# what age to let pup go down and up stairs



## shadowtracker

Hi Everyone, I have read that you should'nt allow a pup to climb stairs when their young.I have an 11 week old long coat GSD,and since I brought him home I've carried him down and up the stairs everytime he needs to go out.I can understand the impact on his hips going down,but what about climbing up? Would'nt climbing up strengthen his hip muscle's?At what age will I beable to allow him to use the stairs on his own? He is growing quick and it won't be long before he'll be to big to carry
Thanks Shadowtracker


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## LissG

i had my GSD since he was 6 1/2 weeks old. he couldn't figure out stairs and they were too big for him lol i tried to coax him up and down but he was too scared so i carried him up and down. he eventually got more comfortable with it and did it on his own a little at a time. it's a general rule of thumb not to let them climb stairs if you're not watching them cause they can fall or trip and hurt themselves, but if you're right there i don't think it's an issue  he's now a little over 7 months old and his hips/elbows are in great condition.


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## shaner

I let my 3 month old GSD go up the stairs on his own, although I stand behind him to make sure he doesn't barrel roll back down. He's pretty comfortable going up. I carry him down for the most part, although every now and then he'll go down them very slowly so I let him. 

The issue with stairs is that their legs are too short to properly go down them, so what the puppies will do is plant both front legs on each stair while going down. They can't do one leg at a time. When they plant their legs on each stair, it's a hard impact. Sometimes my pup will go down slowly and will attempt to do one leg at a time, or he'll kind of go sideways down the stairs. It's usually only if he's tired that he does that. I will let him do it that way. If he's wide awake, he'll attempt to fly down them by hopping from stair to stair and planting his front legs. I don't let him do that and I carry him down.


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## kitmcd

I didn't let mine go up and down stairs routinely until she was a little over 4 months. There is one step to go down out of our door and that she did from very young. I don't know what the definitive answer is, like you, I had just read some things and decided to play it safe.

That said, I don't have a whole flight of stairs to do in order for her to go out and potty....not sure I would have carried her along as I did if I had to deal with that


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## carmspack

I don't prevent my dogs from using stairs. 
I don't carry dogs up or down the stairs.

If a pup is reluctant I will place them mid way and they have to decide up or down , but they are learning about stairs. To encourage the foot timing and mechanics of how to use their feet I may place them well within sight of the top level -- maybe 4 steps from the level they need to get to .
I have never told a pup buyer to carry the pup .
People will carry the pup up and down stairs for months! - and yet go out and play fetch with a frisbee (reg trademark) flying disc (having fun) . Now this is harmfull because now the dog is landing on its hind feet absorbing impact stress unnaturally . 

Carmen


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## marshies

I've never stopped Amaretto from using the stairs. 
Sometimes though, when she just wakes up, she'll need a little encouraging as I have bare wooden stairs and they're slippery.


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## idahospud49

I carried Glock up and down the stairs for awhile, after reading here about the HORRORS of what might happen otherwise....  after a little bit though he got to the point where he would just dart down the stairs to go back to my bedroom. Who was I to grab onto him and carry him down?? I think about how rough puppies play together and the things they get into, don't think going up and down stairs is REALLY going to damage them.


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## marshies

idahospud49 said:


> I carried Glock up and down the stairs for awhile, after reading here about the HORRORS of what might happen otherwise....  after a little bit though he got to the point where he would just dart down the stairs to go back to my bedroom. Who was I to grab onto him and carry him down?? I think about how rough puppies play together and the things they get into, don't think going up and down stairs is REALLY going to damage them.


That's exactly it. In the beginning I was all worried and carried her a little. But I realized a little stairs every day isn't going to do her any harm. It's not like I'm making her run up and down them doing drills.

Completely off topic but...did you use Amadeus as your dog's call name as well? Did you find it cumbersome to use in training? Please feel free to PM me if it's taking the thread too off topic.


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## ViciousXUSMC

Nova is going up the stairs really well after 1 day of being home with me.
I just walked up the stairs slowly one at a time and helped her up a few of them, at first I had to zig-zag so that she could get on the same stair as me, then she learned to walk up them properly.

She takes the whole flight of stairs really well now with good form, but I carry her down, I'll probably wait until she is a bit bigger before I let her do that.


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## wolfy dog

I would carry the pup until he becomes too heavy to carry. Then teach him to walk behind you (up and down the stairs) so you won't trip over him and to avoid going down the stairs too fast, which will cause extra pressure on his joints.
I have taught Deja this and it is super convenient. I also have her stop on the last step to avoid rushing off. This actually seemed to have helped with teaching her the contact spots on agility equipment.


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## Palydyn

I carried Rommel up and down the stairs until he was around 4 months. But at 43 lbs he was getting to be a load to carry. It was MaggieRose Lee who advised me to stop. Thing about Shepherds, at least mine, is that you show them how to do something one day and the next the are pros. 

So Rommel was a little cautious the first day but since then he has been flying up and down. I try to get him to slow down and sometimes I succeed but sometimes its just hard to slow down a now 60 lb freight train.


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## SuperG

carmspack said:


> People will carry the pup up and down stairs for months! - and yet go out and play fetch with a frisbee (reg trademark) flying disc (having fun) . Now this is harmfull because now the dog is landing on its hind feet absorbing impact stress unnaturally .
> 
> Carmen


The " (reg trademark)" is appreciated....


To OP....stairs are stairs...part of the dog's life. I sure wouldn't treat it in a fashion which might condition the pup to have an avoidance to stairs....I think common sense should dictate....let them figure them out comfortably...like the other advice..a few at a time....I'm betting the pup will have a watchful guardian with measured responses.

SuperG


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## arycrest

I've never restricted a puppy from climbing/going down stairs. I've carried them up and down when they're unable to go up/down but only do it for as short a time as possible until they learn what to do. It took my OES forever to learn ... she probably weighed 50 lbs before she finally got the hang of it.


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## gsdsar

It was one of the first things I taught my pup. I never let him charge up and down them. But he learned quick.


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## car2ner

Our pup went up and down stairs as soon as his legs were long enough to manage them easily. It was better to have him learn to use stairs carefully than us trip and fall trying to carry too large of a pup. 

That being said, the first time he went down a longer carpeted stairwell it was more like a semi-controlled fall. We waited a bit longer for him to go down those stairs.


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## Ruger Monster

Ruger learned the stairs about 4 days after he came home with us. The only "restricting" we really did was to block the stairs off so he wouldn't wander up them and out of our sight at that age. He was able to get up them 3 days after coming home, and learned to go down them the next day. 

We did watch him to make sure he didn't fling himself down the stairs though.


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## HOBY

On one side of my deck at home there is 3 stairs between the upper and lower wood floors which I thought was perfect for carefully learning stairs. Here is a picture of Hoby [pooped] after learning stairs, 8-9 weeks. At the warehouse as a pup Hoby [about 3-4 months] was wary of the open steel stairways. He learned quick and today he is up and down them when I bring him to work. He has to make his rounds.


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## wick

We let Wick (15 weeks) use stairs freely... except really steep long flights he is only allowed to go up...not down. He loves stairs so much that he goes down them wayyy too fast and misses about 1/2 of them ! Watching this one time was enough to nip it in the bud. If there are only a few (like five or six) I let him go up and both whenever because he doesn't get as much momentum.


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## middleofnowhere

I've brought pups home around 8 to 10 weeks. They do stairs as soon as they figure them out. I have a ramp we use for getting in and out of the truck for a while. 

They are dogs. They have four legs and four feet. Using legs and feet helps strengthen legs and feet.


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## Syaoransbear

I live in a bi-level, so Shiro has to either go up stairs or down stairs to get out the front door to go potty. For the first few days I had to carry him because he couldn't do stairs, but now he can go up and down stairs by himself. I'm so glad, my back was so sore carrying him up and down to potty.


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## tcass

We never had a problem with deck stairs (three steps) and until recently I've kept the basement stairs blocked to keep the dogs from going downstairs on their own. yesterday we tried to coax Harley (10 mo old pup) down the stairs.....what a hoot. he whined, yelped and paced back and forth at the top. i moved only a couple of stairs away and he still wouldn't come down to me even when offering a treat. we took him outside and around through the basement and tried to get him to come up the stairs. finally, he came up....very cautiously. gonna try again today.


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