Stairs and Sleeping

Hamlet learning the stairs. At first he would sit down
awkwardly and look sad when he got nervous.

The first few weeks we had Hamlet he didn't like stairs. He was small and they were big and steep. We'd just carry him so he didn't hurt himself.

Gradually he became more comfortable, and we carried him down all but the last two or three -- then left some food at the bottom to give him an incentive. We slowly worked our way up to the whole flight in our house.

Now he can handle their size fine, and I think he doesn't mind them so much. However, I think he does take advantage of us a little -- instead of coming down the stairs he will just sit at the top and wait for you to offer a treat. After you put a piece of food at the bottom of the stairs he'll come right down. (He does this, ummm, every morning... haha. I guess that is what you get some times when you use a food-reward system.)

"Do I have to come down?"

Sleeping, on the other hand, was always Hamlet's strong suit. From the first day we had him he always tended to be calm. I know that puppies tend to sleep a lot and there are always cute puppy photos of them sleeping next to cats and such. However, I didn't think that Hamlet would sleep in such strange positions. (And, how often the same strange positions would repeat themselves.) Here is one of my favorites...

The upside-down sleeping puppy trick.

 No one can say he doesn't find his crate comfortable!