First Day Surprise

Two years ago when we brought Stacie home from the shelter we were both excited and nervous. We had so many questions on what training her would be like. Would she bark too much? Would she be aggressive? Would she be good with kids? We decided to take the chance and couldn't wait to pick her up from the shelter. That's when the adventure began almost immediately.

We learned Stacie's first trait-- escape artist. The shelter didn't quite put her harness on right. As I walked her out the door proudly, she did a flip, squirmed out of her harness and bolted away from me. I sprinted and dove to catch her. I should've known this wouldn't be an easy dog to train right then, but I chalked it up to a mistake by the shelter.

When we got her home, everything seemed perfect. She was nervous, but she didn't bark and I taught her sit within the first hour. That's when our 37 lb dog had a little surprise for us. I went to take her out. We lived on the third floor at the time. As we got to the stairs she froze. She was afraid of stairs. I had no choice but to carry her down and back up the stairs. My bad knees cringed as I realized this would be a bit of a problem.

The other issue was I was leaving for the weekend and my wife couldn't carry her. She needed to have her friend stay over to help take her out. Who would've thought of all the possible concerns not going up and down stairs wasn't one of them. Through treats and patience she finally learned to use the stairs in a few days, but right then I should of known that training this dog would be a challenge.