Shouldnt be too much of a problem to teach her to use the stairs. Once the pool is dug out and the walls and stairs in place, take her in and out of the "pool", using the stairs, a bunch of times. Just kind of gets them used to the idea that the stairs are the way to get in and out of this new big hole in thier yard. The first few times she is in the water make sure you are there as well to make sure she gets the hang of using the stairs. My 2 dogs arent the brightest bulbs sometimes and it seemed to work out pretty well with them.