For the Dog

Part Lion/Part Chicken

Ever since he was a puppy Jasper has been afraid of going down the stairs. I don't recall a time when he was little that anything happened on the stairs (although he could have taken a tumble when I wasn't around), so I've always chalked it up to a depth perception issue, or possibly vertigo. Even though he was afraid of the stairs, with (a little to a lot of) coaxing he usually got up enough nerve to come down them. Until recently.

For some reason, his fear of stairs has gotten worse. At our house the stairs are hardwood with no carpet, and he has slipped and stumbled his way down for a couple a years now. Lately, though, Mark has had to carry him down in the morning, an exercise I refer to as "Mark's 80 pound bench press."

(By now you are asking yourself: Why do they let him upstairs?! The reason is that he's such a baby/chicken that when left alone downstairs at night he cries for hours and hours. Mark has slept on the couch/floor a couple of times with him but that is not a great solution.)


In the hopes of finding a solution to this issue, this weekend we ordered a carpet runner for the stairs (FOR THE DOG) which is something we talked about for the last five years but never got around to doing (another item on "The List."). We made sure it was darker than the stairs so he could see the contrast, and it will be installed in a couple of weeks. We're hoping for the best.

BUT, what I'm thinking is we should build a lovely patio home. One floor, FOR THE DOG. With a great open floor plan, new kitchen, beautiful deck FOR THE DOG. Someplace warm FOR THE DOG. Hey, I'm willing to sacrifice our old, cold two-story house FOR THE DOG!