Stairs And 12 Week Puppy

[noosh]

hi everyone...just wondering what other people did with their puppies and backyard stairs. I have a 12 week old staffy and 2 older staffys that hang out together on the back deck but need to relive themselves down in the backyard..........that means of cause down the stairs they all go!!! I have tried blocking off the stairs so I then have to go and take them for loo breaks but the older girls head butt the barrier til it 's down ..then they are all off down the stairs anyway.

I've even tried to keep them downstairs but staffys being staffys cant stand being out in the yard ,they want to be with us. I am so worried that the pup will damage her legs. Any ideas what i can do?

[Guest]

i have a 7 month old Shih Tzu and we have a stair case with 20 odd steps which i carry him up and down every hour just incase he needs to go

i would also carry the Rotties up and down to protect hips and elbows in growing pups

[puggy_puggy]

Can the pup go up and down the stairs itself? If so I would let it.

By 12 weeks my foster pug pups, which would be much smaller then a staffy pup, were going up and down inside polish wooden steps by themselves. They also managed the back concrete steps from when they arrived at 7 and a bit weeks.

If all else fails buy a baby gate.

[GSDhandler]

my pup had to learn stairs at 8 wks when we first brought her home. now she dives off the 4th one. the sooner they learn the better. as for preventing it getting bowled over by the older ones, have it on a leash with you, let the others down and thed take the pup.

an Ed Frawley beleives that you need to tach the dogs to go up or down staris after you to maintain dominance of the pack. IMHO there is too much of this "do this or your dog will ebcome dominant" crap out there, but it might be worth a try to protect your pup.

[SwaY]

Make a ramp that goes over the steps.

I would avoid stairs and young puppies, you read/hear far to many stories and accidents involving stairs and dogs.

[Miranda]

my pup had to learn stairs at 8 wks when we first brought her home. now she dives off the 4th one.

This is actually not a good idea, you have a large breed puppy and allowing her to jump like this is providing continual shocks to her front assembly, you could be setting her up for joint problems as an adult. I agree that dogs have to be familiar with steps and how to negotiate them, but allowing a young puppy to race up and down them is asking for trouble. I used to have steps here and a couple of my dogs injured themselves, we now have a ramp as Sway suggests. Steps/stairs and dogs are not a good combination.

[GSDhandler]

my pup had to learn stairs at 8 wks when we first brought her home. now she dives off the 4th one.

This is actually not a good idea, you have a large breed puppy and allowing her to jump like this is providing continual shocks to her front assembly, you could be setting her up for joint problems as an adult. I agree that dogs have to be familiar with steps and how to negotiate them, but allowing a young puppy to race up and down them is asking for trouble. I used to have steps here and a couple of my dogs injured themselves, we now have a ramp as Sway suggests. Steps/stairs and dogs are not a good combination.

dont get me wrong, i agree with your point, but for me to get a ramp for her would mean i would have to deal with my joints being injured and i cant do her much good as an owner like that.