Polly is 14 weeks old and I live on the first floor. I'm aware of the advice to limit exercise for puppies and I try to stop her jumping up as much as possible. I have been carrying her up and down the stairs to get outside until now, but she is getting heavier by the day. Does anyone have any advice for stairs & puppies? At some point soon carrying her is going to become very difficult! It is already difficult for my mum who looks after her sometimes. I have managed to get her to go down the stairs slowly a couple of times, but going back up is a different matter (think jet plane taking off from an aircraft carrier).. after all, there just might be some more food in her bowl!
There is very little evidence of stair use as a risk factor for hip dysplasia - this one study is all that ever comes up on extensive searches : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22620698/ and this was done with puppies up to the age of three months. If you live on the first floor you obviously can't go on carrying your puppy for much longer and I would just train her to walk up slowly by having her on a harness with the lead very short to prevent her from rushing up and using food rewards. Start with a calm voice and place a small treat on the first step, when she has taken that put a treat on the next step up and allow her to move one step at a time. You can gradually space the treats further apart and eventually you won't need them. Another method would be to do it with a nose touch to your hand - so you hold your hand just in front of her nose and click/mark and treat as her nose touches your hand (you can train this away from the stairs to start with), so that you control the speed of taking stairs.
Thank you Joy. That is a very reassuring article. & thank you for the tips on slowing down stair climbs. I'll definitely try your tips.
