Oliver is a poodle (mix).
Poodles are super duper smart. Gifted if you will.
Apparently, learning to climb the companionway steps isn’t the rocket science we thought it would be for him. Go figure!
I wish I had a great blog post about the steps we took to train Oliver and how we developed some awesome method of doggie stair climbing training, but we got nothing.
Oliver is just that awesome.
(Please excuse the duddy iphone-ography.)
Here’s how it went down:
Oliver’s first time on the boat, we carried him down the steps. Jereme went up into the cockpit, and Oliver followed right behind him. Easy peasy. We continued to carry him down the stairs thinking we would need to train him. (Plus, we were worried he would hurt himself.)
Oliver’s second time on the boat was with our close friends Chris and Heather on board too. Chris (aka The Dog Whisperer) walked down the steps and Oliver followed right behind him like the little professional stair climber he is. No training needed. Hah!
There have been a handful of tentative climbs up or down, but overall Oliver knew what to do and how to do it. Let’s hope that doesn’t change.
We must’ve seriously won the dog lottery because Oliver is just that amazing!
UPDATE: Oliver has lost a lot of his stair courage and has been a wee bit tentative on the climbing lately. Not good for us. 🙁 We’re going to have to install something on the stairs that gives a bit more traction.
Click on the monkey’s fist to read others bloggers on this topic.
Haha, funny you mention Oliver’s sudden halt in companionway progress. Our German Shorthair had no problem getting up the stairs at first but has since had to be “assisted” (or pushed) up the stairs. And forget about any effort on her part when we’re underway and moving! It’s a good thing they’re so cute or they wouldn’t get away with half as much as they do 😉
We’re thinking about adding something to our stairs so there is more traction. And hoping that does the trick. 😉 We’ll see…
[…] may remember this post about teaching Oliver to use the companionway stairs in our boat. And how it went “oh so […]