Another unique thing about many greyhounds is their struggle with stairs. Most greyhounds haven’t seen stairs until they retire from racing, they only know going from kennels to race track via a van/car which is all on one level. They can be very scared of stairs as it’s a new concept and even well practised stair greyhounds can look ungainly!

Albert was certainly no exception the struggle of stairs. Even after 4 months of going up and down 8 stairs to our flat 4 x a day he still needs a LOT of encouragement! The first few weeks were traumatic for him and we didn’t see how he would ever manage to do it. We were armed with plenty of tasty treats that we left on each step and placed his paws step by step and let him lean against us. He was terrified and shaking the whole time. He’s come a long way already but any distractions like a neighbour or postman means that anything else is suddenly way more interesting that getting up/down the stairs to the flat! A treat seems to be a good incentive for the ‘impossible’ task of getting down the stairs….