I have a dog. Yes, I do. He is a wonderful little Shih Tzu named Cesar. Well not so very little. He weighs 23 pounds. Now before you start getting on me for over-feeding the dog, I didn't do it. I inherited this dog from a divorce and not my divorce. He was over fed as a puppy and is now on a very strict diet. He is big boned! Here is is next to GK #2 at Christmas..

Anyway, I am still not allowed to do too much heavy lifting. Cesar is unable to jump up on our bed anymore. It is very high, but he is older also. About 2 years ago he started having problems jumping up, so I started picking him up..not a big deal.

Well it became a big deal when I decided that I was having the girls updated. I tried to practice not picking up the dog. I would go to bed at night, leaving small, unappreciated, old dog on the floor next to the bed. He would whine. It starts low, gets a bit louder, tiny bit louder. Then comes the small bark, then the little bit louder bark. Pretty soon you get that high pitched scream bark that sets your middle ear on edge and all the crystal in the house pinging.

So after a couple of nights of this I told Not A Grampy that we were going to have to buy the damn doggy stairs. What, you didn't know. Yes, there are doggy stairs. I've seen them on TV, you put it next to the bed and your little dog will happily go up and down the stairs like there is no tomorrow...

What they don't tell you in the commercial, is that the one you can buy in the stores only comes with 3 steps..(still too low for my bed)..you need to order the 4th step, that will connect to the other three for an additional small fee, from their website. So of course we do. Deliver 3-7 days. That is fine, still within the window of my surgery.

Now, getting doggy to use steps. I know there are only 3 steps right now, but he can at least step up on them, right...

WRONG!

Dog won't come near them, he stares at them like they have come from hell. Using his favorite dog treat just gets him to whine louder. Put treat on bottom step, dog dashes forward, steals treat, hides under coffee table. This is not going well, only 4 days til surgery.

The 4th step arrives! Hurrah! Dog still not impressed.

After surgery, I am not sleeping in the bed, I am in a recliner, 5 nights, dog sleeps on floor next to recliner, or on couch across room. Not A Grampy sleeping on couch also. All is happy in post surgery land.

We have to get dog use to steps though. So the one task that Not A Grampy let me do was try and teach the dog how to use the steps..Me, sitting on foot of bed, 4 steps from floor to bed. Have dog treats sitting on each step, baby calling to dog. He makes it up one step, ooh two steps. He is straining towards the treat on the 3rd step. Snatches the treat off and runs to the living room. After several days of this, I have him so he will stretch up and get the treat off of the food of the bed. Now we are stopping with treat and using toys.

Day 6 after surgery, Not A Grampy is back to work (nights) Not A Granny will be sleeping in the bed...dog will be either on floor, on couch or using steps. Not A Granny is not putting up with whining tonight. Sitting on foot of bed, have 3, yes 3 of Dogs favorite toys, he runs to living room and brings a new one in. This is the one he wants to sleep with tonight mom...I bring toy up on bed..squeak it a few times...Dog looks at the steps, one tentative step towards them...he looks longingly at his toy sitting on the bed waiting for him, he takes two steps up, next thing I know woo hoo...he is on the bed!

Yeah!! What a smart little dog! I am so proud!!