Autumn has a phobia

Autumn is afraid of the basement. She's never liked the stairs too much but now she acting afraid to go anywhere near the basement door. The dog food is kept in the basement and she usually waits at the top of the stairs for me to fill her dish and bring it up, but now she waits a few feet away from the top of the stairs. I put a leash on her to walk her down with me and she backed out of her collar and hid under the kitchen table. She wouldn't even go down the stairs to get a treat at the bottom. My stepdad thinks its because the basement smells like Pepper (Pepper used the basement for a bathroom when she started regressing back to her puppyhood, she had a pen in the basement of our house when we first got her). Either way, Autumn won't go near the basement. She starts to fidgit and wag her tail real fast when I open the door and even peed a little once. Any thoughts?

Poor Autumn. Who knows why she's so scared of the basement, but the fact is she is. If it were me, I would stop forcing her in the basement. It is terrible she is getting so upset at feeding time. Food is the best thing in a pet's life, why make it upsetting? I would just let her wait in the kitchen for her food...what's wrong with that?

Yes, you are right. I'm not too concerned right now. But come summer I'd like her to have gotten over this fear. We live in a part of Wisconsin with a lot of tornadoes and the basement is where Autumn will be if any come near our house. I only tried the leash once to see if she'd walk with me. I've been puttng treats on the first stair in hopes she'll go on her own. No luck so far.

Oh, I see. Poor baby. My first idea is to get her in a crate and carry her down when a tornado comes. If she's a big dog, maybe two people can help carry her down or maybe you can slowly slide it down the stairs. Lots of luck.

It sounds like it is important that Autumn is ok with going in the basement. Have clicker trained her at all? If you have I would start off with a click for simply looking at the basement steps. Do that for a few sessions ( 5 min ) a few times a day for a few days, then click for looking at a steps and one step(she walks one step forward) towards the steps do that for a few days. When she is ok with that then click her for standing on the first step. Do this for a few days. When she is ok with that then move to the next step click, etc. This will be a very slow process, but it will work. When you are training this use really good treats, cut up chicken, steak something of very high value. If you find her not wanting to do one of the steps then you are moving to fast go backwards just a little.
It would be best if she does not have access to the stairs if you are not actively working with her, that way she won't look at the steps and not get rewarded for it. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice both of you. I don't have her clicker trained but saying good girl each time she goes to the stairs is the same. Today she waited closer to the door for me to bring up her dish.