Can puppy St.'s handle stairs?

[Sullivan]

We are getting a new puppy soon and I have a question about whether or not she can handle stairs.  I've heard that puppies shouldn't attempt stairs while they are young to protect their hips.  My bedroom is upstairs so unfortunately they are unavoidable.  I'm wondering should I carry her until she gets too big, or let her try them now? 
We didn't have any stairs in our old house so Seamus never got used to them.  Now he is a little afraid of them.  It is kind of an ordeal to get him down, and I don't want to have to go through the same thing with Finley. 
Any advice?

[dufus]

IMHO they should be kept away from stairs as much as possible.

Day-z has 3 steps down from the front door to the garden and does that many times a day with ease.  She is not really allowed upstairs and in her 11 months on earth has got up their maybe 8 times.  The last time was recently, and she still is scared coming down.

I just think that coming down stairs is just too hard on their little hips, that let's face it have enough on carrying their not so little weight.

Day-z sleeps downstairs and is very happy doing so.

[shangrila]

You should try and limit the stair climbing somewhat, but at the same time it is also good to get pups acclimated to stairs, and it also helps build muscle. When zoey was a baby, we had to take stairs to get in/out of the house. We carried her all of the time for the first month or so, then gradually started having her do it herself, so that by the time she was too heavy to carry she was comfortable climbing them up and down.

[LaurieW]

You should try and limit the stair climbing somewhat, but at the same time it is also good to get pups acclimated to stairs, and it also helps build muscle. When zoey was a baby, we had to take stairs to get in/out of the house. We carried her all of the time for the first month or so, then gradually started having her do it herself, so that by the time she was too heavy to carry she was comfortable climbing them up and down.

Is this true (limiting stairs) for just St.s?  My new Great Pyrenees puppies have been going up & down the stairs for 2 days - once they discovered that mom slept upstairs, it was hard to keep them downstairs at night.  I was a little worried about their hips, but they seemed to be doing okay...now I'm wondering if allowing it was the wrong thing to do?

[shangrila]

Is this true (limiting stairs) for just St.s? My new Great Pyrenees puppies have been going up & down the stairs for 2 days - once they discovered that mom slept upstairs, it was hard to keep them downstairs at night. I was a little worried about their hips, but they seemed to be doing okay...now I'm wondering if allowing it was the wrong thing to do?

I don't think it is wrong to let your puppies go upstairs. When I said that it is good to try and limit stairs, I did mean in all dogs with a likelihood of HD, but the thing is that stairs are an unavoidable part of life. You can limit them climbing when they are puppies by carrying them up and down, but as long as they want to go upstairs and don't seem to have any trouble with it, then I don't think you should prevent them from going upstairs. Like I said, it does build muscle, and plus they want to sleep with their mommy

[brigid67]

Oh god that st. pup pic is so cute!!!!

As for tais I had posted a thread about this not that long ago after reading an article by a breeder that stated no stairs for newf babies.

http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php/topic,2725.0.html

I have stairs and Willow does go up them but not often...I keep them baby-gated because she will go up there and poop etc.  I do worry about the hip problem but what are you going to do?  Willow loves to be upstairs in mommy's room.

[kildeskennel]

We baby gate our stairs also, and carry when we are going up, or down.  Realize our home is split levels and there is a living room and bedrooms on each floor so kids are up, we are down or visa versa. All day.   Unfortunately this is a major use in our home, stairs so puppy's always follow the major traffic, which is on our stairs.  So far no problems but gates and dedication to carrying is a must for us.  With new baby coming home (WE ARE SO EXCITED!) gates are once again being used so the kids are used to having them in place.  It is as much a chore training them to be careful as it is training a new baby!

[Saintly Girl]

When Maxwell was a baby we carried him up and down stairs until he was too big to carry.  I heard that you should avoid stairs for Saints.  I read it on a few articles on the net.  Unfortunately our home is a split entry so he has to use the stairs all of the time to get in and go out.  He's monstrously monstrous now so carrying him is impossible.  Ha Ha!  I'm no expert but I would carry your pups up and down until you can't anymore.  I'd rather be safe then sorry.