http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noevv1e6RrQ

Poor little thing--"how cute" and "adorable" are not appropriate responses...:-(

Obviously I am uninformed as I thought it was great how the adult showed the pup how to manage the stairs. Obviously I wouldn't want a puppy going up and down them too much but the odd trip won't hurt. Or am I missing something?

exactly--why encourage the puppy to negotiate stairs at that age and set it up for damage for life to its hips and shoulders?

But learning  how to negotiate obstacles and using its body builds confidence and develops co-ordination. I am not advocating that puppies should be allowed to gallop up and down stairs willy nilly but controlled exposure to them is good for puppies. They gain confidence on stairs much more quickly at a young age. I had a foster pup who was 6 months old who had never seen stairs and he really struggled with the concept. Like all things moderation is the key.

No, no, no !!!
Poor puppy.

I'm with St Domingo on this one. We have a strict ban on stairs in our house until at least 6 months--and stairs are far too steep for a puppy the size of the one in the video. Puppies are perfectly able to learn co-ordination outdoors, playing in the garden, with their toys, negotiating kerbs on the lead, etc.

Newyork once a pup has mastered the stairs there is no going back, they will try it at every opportunity so best to discourage going up till at least 6 months old and coming down till a year, during that time they have built up bone,muscles and tendons to support all those joints doing normal every day activities.

One slip coming down could cause untold damage that will have consequences for the rest of the dogs life.

Dogs are not allowed to take part in agility till they are mature because of the strain placed on their young bodies.

I'm with the no way brigade as well those steps were as tall as the pup that is like us trying to step down a 6 foot step. Every step that pup takes may well be doing damage to the growth plates and OK they will not notice the damage now but when the dog starts having problems in later life the will forget that they are the ones to blame. The worst of it is the pup is not even theirs.

Crumbs, they're not even carpeted stairs with a bit of grip (and padding for potential slips and falls). :-( What an irresponsible person.

Yes its cute to see the relationship with the adult and the pup and how the adult was understanding it needed to show the pup what to do, but would have been nicer to see it teaching something else. Going up and down stairs as such a small pup is bad bad news and not something to be encouraged. Hope the uninformed people watching that dont try it with their pup, could be an accident waiting to happen.

>Or am I missing something?

Yes, I'm afraid so.  But guess that you have learned from all the posts that you are wrong.  And, after all, that is why people come on CD.  To get expert advice.   :-)

But learning  how to negotiate obstacles and using its body builds confidence and develops co-ordination.

You can do that outdoors. :) We live in a bungalow so don't have stairs at all, but when I take my pup out and abut to socialise I get her to jump up onto low walls and similar, have walked up and down steps at the local train station etc. So she's got used to a variety of obstacles but it's not been too frequent or too much of the same, and none of it has been something that might encourage her to negotiate obstacles at home that I wouldn't WANT her to be able to cross, such as child gates.

>Obviously I wouldn't want a puppy going up and down them too much but the odd trip won't hurt. Or am I missing something?

Learning to negotiate a single step of that size is plenty for a soft-boned pup of that size; a flight of steps, albeit a short one, is too much to be safe. The steps are as tall as the pup, for heaven's sake!