SamK

A friend of mine who is currently homing a guide dog puppy told me he lifts the pup up a step because the tendons/ligaments are not strong enough yet. So I went home and counted the stairs on my property. There are 30 between the 4 levels we regularly navigate, 21 between Griffin's den and the grass garden. If he pees 6 times a day that's minimum 126 steps Should I avoid all steps ( ie carry him) or is some amount of stair climbing and descending OK? He is 10 weeks old and I swear his legs have grown an inch in the last week.

Adara

I would have no problem letting him walk when he can safely walk them. If when he gets bigger and more confident he starts flying off 3-4-5 steps above, I would not let him do that. I'd worry about shoulders, etc.

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Colleen
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Jazi

Careful what you wish for on steps, haha. There are many dogs who forget momentum still exists on steps and will fly down the steps only to crash-land at the bottom... or into you! Skoll has finally figured out that my steps will not eat him and he will fly down them and then crash into the couch on the other side of the room. I'm good at dodging speeding bullet dogs or else he'd've bowled me over doing that (don't worry, he knocks me down doing other things! )

IMO if he chooses to go up and down himself and takes them well, I don't see a problem.

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SamK

Thanks for your replies, I feel better about it now. He is really confident on stairs and growing so quickly it's getting awkward to carry him. Guess I won't be able to do that much longer