What age for stairs?

[BullyOpie]

Hi everyone, so we live in a 3 level townhouse and Opie's floor for the time being is the 2nd since this is the living area. Now this means that whenever he has to go to the bathroom we carry him up and down the stairs to the 1st floor to get outside. At what age is it safe to start letting, or encouraging, him use the steps? Is it something that he will just learn on his own when he is ready and able, or, since we always carry him up and down now will he expect this always? Also, our stairs are all wood, will this be an issue with him possibly slipping on them? Thanks!

 

[BruceP]

I don't have an answer for you but wanted to say how cute he is. I'd sure love to see some more pix of the little guy. Our Princess Gracie is 5 yrs. old and doesn't do stairs.

 

[TheLost]

Molly was able to do the stairs on our deck (all 5 of them) at about 8 weeks of age. Now at the age of 12 weeks she's found the stairs leading to the 2nd floor which is off limits to the dogs (kids rooms are up there.. we'd never find the dogs again).

depending on the type of 'frenzy' she is in... she can make it up all 12 stairs. Most of the time she gets 1/2 way up and either 1) forgets where she was going.. 2) decides its not worth the energy to go any farther.. 3) our other dog starts barking (upstairs is a no-no!) and she chickens out.

#1 and #2 normally ends with her waiting for somebody to pick her up and carry her down


I would be worried about him going down too fast.. i've seen Molly do 'endos' (end-over-head) running down the steps on our deck. you might want to try supervised step-training... maybe start with making him walk up to his floor after potty breaks. Once he knows there is more to explore you might have to get kid-gates until his legs are longer.

 

[Pendragon]

We lived in a two story house and Chief would stay down stairs, but if he happened to come up those stairs he would not go back down.. Thank God that it was a split level so we could take him outside from either level... I for one are glad we dont live in that house anymore, I just dont feel stairs are good for them JMO.. Good luck with you puppy, He is cute and I like the name By chace do you watch SOA? lol

 

[Sandy]

Buster has always done well with the stairs in our house, but there are four stairs then landing-four stairs landing - he almost hops up them and comes down full steam ahead - but he has carpet for traction and can stop on each landing. Our son just moved into an upstairs apartment at college. He has hardwood stairs that are straight down. We picked Buster up and carried him both ways since he is 7 now, and we kept a baby gate up while we were there. Maybe start with her harness on and going up and down with her a little at a time until she gets the hang of it and can go slowly and safely.

 

[pdac1975]

I think that at about 14 Weeks Wally was doing fine with stairs. We live on the 2nd floor and we have tiled steps. Now he just flies up and down them.

 

[RiiSi]

Some say that these front heavy and big breeds dogs should avoid stairs until about one year old. Our Usko at 13 months is just starting go get acquainted with stairs and not too soon, 'cause he weights about 55 lbs.

 

[Vicaroo1000]

I just have four stairs on both sides of the house. Bo aces them. Bea almost seems to "get psyched up" to go down them. There are only four though so it's not that big of a deal.

 

[2BullyMama]

Never heard of any reason for them not to utilize stairs, but I know Nitschke was afraid of them and did not use them for the first month he was with us. But, one day he just started going up and down without any help. Banks was all over them up/down from day one with us and she was 11 weeks.

 

[LisaMarie]

I live in a one level home and the stairs I have are in the deck out back(5). Stairs are really not very good for EB. I would maybe build a ramp(i dont know how many stairs you have leading to the first level)or you can purchase one online.

 

[luseaann]

Hmmm...both our ladies started using the stairs on their own. They were around 4 months. We didn't allow Liz out until she finished her shot (nervous parents). We got Amy at 4 months and she took about a week to figure thm out. She is still not up-to-date with shots because she had mange and the vet wanted to wait until she is cured. Now they are 6 mo and 8 mo and run up and down them like crazy. Ours are carpetexd inside and cement outside. We have wood floors upstairs and Liz does slip on them.

 

[RyanT]

Izzy used them right away when we got her. She was 11 weeks. She is only about 13 weeks now but goes up and down them alot since we are a story and a half up.

 

[wautersa]

Mine don't use more than 2 steps to get in and out of the house. But I just wanted to say there are a lot of cute avatar pics of puppies!

 

[Alice Kable]

We have always had 2 story homes and our Bulldogs have always gone up and down on their own starting at 10 to 12 weeks. The stairs were hardwood, now they are tile.

 

[tonyjerry]

We live on the third floor of an apartment building. Oliver would hop up the stairs since he was about 10 weeks old. We waited until he was about 4 months old until we let him go down. Worried about the impact on his joints but it got to a point where my girlfriend wasnt physically able to carry him down. He does totally fine with them now and instead of hopping down he walks down so it seems have less impact.