walks like a ninja

When you adopt a shelter greyhound, you may be told that for these dogs everything is new. They have never used steps before,... And this is true. We got Captain America in December 2015, and he was perplexed and resistant to steps. The back steps he refused for a long time, first he became willing to go down the two steps, not until the summer did he choose to go up, and that when he was left alone on the enclosed porch. So, we used the front steps (which were wider, higher, and made of stone). We took him, that first December (it was a warm month in an erratic winter), to Rocky River Park where they had a long set of wooden steps, and this he did easily.

Captain does not tolerate fireworks well, and on the night of July 3rd he went down the basement stairs for the first time. Since then he regularly uses them, and he walks them nicely up, and flies down in bounds. He is like a ninja. He hides in silence, and comes and goes when the mood finds him.

Neither he, nor Cassius like linoleum. Cassius was timid too of the back steps. He sometimes needed coaxing. Going down, was a hop and not a walk. But within a few weeks he was comfortable, although he will spill on the kitchen floor. His paws are smaller than Captain's, and the lesser paw surface area has a lesser grip on the slippery surface. Cassius does not use the basement steps. He has to be carried down, and one leg at a time has to placed on the step to walk up. He looks like a claymation model that is maneuvered for every film frame, or a toy robot.