Upstairs, Downstairs!

It seems Oscar has now discovered the stairs, as well as finding ingenious ways to overcome the various obstacles we put in the way to prevent him climbing up!

In the past week we have noticed a definite increase in his size, and no doubt this has given him the extra leg length needed to climb up the stairs.

The only problem is that once he is up, he loses all confidence coming back down again, and just sits there looking down at you. When you ask 'What's wrong' (like he's gonna reply), he starts whimpering. We got a great shot of him looking down at us (see top of this entry).

As of today, he will come down, but only with verbal encouragement, and after every step he successfully navigates, he lets out an excited cry.

I did double chek with the vet to see if this is 'allowed' to which she said yes, but not to let him do it too much.

But how do we stop him coming up when we don't want him to? Here are just a few of the combinations we have tried:

Training Crate = FAIL
Training Crate, Kitchen Stool = FAIL
Training Crate, Kitchen Stool, Cardboard Box = FAIL
Training Crate, Kitchen Stool, Cardboard Box, Washing bag = RESULTS INCONCLUSIVE

Of course, we could just invest in a stairgate, but where would the fun be in that?