We advise puppy owners to carry their puppies up and down stairs for at least the first 6 months, but this depends a lot on the breed and size of a puppy. At some stage, puppies do need to learn how to negotiate stairs, but in a safe and controlled way.
Fortunately, most veterinarians agree that the majority of puppies can begin climbing stairs when they are 3 months old. However, puppies should be supervised for several weeks to ensure their safety. And some dogs who are prone to hip dysplasia should use the stairs as little as possible.
Vets suggest that puppies should only be allowed on the stairs after the age of 12 weeks – and even then, they should be closely supervised. With some large breeds, such as Labradors and Retrievers, it's advisable to wait even longer.
You can start walking your puppy after one to two weeks of them being fully vaccinated. This is usually around the 8-week mark. However, make sure you keep a strict eye on them and ask your vet to confirm when they're allowed out on a walk.
Some breeders will begin potty training a puppy before they are old enough to be adopted. When you bring an eight-week-old dog home, you can start puppy house training by taking him out to go to the bathroom on a regular basis.
As for how frequently to walk your puppy, the short answer is: as often as they need to go outside! Your puppy will be going potty a lot, so it's a good idea to schedule six to eight outings per day. Once they're fully vaccinated, you can turn two or three of those outings into short walks.
A dog gate is much like a baby gate in that it is specifically for preventing dogs from getting to the steps. This will prevent them from both chewing on the steps as well as struggling to climb them and potentially falling. Set up the gate at the top of the stairs to prevent your puppy from tumbling down the stairs.
Shake hands (or a paw shake!) is a popular dog trick and is usually the first trick most people teach their dogs. This is an easy trick to teach and most dogs pick it up really quickly.
Dog Stairs
Climbing stairs is the perfect way to build up your leg muscles. Place your dog on a leash and walk up and down your stairs. Be sure to mix it up and throw in some high steps and side steps to work various muscle groups.
The delicate joints and bones of puppies are not fully resilient until they are about 1.5 years old. Until then, you should only let your puppy climb stairs under supervision and very slowly.
But in all honesty, there's no 'right time' for a puppy to go to sleep, as long as it's the same every night. While this may be the case, do note that your puppy will need, on average, around 8-10 hours of sleep per night.
Where Should Your Puppy Sleep? While you may eventually want to let your dog sleep in bed with you (or your kids), it really is best if your pup starts out sleeping in a crate — you can always let them in the bed later, once they're fully potty-trained, sleeping soundly, and happily acclimated to their crate.
Puppies shouldn't be asked to jump in extreme or competitive situations until they're at least 12-15 months old (or older for giant/slow-maturing breeds). This is because puppy growth plates aren't closed until at least 12 months of age and jumping on open growth plates can cause long term damage.
Repeatedly going up and down stairs can gradually injure joints and may lead to hip dysplasia in dogs that are susceptible to the disease. The negative impact of stair climbing is especially pronounced in puppies whose joints are still forming and whose muscles are still weak.
Dogs that fall from heights can suffer sprains, broken bones, head trauma, and chest or abdominal injuries. Small dogs can incur the same degree of injury falling from much smaller distances.
The three most common, and most necessary training techniques are teaching your dog to sit, stay and come. Teaching your dog to sit is simple and it is also the basis for other commands, so it is a good one to start with.
Along with their name, the best training lesson you can teach them are the 5 basic commands. These include “come”, “lay down”, “sit”, “stay”, and “leave it.” These 5 tricks may not seem like much, but they provide your pup with a foundation that sets them toward a good path for adulthood.
An indoor dog fence for a dog in your home is essential. Owning a puppy, creates the need of having some way to contain your pet. This can be for safety or you may simply want some indoor area's, to be a no go zone! Like parents with children, the use of stair-gates or playpens are fine when a dog is a pup.
You need to make downstairs a pleasant place where he has everything he needs and where he is content. If he always wants to sleep upstairs, move his bed to a more enclosed space. You may also want to get him a new bed with some comfy blankets.
Keep to a regular routine of taking your puppy outside at least every two-to-four hours and after every change of activity. This is especially important during house training and will keep accidents to a minimum. Several short play sessions during the day are better for a puppy than one long one.
Even when your puppy is 6-8 weeks old, you may still notice that they have trouble with depth perception and other basic parts of their vision. 8 Weeks: Once your puppy is about 8 weeks old, their eyes should be fully developed and they should be able to see well.
5 minutes of exercise per month of age: that's the routine advice for growing puppies to prevent physical problems during development. So for an 8 week old puppy, that means 10 minutes of exercise per day.