Fred Masters The Stairs

Fred was getting pretty good at going up the stairs, it was a pretty good effort for him, but he could do it. Going down however, was a different story. Gravity really comes into play here. I would let him try, he was a pretty determined little guy, I didn't have much of a choice. More than once though, he would get about two steps into it, then things would start to get to going pretty fast and down he'd go...thu thump, thu thump, thu thump. Sometimes head over butt, sometimes sideways. It was tough to watch. But, thankfully, at the bottom, he would shake himself off, and mosey on about this business. We never had any serious injury while mastering this very important step in his life. The little guy would never stop trying, his tenacity was strong. Thank goodness puppies are pretty rubbery or I don't think they would ever survive the first few months. It was pretty fun watching him go up, one-at-a-time and very deliberate. I  would always go first when it was time go up to bed and he would follow after me. It would take a lot of encouragement to get him up but he could do it. When I didn't coax him, he would still work hard and appear in my room after a bit with a very proud look on his face, Big Boy!  Now days, he waits until I'm almost to the top stair, not sure why, maybe he wants to make sure I make it up OK, then ziiiiiip! He's at the top waiting for me. Maybe it's a race, not sure, it's fun though.
I was still carrying him football style down the stairs most of the time, I couldn't bear watching that tumble every day. One morning, he got ahead of me and went down all by himself!  No tumbling, just right down the stairs, I was so excited I woke up my daughter, she was "thrilled" for Fred. Well, I thought it was fantastic! A huge mile stone! I think Fred thought so too. I swear, it was the funniest thing to watch his little butt waggle as he went down. Sometimes, he would get going a little fast and lose track of his feet and a tumbling he would go. He would be irritated at himself when that happened, I'd stroke his ego and he'd be fine. Even now, every once in a while, his count gets a little "off"  and down he'll go! Now it just puts me in hysterics, I shake my head, he shakes his whole body, looks back at the stairs, like it was the stairs fault not his.(It's like watching a grown up trip and stumble and pretend it didn't happen.) And then we go about our day. It's good to start the day with a good chuckle.

Pretty intimidating if you're only 6" high.

Fred was "helping" me get the shot right.  :-)

I think...