Our almost 2.5 yr old boy has suddenly become very afraid of going up the back stairs from the ground to the deck. I'm not sure if he slipped on the snow/ice, was knocked around/over by the other dogs a few days ago but something has happened and without a LOT of coaxing and often the help of another dog running up & down the stairs, he WILL NOT budge. I've tried putting cooked, roasted chicken on the steps going up and he'll only go 2-3 steps up and not go farther. This boy is a food hound and can smell food a mile away so this is disturbing for sure! Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Check to see if he is moving correctly or feel for stiffness. I had this happen a couple of years ago to a dog and he had twisted his neck and could not lift his front legs comfortably enough to do stairs, but on the flat - he looked okay.

Otherwise, I might try just bringing him down the stairs a few times and in the house a different way, then when he accomplishes the down - try the up on the troublesome stairs..

Tks - going down is NO problem and he can leap up onto anything else easily - it's just going up these particular stairs.

You might want to consider rubber stair treads; they are well worth it in my book. One of my yearlings barely slipped on a thin layer of frost going down my wood deck stairs....but it was just enough to scare her from going back up. I found my treads at Ace Hardware ($8-10 a piece) but I know that Menards also carries them.

But in the meantime, continue to have patience in coaxing him up (LOADS of praise when he does make it up!!) And I would definitely continue utilizing your other dogs in showing him just how fun and easy they are to negotiate. With those things in place, he should be bolting up them again very soon

Can you shovel/chip the rubber to get the snow/ice off??? Tks for the encouragement - I'll keep trying and hopefully this too will pass!

Don't forget about sand. That works perfectly on ice.

For sure - after shovelling & chipping away the stairs, we use it on top of the wood to help keep the dogs & people from slipping. It doesn't stay put for long though in the cold/snow. Tks!

Get the eyes re checked. A friend's dog suddenly stopped wanting to climb stairs amnd it turned out he had bi-lateral cataracts that had developed since his last eye test.

Wouldn't that effect ALL stairs though???? Sherman is 2.5 yrs old and can go up/down any other stairs and jump onto/off of anything he chooses.

No it does not effect all stairs and/or situations. My girl started exhibiting strange behaviors like not wanting to use certain stairs or balking at certain stair cases. She would go up one or down one but not the reverse of the other.
You have to consider that eye problems effect their perception. That is just what was happening to her. Even light changes from morning to night and how they cast shadows made/make a difference in where she will and will not go. Now that she is 9 it is worse and often had to be carried through some spots.
Narrow situations are fine for her going one direction but coming back you'd think the boogie man was waiting for her.

Her recent problem is going into our bathroom (thinking she can get to the toilet paper and eat it) and not being able to leave the bath room because she thinks she cannot get back out.

Your dog is young, but I noticed her problems as early as 5 and confirmed at 7 with Corneal Dystrophy. Normally told it does not cause vision loss but of course she has progressively over the years lost vision. But the progressive cataracts could also be due to thyroid. So she has a double whammy.

Tks for clarifying - the different lighting makes sense. I'll make sure his eyes are checked out and run a blood panel too just to be sure!

Putting backs on the stairs solved the problem! Tks for everyone's input!