A case of the no-good, horrible, very bad stairs

[Krista, Angel, and Toby]

Ok, so I got Angel home today and so far she has lived up to her name. She is sweet as a button, has been sleeping in her crate like a star, but she can't or won't do stairs, which is a bit of a problem. In order to get to the potty spot, she needs to go down a flight of steps and through the garage to the dogrun. So how do I teach an 11Lb, 8 week-old puppy to use stairs?

Thanks!

[Sandy]

Toby didn't do stairs for quite a while. I say, for now, carry her. She's so little to do it by herself AND hold her pee. :)

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

Yankee wouldn't do stairs either. Give her some time, she's just a baby.

[Kyoko]

I think you may have to pick her up until she gets little older....
Charlie is not allowed up stairs as of yet, so she does not need to go up and down on the stairs on the regular basis.
But, when she was a little puppy, she did not know how / was afraid of going up and down on the stairs, so I picked her up and let her practice one or two steps at leasure. Now she is almost 6 months, she has no problem with stairs. I don't know if that's the right thing to do or not, but it worked for me.

[Janie]

I think she is to young to do the stairs for now....she could fall down them. She will learn when she is ready.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha didn't do the stairs until 4 months and then it was only up. We carried her and she weighed 33 lbs. Give her time.

[Sandy]

We were carrying Toby when he was about that weight too. I think he was about four months before he came down the stairs by himself.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Carry her!

[Leslie and Halas]

I agree with the others. I would carry her for now. Halas started going up a few steps when he was 3 months old, but it was still awhile before he would go up a whole flight or would go down any stairs.

[Tricia, Shiloh, Fenway & Tessie]

I'm glad we don't have to navigate stairs. I have to take them out on a leash every time but I am glad I don't have stairs, too. She'll get it.....it will just take some time. I would start with letting her practice walking up the stairs AFTER she has pottied. Maybe go up each one with a treat....just spending some time ON the stairs. Once she masters that, I would practice going down the stairs (again, when she doesn't have to potty)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

We potty trained in a RV with 5 really STEEP stairs out the doorway and outside steps and we carried for a few weeks, gingerly let him take his time climbing up one and then 2 has he could, used treats one step at a time going down and a lot of "good boy!" when he did each step. I really don;t think they have the strength or the depth perception for negotiating steps that young, but that;s just my opinion. One day I just ran up the steps and up he came after me, stumbling up each one but continued on to get to his mommy. (or was it the treat????hum?)

[Barbara Burrows]

Abby wouldn't go down stairs until she was 6 months old. The vet told me a lot of puppies get injuries falling on stairs and it was better to carry her. We had to put a gate on the stairs for Molly, she likes to run down them as fast as she can. Carry her, it is a little inconvenient now but won't last long...

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

I have the same advise as the others have - carry her. She is still so little and will learn it on her own. Benny didn't do stairs until he was 5 months and after he started walking up and down we even installed a baby gate as they say it is not good if puppies walk to much stairs at young age as it can have a bad influence on their hips. I don't know if this is true but I didn't want to risk it and therefore restricted his stair walking. But it is also important that they do walk a few stairs every now and then as a puppy otherwise they will never learn it properly and will be scared for the rest of their lives.
But don't worry, Angel will do it eventually on her own.