One step at a time

We experienced a major breakthrough on Wednesday: Tasha went down the stairs. I've been trying to entice her to go down using treats for a week or so. No dice. The past few days, however, she started to put her front paws down one step to get the treat. Progress, but she wouldn't go further.

Tasha contemplates the stairs.

On Tuesday, she actually went down one, then two, then four, steps for a treat. Then she realized where she was and jumped back up to the top. She got a lot of praise anyway. Finally, on Wednesday, I enticed her all the way down to the bottom. She's done it several times now, both with treats and without.

This is what she sees when she looks down. Scary!

The latest time, she just followed me down the stairs when I went. This morning she's been going up and down, following us, the dog, or the cat, because she wants to and not because I ask her. Our little girl is starting to grow up.

She goes up the stairs with no problem. Coming down is more difficult.

The good thing about this staircase is that the steps are wide and not very steep. The stairs up into the loft are a different thing. They're much narrower and steeper. But I'm confident that she'll end up mastering them. All in good time.