alternatives once because I had a 4 legged dog that slipped and fell on the wooden stairs in my house. You can get paint with sand or something in it so that provides a gritty surface, there are textured plastic or rubber rectangles you can put on the stairs or you could carpet them. That way he would be less likely to be scared going down them. And you want to avoid him slipping on them at all costs!

As for training, if he can do the 3-4 stairs with no problem then that is a great start since it shows he is not scared of ALL stairs. If they are outside then I am guessing they are not slippery. Is there a landing at your in-laws? You could try the stairs in increments and take Mac up to the landing and then coax him back down with treats. Perhaps with his harness on and you by his side he won't be so fearful.

Can you take him home and try him on your stairs? Maybe he won't have the same issue there. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to slip proof your stairs at home (if needed) and then work on training him there if that is possible.

Sorry, I am just throwing stuff out there but I am sure you and Mac can overcome this!

So, it sounds like your stairs at home are really different from the scary stairs at your in laws. And it is great that there is a landing to rest on and break up the visual of a long flight of stairs. So maybe Mac won't have any problem at all at home. I guess you won't know until you try it though. And you will definitely want to spot him going down. Can you get a baby gate to prevent him from going up your in laws stairs again? Or block them off some other way until you go home? That way he won't get himself into such a scary stair situation again. If it doesn't get reinforced by a repeat incident hopefully the issue won't even transfer to your stairs at home!

Physical therapy will help strengthen his whole body. A dog already bears most of his weight in his front legs so I don't know that it will strengthen his remaining front leg that much (but I am not a physical therapist so I don't really know!). But increasing his core strength is really important and targeted exercises will really help with that. Have you seen all the resources on the website having to do with physical therapy? If not I can point you to some of them.

Anyway, try not to worry too much. This was one incident and he does the outside stairs at your in laws just fine. I know you guys will make this work!

I have a Great Dane who is a front amp as well and he was doing stairs 3 days post-op which he shouldn't have even been. But having your dog being 11 it may take just a bit longer to feel secure enough to go down... I agree with everything Codie Rae is advising! I think the sooner you go home the better you may be... You don't want to leave a scary impression/memory of going downstairs in general based on his expierences there. Plus it may be better for him to start getting acclimated to where he will need to be while going down and up those stairs. Using a harness will help and you can even buy little non-slip booties if need be.

Unfortunately I don't have much advice that varies from previous posts but, just know you guys will get there and it will make you smile ear to ear seeing your boy just as he was with 4 legs! Hang in there! 

Nikki and Rio

Our baby is a front amp as well and we have very steep stairs. Unfortunately, because of her arthritis, we have to carry her up and down. Sometimes she will go up, but I can see it's a struggle for her...at least that is what I think it is. It could also be because she is spoiled and knows we will carry her up. As far as going down, I feel like she wants to, but we won't let her because of risk of her breaking her other leg. Before her amp, when she was limping, we installed a runner of the stairs because she was slipping so much. That helped a lot! Good luck! I hope you find something that works out! 🙂 I think with dogs, they will eventually overcome their fears. I'm sure he will be running up and down them before you know it!