Our rescue pup would absolutely not go down the stairs in our home, no matter what we tried. We live in a split level, with our bedroom on the ground floor, and he spent the first 4 months with us only on the upper floor. It eventually dawned on us that he could be afraid of slipping on the wood and falling down the stairs, so we took the plunge and purchased these. The treads were a bit pricey, but prettier than others I found online. It turns out that they were exactly what we needed, and I'm very happy with them! Using the treads, we were able to slowly condition our dog to go down one step, then two, and eventually he decided that he wouldn't slip down the whole stair case. He now happily goes up and down the staircase without a thought (though our cats probably wish he wouldn't) :).