Bentley Bloopers

My mom and dad came over this weekend to experience the amazing sonogram with us and Bentley was so excited because her best friend, Harley, came to play as well!   Bentley absolutely loves Harley (maltese) and tries to keep up with him at all times.   She usually has no problem with this as she is unbelievably fast and is impossible to catch.   However, her toenails have grown out slightly and it makes it really difficult for her to get traction on the wood floors for going up and down our stairs.  At one point, she literally was running in one place on the wood floors because her nails were preventing her from getting traction.    This was quite funny to watch but Bentley didn’t think so.   Since Saturday, she has absolutely refused to go up the stairs.   We even clipped her nails and she just would not get over her fear so we have been carrying her up the stairs with us or putting her in the elevator.   My concern with this new anxiety of hers is that it would become a long-term issue and we would be stuck carrying her up and down the stairs from here on out.   At one point, I left the house to run errands for an hour and  she usually would go upstairs to visit Scott, but she stayed down on the first floor the whole time.   This is so unlike her because she hates being by herself.   We tried to bribe her to go up the stairs with her favorite treats and I even worked with her by holding her as she moved her legs up the stairs.  None of that worked.  I tried to use a leash to pull her up and show her it wasn’t scary and I even tried to run around, chase her, and play to distract her and then go up and she was having none of it.  As soon as she got close to the stairs, she would freeze.  So yesterday, I was making lunch and I pulled out the cheese for my sandwich.  Bentley LOVES cheese!  She can hear the wrapper opening from the other side of the room and will come running hoping for a piece.   I tried to capitalize on this motivation so I took a very small amount and went to the top of the stairs.  She proceeded to follow me relunctantly to get her cheese.   I always new cheese was wonderful.  It not only tastes good but it cures fears, too!   It’s amazing what a little motivation can do.  Apparently, she likes cheese more than I even realized.   After that one time, she has forgotten all about her fear of the stairs.  She is back to old herself again.   I wish breaking fears and bad habits were always that easy