Stair walking?

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

We have a 2 story house and a 3 month old pup.  When is it ok for him to start going up & down the stairs?  I have baby gates & I haven't even had to use them yet because Bexter is too scared to try to go up the stairs when I do (I'm glad about that...I'd be nervous).  He just stands at the base of the stairs and cries for me.  He's never upstairs without being contained because I'm afraid he'd fall down them.

We do have a deck with three low stairs & he can go up & down those just fine to go potty.

 

Also - furniture...we will allow Bex to get on the furniture, so those of you who allow that...When can they safely get up & down on their own?  Bexter is just now starting to (he's done it a couple of times unexpectedly on his own) get on the couch or chair.  I don't want him to hurt himself so I always lift him up or down.  He is a mini (but he'll be a big mini - vet thinks close to 50 lbs full grown/right now he's 15 pounds).  Thanks for advice!

[Michael Gurley]

I have a mini labradoodle- she is 22 pounds. Mini is considered up to 25 pounds, I believe. Of course, "Labradoodle" is a hybrid, not a breed, so there is no standard.

 

50 pounds, or even 40 pounds, is considered standard size though.

 

I don't think the breeder should have done a pairing with dogs of such varying sizes, personally. There is no telling how big the pups would be! They could be anywhere between 10-65 pounds!!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

15 pounds at 3 months...I agree your mini will be bigger than a typical mini!

Peri was 16 pounds at 6 months and capped out around 25.  Her parents were just like Bexter's.

[Janel and Sophia]

Thank you Traci for asking that question... We too  have numerous stairs in our house and two of our three stair cases are open, a puppy hazard for sure.  We do have baby gates.. left over from the grandkids!!!

[Coco Chanel and Cheryl]

Coco learned to go up and down stairs because my dad showed her. We stayed with them last summer and when she got up for her early walk with him, he would show her how to walk up. Then one day she came barreling down the stairs and jumped onto the sofa. She was shocked. For a long time that was the only way she could get up there. Now every time we visit them she goes to the top of the stairs and barks all the way down and leaps onto the sofa!! She still loves to do that!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We got Ned at about3 1/2 months and he climbed up the stairs right away but I can't remember when he went down - we have other dogs and I paid more attention to him not going potty on the carpet than the stairs. As to the furniture - when he could jump on it, he did.  I remember that I was amazed that he jumped up on the bed in our RV which is higher than the couch.   He was about 4 or 4 1/2 months.  Ned was about 12 - 16 pounds at 3 and 4 months.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Lachlan's apparently a bit of a late bloomer where stairs are concerned. I'm okay with that! He was almost six months before I finally used treats to bait him down the carpeted basement steps. It took a good 20 minutes to get to the bottom because he was flat terrified of 'em. Once he made it down the first time he was fine; barrels up and down 'em so fast I'm afraid he'll hurt himself! And of course NOW I have to keep the baby gate up because he's still trying to eat anything that he can get into his (rather large) mouth, so I don't want him that far out of my sight!

[Kate C Pappas]

PLEASE train him now and it's a perfect time to do it. My breeder told me before I got Yarra that stairs and slippery floors were the worst things for a puppy to run up and down, or floors on which to run and slide. A guarantee for future problems too. The bigger the dog, the more dangerous.

Since I have stairs going up to my house from the street and hardwood floors, I began training Yarra right away. I bought a lot of inexpensive throw rugs for the floors so if you also have those, you can do that.

The stairs: Take him on a leash, SLOWLY, up and down, telling him to 'W-A-L-K'. Right now, only do it a couple times a day. If you're a clicker trainer, that's even better. Since you have the three stairs, that is a good place to start his training.

As he gets older, train him ON leash with the stairs more often. Try him off leash when you think 'he's got it'. ALWAYS insist he walks. To this day, (Yarra is 5) she is not allowed, nor does she run up or down the stairs. Since I have knee injuries, she often fills in as my mobility dog and it's important for me that she not run, or hurry on the stairs.

Her sister Yindi, who is 19 months has also been trained on the stairs but she's smaller so I don't rely on her for helping me when I need it.

As for the furniture, if you have carpet and allow him on the couch, it's not a far, nor consistent drop to the floor. Our bed is quite high so I bought a leather ottoman for the girls to use to get on and off the bed. They are not permitted on other furniture.

As for his size, Yarra was 17 lbs at 9 weeks and 29 lbs at 16 weeks. It's said you can double the weight at 4 months and predict to some degree how big they will be. Yarra is about 62 lbs now and very lean. Yindi weighs a lean 44. 

I wish I could say the same about me. LOL!

 

BTW...I actually carried the girls up and down my front stairs until they weighed 30lbs because they got too heavy for me.

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

Traci, the formula of taking the weight at 4 months, double it, plus or minus 10 pds may help. For instance, if he is around 20 pounds at 16 weeks, doubled = 40, so he could be 30-50 pds. So I guess you could still have a mini, or a medium. Only time will tell.

As for stairs and furniture. Both mine were 8 and 10 weeks old when I got them and they walked up and down stairs the first day home. I figured if they could do it they would, if not I'd help them. Same with furniture. We like them with us whether it's in bed or on the couch, but that's up to you. I guess I won't ever know if they ever have hip problems if it was from jumping off furniture but we all enjoy them there enough to take the chance.