My puppy Ben weighs 23 pounds already at 3 months. The problem I'm having is carrying him up and down the stairs. He sleeps in my bedroom in his crate at night only and he is getting to heavy for me to carry. Is it alright to have him learn going up the stairs now? Do I have to wait longer? I don't want him to hurt his hips.
At this point I'd train him to walk slowly up and down the stairs with you, on lead. Train him to pause often (whenever you stop on the stairs), and also at the top and bottom. You can train him to wait at the top and bottom until he gets his cue to go up or down the stairs with you. If he shows interest in using the stairs on his own you can put gates up if you haven't already.
Hi there, no-one can answer the question "is it ok", because no-one really knows what in a puppy's environment might contribute to joint problems (if anything). But regardless of that, it just becomes impractical to keep carrying a puppy, so whenever it's no longer safe or practical, they have to do steps/stairs themselves and that's pretty much that. You don't have to have them rushing up and down stairs all day though, just up to bed etc.
Did he walk in any kind of steps before? If not you could start off with trying out some short stair to build up confidence with it (just speculating here). Millie was about same weight at 3months, now at 4 she's 32pounds. So if he's starting to get heavy for you now I would start practice the stair while you still can lift him up in case he stops in the middle of the stair and won't bulge.
