We gave up when we lived in FL with master on first floor; at the time we had a water bed and there was NO way to our two off. They insisted the warm flexible water bed was good for thier backs. When we moved to NC with the br's upstairs, our two from FL passed on the upstairs. Well, except for the one time when we were gone and a really powerfull thunderstorm hit. Our older one apparently fled upstairs, and managed to leave a small pile in just about EVERY room! It was humorous although we did feel sorry for her...scared the poop out of her! We got spoiled by a dog hair free upstairs so used a board to keep our puppy Annabelle downstairs. Forget it for a second and she would make a mad dash to hunt for socks, paper, all the things that were kept up downstairs! She was pretty good though, if you called her on it she'd sheepishly hang her head from the top step, and if you scolded her enough she'd come on down. (this is the pup we lost to the Diamond food...sniff. Hard to write about but the good memories are now easier to enjoy)