When Can Labrador Puppy Climb Stairs? (Not Knowing Can Cause Hip Dysplasia)
Labrador puppies bring new challenges. One of these challenges is when can Labrador puppies climb stairs. Labradors can develop hip dysplasia and the age a Labrador puppy starts climbing stairs can contribute to hip dysplasia later in life.
Why are stairs considered bad for Labrador puppies?
From the age of 12 months to 18 months, Labrador puppies can climb stairs. Most dog owners believe that their puppy is strong enough at 12 weeks to climb stairs alone.
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If you are not helping your puppy climb stairs before 12 weeks old, he/she may damage their hip bone (this wear and tear is a painful condition).
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It’s highly recommended to avoid the stair-climbing process until after the very first year. If you are letting your Labrador puppy climb up and down the stairs, pause it immediately.
You may harm the health and bones of your puppy, although it’s unintentional.
When can Labrador puppies climb stairs?
Yes, luckily, Labrador puppies can climb stairs at some specific age of their life. Even at the age of 4 to 5 months old, your Labrador puppy will be strong enough to climb stairs.
They will navigate up and down without falling and asking for your help. However, allowing your young Labrador puppy to climb stairs is not recommended.
As mentioned above, before the age of 12 months old, your puppy may harm itself by frequently climbing stairs.
Can a Labrador puppy go up and downstairs?
Puppies are curious about their environment. As a dog parent, you will always find your puppy exploring everywhere.
When they explore the stairs in your home, it’s going to be their new game. Puppies want to climb those stairs up and down, and they enjoy doing this, even for dog parents, it’s fun to watch them run up and down them.
This activity is actually not safe for your puppy, and the experts do not recommend it. If you are not willing to stop your puppy from climbing up and down stairs, you must provide the proper training.
The chances of falling from stairs or dislocating a hip bone are less in a well-trained puppy than in others.
Is going up and down stairs bad for dogs?
Yes, it is bad for a puppy to go up and down stairs. It is highly recommended to stop your puppy from climbing up and down stairs if they do it frequently.
When you are not supervising
If you do not have enough time to supervise your puppy when learning to climb upstairs, you should not allow them to do this.
In your absence, your puppy may fall and break its hip bone along with some other injuries.
Safety precautions to make stairs safe for puppies
Work on these tasks to make stairs safe for your puppy.
1. Supervise your puppy
Experts recommend that dog parents keep an eye on puppies when they are learning to climb up or downstairs.
You can prevent your dog from falling and getting some serious injury. Also, you can notice if your puppy is climbing up properly or not.
2. Improve the visibility
Improving visibility is always a good approach when your puppy is climbing up the stairs.
You can turn on the lights and open up the curtains so that all of the stairs will be clear for your puppy.
3. Keep the stairs clean
Keep your house and stairs clean so that your puppy will not fall when learning new skills.
4. The surface should have a grip
If you believe that the surface of stairs is too slippery and there are chances of your puppy falling, you should build up some grip.
You can place pieces of rubber carpet to increase the level of resistance.
5. Installation of dog ramp
For outdoor stairs, you can consider installing a ramp. It may require some training to make your puppy confident enough to use the ramp.
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