Stairs...

How big an issue is it having a young dog regularly using stairs? Like a few others, we don't live mainly on the ground floor. As a result, Jake goes up and down stairs a few times a day. He's not up and down constantly but still...

He's 10 months now, no obvious signs of joint probs and no family history...

Stairs can do a great deal of damage to developing joints and bones which are not fully mature and hardened until around 18 months of age. Running up and down places a lot of stress on on the skeletal structure. Allowing very young pups to climb and haul themselves up steps causes enormous strain on elbows and hips. I appreciate that many people have no choice but to use stairs to gain access to the outside, but caution should be used. I carried my pups up and down until they were six months old. After that I trained them to walk up and down, not run.

Nuts! Should have asked this question a long time ago then. Ah well, will have to keep an eye on him. Next question. Glucosamine Sulphate. Any point giving him it as a precaution? I've got a huge pot of 750mg that I take. Could he share these with me?

I would be more inclined to add a few drops of Flaxseed oil, or EPO to his meals daily, and give a tin of sardines or other oily fish, a couple of times a week. The Glucosomine won't hurt, but would probably work out more expensive. If you give the tablets to him I would think one 750mg per day would be quite sufficient, but someone else might be able to give more info on the correct dosage for a Lab.

Hi Rich

When I got Luna, I lived on the 3. floor without an elevator.

I carried Luna up and down untill she was about 15-18 kg, then I couldnt anymore. Since then she has walked up and down the stairs on her own.

Its only been a year since I moved 2 floors down, but we still have stairs every day.

I cant answer your glucosamine question, but I know of an american labsite, where you can ask. I also have an english lab site... On the american site, I know of a breeder, who give her labs glucosamine from they are about 4 months old or something. She has 8 labs - 2 seniors on 15½ and 13½ years old, the youngest is a little over a year old.

If you want a link, you can PM me

I didnt allow Abe upstairs until he was atleast 12 months old and even then made sure he walked-not run.He never really had a need to go upstairs anyway at that age and was only necessary when bathing was required.

Once he was about 2 yrs old-he had full roam of the entire house and didnt charge down stairs due to being front heavy.

Vegas on the other hand,tries to run as fast as he can (up or down) and have to stand in his way to slow him down.He's only 14 months old,so is still kinda young and i dont want any problems with him later on in life.

im pretty lucky, my room is downstairs, so the dogs never go upstairs. if i was you, i would put a childs stairgate up, so then he will only be able to go up and down when it is necessary, as i have heard that stairs can really do damage to growing pups, so its probably best no to take any chances!

mine dont get tp go up and down the stairs ,,upstairs is out of bounds untill they are grown . clucosamine wont harm them . holland and barratt have it on sale at the moment you can alos buy flax seed oil from there

He's got a bit of a limp at the moment... Might have to get him to the vets for a check over. Definitely going to get him hip & shoulder scored so we know what to expect...

On the subject of the scoring thing, it can be done from a year old, can't it? What's involved?

Hi Rich

Found this link - it has loads of stuff on it but tells you about the methods that is used on labs.

http://www.labbies.com/dysp2.htm

Plus this one is really good for info:

http://www.thedogscene.co.uk/article...th/hdscore.htm

Hipscoring done from the age of 12 months....