Hello all,
We are very very proud parents of Pinot (featured at 3 weeks old in the Rogues Photo Gallery 18) who is now 10 weeks old.
We have had him for 2 weeks and his increasing intelligence surprises us all the time (our previous cocker was a little slower at learning). He sits, retrieves, swims and knows how to let us know when he needs to use his 'garden potty'. He wees, at most, twice in the night on puppy training mats we leave out and knows how to softly alert us for his morning (5ish) poo.
He will not venture anywhere in the house unless we have 'taken' him there before ie: hand lead him into a room or up a step.
Our garden is a couple of steps down from our kitchen diner. We've put a level of bricks to help him in and out of the house. When he first conquered the steps he was so thrilled and had to show off by running in and out of the house followed by tons of tail wagging. He did this within the first three days of coming home.
I know that puppies shouldn't be allowed to climb too many steps and take long walks until they are at least 5 months old to avoid damaging their growing hip bones later on in life.
My question is, based on your experiences, when should a cocker pup be allowed to climb a flight of stairs at home without damaging their bones ?
Thanks for your replies. I will post more pictures of Pinot soon.
Caroline, Justin & Pinot
