stairs?

After 8 corgiless months, we picked up our baby yesterday. He is so sweet and
affectionate, a very good boy. I was awake all night waiting for him to wake up and
need to leave the crate. He slept and I didn't! I have a question: This pup is 3 months
and the breeder told me no stairs until he's 6 months. This is hard as we live in a
split level, but we'll go along unless we hear differently on good authority. Anyone
else have experience with this?

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Comment by Erin and Diego on January 28, 2010 at 2:29pm: Glad I found this thread. I live in a rowhome and have 3 levels... Diego has gone up about 3 or 4 stairs on his own once when i wasn't looking. Normally though he's afraid to go up or down them at all. Looks like we will be waiting awhile longer and there's nothing to be worried about. He seems curious, just scared. I certainly don't want him to try anything he's not ready for yet! Looks like I will be getting my stair workout of carrying him up and down for another 6 months or so!

Comment by Alice on October 14, 2009 at 1:25pm: Your pup should not be using stairs or jumping up or down from furniture until 10 months to 1 year. As John mentioned, the growth plates need to close first, until then impact or extreme train can cause damage. I would put up gates at the stairs so the pup will stay up when you are up and down when you are down. We live in a 2nd story apartment and had to carry Finn up and down the stairs every time we took him potty. He started climbing up the stairs at about 10 months but not down.

Comment by John Wolff on October 14, 2009 at 11:21am: Carrie was quite firm with me: no hikes or big challenges until the pup was a year old, you want the growth plates of the long bones fused before any big stresses. Counter-intuitive, since puppies have such boundless energy.
And I have heard before that stairs are a challenge for puppies.

Comment by Kelly on October 14, 2009 at 10:38am: Oh definitely. If you pup is anything like mine, he'll be too afraid to use the stairs (at least go down them) for at least a few months. Gibson learned to go up stairs around 4 months but wouldn't go down them until 5 months. I wanted him to wait longer, but he just did it one day when I wasn't looking. The breeder is right by saying they should wait. Stairs are hard on their growing backs and hips :)