We have a 14 week old puppy and have been following Pippa's advice on exercise. One thing that's a bit of a problem is that you are advised not to let a puppy climb stairs, to avoid strain on back legs, so we don't let her. But when we use the puppy pen we haven't found a way to stop her standing on her back legs against the pen to gain attention if we're in the room, or to push against the pen when we're outside of the room. She comes from an athletic strain of working labs! Is standing on back legs likely to be a problem for her joints later? If so, how to stop her doing it? Saying no hasn't worked so far!
I know people warn about not letting pups climb stairs, but both of our Lab Pups were going up and down stairs at 14 weeks, and neither ever had any issues. Both would occasionally stand up in the puppy pen when they were young. Cooper can jump into the back of a Suburban when it is over 3' off the the ground, but fortunately she has never decided to go over a fence, even though she could do so easily.
It's fine for her to stand up against the puppy pen in that way. What is harmful for joints, is the concussion - there is so much more force exerted when the dog's body weight lands down on the joint, as it does when running. And what is harmful in terms of stairs, is the rear legs moving forwards to the position they need to be in, to get onto the next stair. (Also frequently combined with being done at speed and with concussion.) There is indeed research supporting the idea that stairs are harmful for young puppies: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22620698/ "Puppies walking on stairs from birth to 3 months of age had an increased risk of developing HD." Note that off-leash exercise decreases the risk - obviously not excessive off-leash exercise, but strengthening muscles helps hold joints in place.
We were very careful - Harry's not allowed to go up or down the stairs at home and when we take him to the beach we use the path down not the stairs. However, he found out very early on that he could jump over the baby gate and land in a rolling motion on the stone floor of the kitchen! Sometimes you just can't win! (Though we now have a tall dog size gate between the living room and the kitchen)
Thanks for your reply to our worry about our puppy standing on her back legs. We feel reassured. It's good to know we can concentrate on her dead-heading live flowers in the garden!
Thanks for your reply to our worry about our puppy standing on her back legs. We feel reassured. It's good to know we can concentrate on her dead-heading live flowers in the garden!
Thanks for your reply to our worry about our puppy standing on her back legs. We feel reassured. It's good to know we can concentrate on her dead-heading live flowers in the garden!
Lol, ours does that too and jumps up at the bird feeders to shake the seeds loose so he can eat them. You need eyes in the back of your head!
