Puppies, stairs and hip dysplasia
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| Hi, I think the 6-7 stairs will be fine for Milton. I have the same sort of set up for Scarlet to potty and I was also carrying her but she decided one day to just go up them herself lol...
The stairs in the house we keep blocked off, we have 13 steps and I think that might be too much for a 10 week old pup. So I carry her in the morning down those stairs and out to potty. I also carry her up when it is bedtime. I don't take Scarlet for walks yet, as she has only had her first shots. But she runs like the wind in the house lol...I don't think I could stop her....they let you know when they are tired. It sounds like you are doing a great job with Milton.  |
| Bingley's crate is upstairs and until he turned 6 months old we carried him up and down every day several times a day. I would carry as much as you can while he is growing, just in case. When it gets to be too much then I would stop.
However, like Scarlet's mom said, 6 or 7 stairs aren't a lot so I would just use your best judgment.  |
| A few stairs should be fine, but go ahead and carry him for as long as you're able if you want to.
We were told by our breeder that stairs themselves are okay - but the reason we needed to carry him down stairs for awhile was because of the risk of injury if he fell. Puppies are still very clumsy (like a human toddler) and if a puppy were to fall down the stairs and injure his growing body, that could cause hip or joint problems in the future. We had 2 stairs to the backyard and that he could do confidently by 12 weeks. I found that Barkley was able to go up a full flight of stairs long before he was able to go down it. He was hesitant to go down so we didn't push it, since he might lose his balance. We were carrying him down the stairs in the house until he was 6 months old. Then we used treats to teach him how to walk slowly down a flight of stairs. I imagine it's scary the first few times for a dog. Imagine going down a flight of stairs head-first, on all fours!?!  |
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