Up, but not down

 Years ago, 19 to be exact, our first grandchild, Way, was born.  At the time, we had a miniature schnauzer named Fritz.  He was a good dog but liked to sit on the stairs so he could look out the window and bark at anything that moved....cat, squirrel, butterfly, leaf etc.  Well, with a baby in the house that just didn't work out.  So Jerry cut out a piece of plywood and I covered it with quilt batting and quilted some houses on it and we slid it through the posts on the stairs.  It made the perfect Fritz block and when Way became mobile, it kept him from climbing the stairs too.  We have used that block with all of our grandchildren but put it up when they all got bigger.  We brought it back out a couple of years ago when we had a surprise grandbaby, Isabel. 
I tell you all of this because the block has come in handy again with Rosie.  When we first got Rosie, she ignored the stairs. Then she would get on the bottom step, especially if there was a shoe to get.  Over the next days and weeks she started easing up a step or two until she made it all the way up.  The problem is, she can't get down.  I guess she could get down, but she acts like she is stuck and cries until somebody comes and gets her.

So we started using the block again. It works really well, but from time to time, when we slide the block over to go up, we leave it open.  Rosie takes this opportunity, immediately, to go upstairs.  All the way upstairs, jiffy quick.  She sniffs around up there a little and then she is stuck.  She sits at the top and cries until we go get her. She has actually gone down the 4 or 5 steps on the deck, but she just can't make herself go down the inside steps. I guess it is just too many steps and it is just too scarey.

I love my Rosie, even shen she is stuck upstairs:)



I'm up and I can't get down!





Please come get me down!!!