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Comment by Ingrid & Ein on February 16, 2013 at 10:17pm

Aww love his little sweater!

Comment by rae on February 16, 2013 at 10:01pm

We actually spent a long time discussing proper care and training of our puppy with our breeder for a full year before Machete was even born.  We extensively discussed the issue of stairs because we have them in our house, and since our breeder a.) is a professional b.) pretty much an expert on corgis and the person that even the AKC goes to talk to when they want to talk about corgis and c.) has OVER 40 years of experience with the breed, specifically...as far as we're concerned her word is the flippin' bible. For us, this is end of story.  The absolute most important thing is the health and well-being of our pup.  

Additionally, she went over with us very carefully how to properly lift a corgi at all stages of life, and she is a tiny whisp of a woman who can hoist up a full grown corg (male and female alike) without hurting herself or her dogs.  

Everyone can do what they want with their own dog, obviously, we'll continue to work on raising our puppy the best we can.

@Sarah, thanks, we think he's cute, too!  One thing we were told was to always make sure to support he hindquarters as well.

Comment by Sarah Schantz on February 16, 2013 at 9:44pm

I love my Phoebe but I must admit every time I see a picture of Machete my heart melts.  This corgi thing is powerful!

Our breeder didn't say anything about not teaching stairs except for open stairs.  We haven't attempted it yet and I am in no hurry because one of our cats is not happy with the new puppy addition and has decided to live either upstairs or in the basement and skip the ground floor altogether where Phoebe is.  I can't imagine carrying her up and down when she is an adult either - not because I can't lift her but for her own comfort level.  Sometimes I feel I am not picking her up correctly now if her weight isn't distributed right as I lift.

Comment by Beth on February 16, 2013 at 5:13pm

This from the PWCCA:

"11.Is it true you have to carry them up and down stairs because of their long backs?

No, the Pembroke is a well muscled dog, capable of navigating normal sized steps with ease. However, as puppies, they must be taught to use steps, starting with single steps and progressing to more steps as the puppy grows. Be especially careful with open staircases; some Pems cannot resist the urge to jump! Stairs should not be a play area, but simply a means of going from one area of the house to another."

Do keep in mind that a puppy who never sees stairs may turn into an adult dog who is terrified of them; normal socialization rules apply.   What we did was try to find a balance by greatly minimizing stairs (after all, until a year or so old the pup did not have free run of the whole house) while still exposing him gradually so he learned.

Our breeder has gotten young adult show prospects that she has a co-own on in for handling training and I guess it sometimes takes quite a while for them to learn stairs, if they come from a house with none. 

Good luck!  He's cute as can be.  I love hearing your updates.

Comment by Beth on February 16, 2013 at 4:57pm

Akbar, thanks for your answer!  :-)   I think we all do what we are comfortable with.   Jack weighed about 25 pounds by the time he was 7 months old and I would definitely not carry a dog that large around.   Keeping him downstairs would have meant a baby gate, and with the way our steps are set up it would have to be at the top of the steps; very dangerous for the humans.  

Many people in older neighborhoods with high foundations need to navigate 8 or 10 steps to get in and out of the house, as do some apartment dwellers.   I would personally rather see an older puppy learn the stairs than be carried multiple times a day and I think it's less risk of injury.  

I'm not disagreeing with your decision on what is right with your dog, I just wanted to add that there is more than one view on this.  When we visited the litter the pups navigated one or two steps right at the breeder at 6 weeks old, and she's been breeding for over 30 years and is highly regarded (judges, has hold an officer position in breed club, etc).  I think if you asked 5 different experienced breeders you would get five different answers.

Comment by Natalie, Fiona, & Django on February 16, 2013 at 3:34pm

Seriously LOVE the sweater. :) Dapper lil guy!

Comment by Tracy Marie on February 16, 2013 at 1:23pm

Oh my goodness, how cute is he?!

Comment by Beth on February 16, 2013 at 10:37am

I just checked some old e-mails and Jack was about 17 weeks old the first time he did stairs by himself.  Before that he'd done some smaller flights (four or five steps).   He learned to go up before he learned to go down.

Comment by Beth on February 16, 2013 at 10:32am

Akbar, just curious, when did Anne recommend he learn to use stairs?   The reason I ask is that as an adult, carrying him won't really be practical (and I always feel that I'm more likely to hurt them by carrying them than by letting them manage on their own).   DId she give you a specific age?

Corgis might not have used a lot of stairs but they did run up and down some pretty big hillsides.

http://www.jeniferbunnett.com/rock-and-rolling-hills

Comment by Bogart the Cardigan on February 16, 2013 at 10:23am

Absolutely 200% pure cuteness! And also like the sweater... have been thinking of a sweater for Bogart since it gets pretty cold here.  Regarding stairs, Bogart does not even ATTEMPT to use our hardwood stairs to the lower level.  We had a gate first, but realized he doesn't even want to try it, so that's fine with us because downstairs is all carpet, and main level is all hardwood floors, with some rugs here and there.

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