As some of you may know I'm getting a dobe pup in two months. I'm in the process of getting things organised at home, but one thing has started to worry me. The pup's bed is going to be in our kitchen, which is nice and large and has a tiled floor. However, to get into/out of the kitchen there are two good-sized steps. I know how important it is not to let young dogs put too much strain on developing joints - would bounding up and down these two steps every day present a risk? If so, I'm going to have to get some kind of ramp.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Thanks

Jo

Jo have you tried running searchs on all these topics? Every one of them has been covered before :-)

Hi Admin - sorry, hadn't tried a search on this topic. Will try harder in future! :o

Jo

Hi,
We have two steps from our backdoor down into the garden. My litters have managed to negotiate these quite happily from about 7 weeks, and years on don't appear to have any problems (one of them is now 8 years old, and her mother is 10, and she was a bought-in pup). I don't let them do stairs till they're older, though.

We have a couple of steps from the patio down to the lawn. It was hilarious watching our pup try to get down them - I don't think that she had come across steps before :) . It certainly hasn't done her any harm going up and down them, but I would be careful to let your pup take them at it's own pace until it has mastered them - no chasing it up and down them :)

Good luck

Daisy

Hi Jo
You could always get a large flat piece of wood and make a ramp for them, i always say this when people buy one of my gsds, i dont like them going up or down steps, certainly not at 8 weeks. :) Bet you cant wait for your babay :D
tRACEY

the tiles in the kitchen might present more of a problem as pups shouldn't be on slippery surfaces as it is more likley to lead to hip problems than the odd step

Neil

I have tiles in my kitchen and wooden floors elsewhere downstairs, these have not lead to high hip scores, nor do they seem to have done any harm otherwise as even my oldies have been sound movers.

I have a step from my kitchen into the conservatory, where my pups are born and spend their first few weeks. When they start to explore and go into the conservatory I put a few bricks, well wrapped with fleece so that the step is not so high and they have a soft landing if they tumble down it - it is then lower than climbing ontop of their mum and tumbling off

Christine

Jo,

In answer to your question, two steps will not cause any harm to your puppy's joints. It's constantly going up and down a large flight of stairs (mostly down) or lengthy exercise that you need to avoid.

Slippery tile floors are more of a problem. Not with regard to stress on joints, but with regard to slipping and pulling a muscle or breaking a leg. So, try not to let your puppy race around or jump in the kitchen if you see that he slips on it.

Stacey

Hi Jo, Sydney has mastered two steps and now takes flying leaps down them. However the steps are at the Inlaws so he didnt have to negotiate them everyday. At first we lifted him down them but now the're no trouble. We have one step out to the back yard, he was careful and sat looking at the steps at first but managed to get up and down with a little help.

I wouldnt worry to much he will be careful when you first get him whilst investigating any new areas. Try not to get him excited when he is going out to the backdoor and help him out at first and before you know it he will be jumping in and out just like Syd. ( A ramp could be a good idea preparatory agility work heh, getting a head start on me are you). I dont let Syd up the steps to the bedrooms yet but I have caught him (this morning infact) trying to negotiate them when the door has been accidently left open. He reached about 5 steps up and has managed to get down byhimself without mishap, but I wont allow him up yet.

As Stacey states, slippery floors are the problem for Syd. In class when doing recall he often ends up sliding past me. The other Dobie in the class also has the same problem and he's 19 weeks old, guess its a dobie thing.

Don't know about a Dobie thing :) Our Aussie pup (almost 1) still can't sit on the slippery floor in the middle of the hall at training (she is OK on the rubber matting around the edge) - I have to put my foot behind her rear end to prop her up, otherwise she collapses into a 'down' :D

Daisy

Thanks for your comments everyone - some good ideas, especially bricks wrapped in fleece. I'll make sure it's Richard's fleece though and not one of mine!

The tiles shouldn't be too slippy as are not polished or particularly smooth, but if any problems arise I'll just put a few old rugs down.

Jo