[nagdu] Hesitant on stairs

[minh ha]

Hello all,

I hope everyone and their furry little friends are doing well. I have
a question about working down stairs. As I mentioned in an earlier
post, there are about a million and one stairs all over my campus and
they're not exactly all uniform and safe. I've noticed that Viva is
becoming very hesitant and slow whenever we go down stairs, no matter
whether they are outside or in a stair well. This is just going down
mind; she practically rockets whenever we're walking up. I don't have
the greatest balance and I get very hesitant walking down the stairs
myself so it's not a terrible thing that she's walking slower.
However, she does this thing where she would go down a few stairs and
then stop and I would have to encourage her to keep on going. I've
been overflowing with praise whenever we're going down the stairs and
it seems to help, but she's still very cautious. Is she somehow
sensing my own hesitancy and going slower to help me or is she scared
herself? Also, I'm only hesitant at the top of the stairs when we're
getting ready to go down, but once we're actually on the stairs, I'm
fine. I want to help her get rid of her fears because I don't really
want her to be afraid, but it would really help with congestion as
well.
Thanks,
Minh

-- 
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence