Adopted January 2008: Bellingham WA

2/6/08 - update! "I just thought I would send you a couple of picture of Isabel. One of them is her with our Lhasa Apso/Bichon Frise mix dog. We have discovered that she will gladly climb those pesky stairs for pieces of hot dog. Its amazing what a little bit of meat can do."

1/27/08: "She is doing wonderful. We are calling her Isabel. She is by far the most mellow and laid back dog either of us has ever had. She is so quiet she doesn't even bark when someone comes to the door. No accidents, she likes her crate and is learning quickly. She is much easier than we were anticipating. The only problem we have encountered so far is stairs. We have no stairs at our house, but our friends do. She is terrified to go up or down the stairs. We have tried luring her with treats, but we end up just having to carry her up and down them. Hopefully with practice and time she will overcome this. Any suggestions?"

Here are a few links to suggestions for stair-aversion problems in dogs; it sounds like a cureable, and fairly common, issue:

Fear of Steps 1

Fear of Steps 2

Dog Afraid of Stairs

Afraid of Stairs 2

Afraid of Stairs 3