Learning to Climb Steps

Emme had her first experience with the steps to the upstairs yesterday. Usually we carry her upstairs and put her in her crate next to our bed. Last night, when it was time for bed, Rudy dashed up the steps to the bedroom and Emme followed. She got up about four steps before she realized that she did not know how to do steps. She then tumbled back down the steps to the floor. She goes up the two steps from the back yard to the porch. Sometimes, she approaches them from the side where the mulch is higher and the leap to the first step is smaller. Sometimes she approaches the steps head on. Often as she approaches the steps, she stops and looks at them as if she is trying to figure out how she gets up. Sometimes she is able to make the first step. Other times she doesn’t jump high enough and she bashes her head on the step, steps back and looks confused.

She is still a SLOW eater but is eating a little more. At lunch yesterday she ate almost all of the 1/3 cup kibble. She has never finished all of it and she still does the grab a kibble and walk somewhere in the kitchen to eat it. We call this the “wandering chew” as opposed to Rudy’s “wandering poo.”