I'll be bringing Ryuk to more conventions now that he's proven he does well at them. However as we go to these new places we have whole new things to confront. Mainly elevators and escalators. Up until this point we've used the stairs...but we've also been lucky, our hotel rooms have all been under floor 10....


We did do an elevator once or twice and he did pretty well but would not relax or settle down. I don't blame him at all, it was his first time. We had to do an escalator once (stairs got blocked) we ended up going up them at warp speed. He wasn't afraid, more curious about the strange moving floor, but his tail wagged and gave him his "caution" command and he carefully stepped off without issue.


Any tips on 1) where I can train these obstacles in controlled settings (I was thinking pet friendly hotels if I asked to borrow their elevators and escalators) and 2) how about I'd do it. Right now I work mostly on obedience...I've also worked with unstable footing (my dog loves to climb and crawl on things so we use the extra supplies behind my complex as an obstacle course, he's pretty comfortable on unstable footing now. I"m not sure about the noise and level of distraction though. I'd like him to sit quietly in the corner of the elevator out of everyone's way.

Careful on the escalators, they were designed for people and people have been seriously injured on the things. if it were my service dog, I'd stick to elevators. add to that you'll have some A hole in a hurry try to blow past you. every place I've been that had an escalator had an elevator near by

I got Eddie used to elevators by shoveling tiny bacon bits into his face the whole time we were in the elevator.
Worked great!!!!
I wouldn't take him on an escalator.
There are usually elevators near by for wheelchair access.

Ugh! No escalators! there have been many injuries to dogs on these things. A few months back a Service GSD, a few towns away, had his rear feet caught and needed to have his pads amputated. Like others have said, there are always elevators near. The good news, you'll have one less thing to train!

Ditto on the esculators, very dangerous.

I have taken my dogs on elevators multiple times as puppies & older dogs, just as another training exercise. I never made any big deal about it...just walked them on & had them sit & push the buttons. There have been times that other people have gotton on & off at different floors. Again no big deal if you don't make it one. The sensation of the elevator moving, can cause some dogs some concern..but I just ignored it & they just figured it was no big deal. It will all depend on the individual dog if elevators or anything else is an issue. You need to know your dog & how hard & far to push them & what their stress tollerance is.