Very interesting! I'm going to make sure I'm careful not to do this.

One of our two dogs has no muscles in her front paws so I pick her up endlessly to get up or down the stairs. She requests this - she has a specific bark that means, "I am summoning the dog elevator."

And, hmm, I guess I never pick the other one up except to take him past one flight of stairs he fell down once and won't go over. And yes, sometimes he growls, but sorry Oliver, if you want to go out, you have to go down those stairs somehow.