Escalator Training: Dead Escalators (Patreon)

In this video I'm preparing Denver further for "live" escalators by using a "dead" or non-operational escalator (escalator, now stairs LOL!).

This is in a local convention center which is your best bet for finding dead escalators. Generally, larger venues that don't have shows during the week will turn off their escalators during weekdays.

I start out the training with a warm-up, or rather a cool down, as it was the hottest day we'd had in CT when we did this training and it was a bit of a walk from the car to the location. We were both panting LOL!

After warming up in the new spot, I tried him on stairs. We still haven't done a ton of formal stair training since the previous training video - maybe 5-10 practice sets? But plenty to be able to have lower criteria on escalators, and Denver has no fear of stairs, textures or high places. If my dog did have issues with texture/stairs/high places, I would not progress to dead escalators.

On the escalator, my goal is for him to be comfortable, with some semblance of control, increasing that control as we go. Ultimately, he needs to stop, get on, remain stationary, trot off. So we practiced all of those things to some degree. This is also why stopping on regular stairs was important - escalators are a lot of "hurry up, wait, hurry up".

Overall, super happy with the session. Before considering doing escalators with him, I'll do another session on dead escalators, as well as work around live escalators without riding them.

Filmed Late April 2025