I always have him on leash so he won't fall down the steps. I remember reading something about their shoulders need to develop or???

Congrat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You better share that baby and bring him when he'sready to our field!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have a normally developed (and not long-backed) dog, then I think that stairs are not usually a problem. It's only the VERY occasional adult dog that won't go down stairs. My GSD started climbing the stairs on his own at an early age, just in an effort to follow me.

He was really nervous about going down the stairs and I would tempt him with hot dog pieces and give him one per every two steps. I think it took maybe twice before he was confident. The problem is that he would try to rush down the stairs (ours are really steep and narrow) and thereby increase the odds of slipping and twisting his legs at an unnatural angle (this can happen even while on a leash). He now heels or follows me down the stairs to prevent this issue.

I think you'll know if your pup can handle the stairs or not. I personally think it's better to wait a couple or few weeks until puppy's coordination level is better. If you try to go too soon, it can make the stairs a more traumatic event than it would be if you just waited a week or so.

Just my opinion, but with dogs it's almost always better not to rush anything if you can help it. You know your pup best, and if you think he can do it, give it a shot.

Hi Angelique, you bet I will, he's such a good dog so far! Feeding him THK right now, after a few days I've got some RAW to try! No kibble for this guy!

Hi Amber, thanks for the reply. I think I'll wait on the decending those steps for awhile. I can practice on a small flight for now.

Thanks, Eddie

Ed, maybe I missed it but where did you get him?

Hi Judy, I got him from http://www.barenberg-shepherds.com/
She has one female left from this litter and another litter due soon. He may end up looking much like your GSD as he seem's to have long or plush hair. Looks like a little bear cub!

Congrats on the new pup, Ed! My Tessa is now 15 weeks and I did carry her up and down the stairs at first because she was clumsy and I didn't want to risk it but now, she thinks she wants to take a flying leap from the top step of the deck... keeping her on a leash to prevent injuries. She went up the steps easily on her own from 8 weeks but it wasn't until she was about 12 weeks that she mastered down... She was getting to heavy to carry.

Enjoy you new one!

 Quote: Edward Egan

Hi Judy, I got him from http://www.barenberg-shepherds.com/
She has one female left from this litter and another litter due soon. He may end up looking much like your GSD as he seem's to have long or plush hair. Looks like a little bear cub!

Ed, here's a pic of Gunnar for you to compare the two. He was about 9 or 10 weeks here:

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r288/JCAT7/IMG_0567.jpg

It's hard to see the longhaired coat when he was younger but if you look on my photobucket account, you'll see he's clearly a longcoated GSD.

Hi Judy, yep looks pretty simular. I just uploaded a few new pic's. He was kicking back in the yard and being quite the ham bone! He,He.

Opps, I better down size that!