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Stairs?

B

BrianSmith

Member
Copper is now officially 17 weeks old, and has learned how to climb the stairs. I don't mind him going up the stairs, but he has no interest in coming down stairs, so he ends up sitting at the top of the stairs just waiting for someone to come rescue him.

How young is too young to start coming down the stiars, and any idea's on how to get him started?

Thanks.
 
Well, we didn't try to teach Molly getting down - she just sat upstairs and waited for us to pick her down (really patient, if we hadn't seen her go up!)
Then when she was about 5-6 months old she learned it by herself. She loves visitors, and the stairs are placed near the entrance door. When the door rang she was so curious to see who it could be, that she decided to overcome her fear and climb down! - and from then on she just used the stairs regularly, even though we still carry her up and down sometimes, because it is nice to hold her ;)
 
I wouldn't let a pup come down stairs until they have finished growing incase it damaged their joints.
They can't train on agility jumps until they are about 1. I don't see stairs as any different its still impact on their joints
 
Another cavvie trait!?!? :D:D

Holly's 3yrs and ive had her a year now and her and the stairs don't mix!!

She expects me to carry her up and down them and if i don't she stands at the top/bottom and barks as though there's an invisible safety gate there stopping her from coming up after me!! :rolleyes::rolleyes:

She does it out of the car too....expects me to carry her out...

"Princess Holly, your wish is my command" :rotfl:

x
 
We put a little treat on every other step and Chloe soon grasped the idea of how to get down. Personally I think it is really important that they can get down confidentally in case they ever slipped they would not be too scared of going down. Our girls constantly play on the stairs (cant stop them) their favourite game is one sits at the top and drops a ball then runs down as quickly as they can before the one at the bottom gets it. They amuse themselves for ages doing this.:rolleyes:
 
Our little diva Daisy Boo didn't come down the stairs until she was nearly two and we simply got sick of going up to get her! She always knew how to do it but couldn't be bothered as there was always someone who came to get her. However, be very careful and make sure he learns how to come down. Luring him with treats will probably work.
 
We start showing puppies how to use stairs at about 10 or 11 weeks of age. Our steps are fairly low (about 5 1/2" per step), so its fairly easy for them to learn and is no harder on them than running and playing on flat ground. It's always easier for them to learn to go up; going down is usually a challenge for them and takes a lot longer. To train puppies to go both up and down, we hang on to them and just move them up and down the stairs. Once they have learned, they are very carefully watched until they go to their forever homes.

I would also say that if you have the kind of stair with open risers (no vertical board between the steps) that you find a way to temporarily close the opening. You don't want a puppy to crawl through the oopening and fall straight down to the floor below. And if the stair is open on 1 or both sides, be sure the puppy can't go though the openings in the guardrail. I can tell you that a puppy can walk right through a guardrail that meets our code of a 4" maximum space. That applies to guardrails on things like decks, too.
 
Gem said:
We put a little treat on every other step and Chloe soon grasped the idea of how to get down. Personally I think it is really important that they can get down confidentally in case they ever slipped they would not be too scared of going down. Our girls constantly play on the stairs (cant stop them) their favourite game is one sits at the top and drops a ball then runs down as quickly as they can before the one at the bottom gets it. They amuse themselves for ages doing this.:rolleyes:
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How fantastic. Cleo loves to run up and down the stairs and does this frequently - especially if the microwvae is on (the stairs are in our kitchen and the microwave is in a unit built under the stairs). Cleo loves to run up the stairs, stick her nose out and smell what's in the microwave! She also just loves running up and down the stairs, and does bring her ball up, let it roll down and try to beat it to the bottom, so I'm sure she'd love that game if she had another dog to play it with!
 
Be careful of her hips! Going up stairs puts a lot of pressure on the hips and going down puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders. I might not encourage it unless the stairs were pretty close together--if she has to stand on her hind legs to get up the stairs they're probably too far apart.
 
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