Dachsies and stairs, Oh my!

[REV]

Hi, Me again... full of questions and anticipation over our future dachsie.http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/pink.gif How concerned should I be about our household stairs? http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/afraid.gif I read that it's not good to let dachshunds go up and down stairs on a regular basis due to the risk of back injury.http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/frown.gif Unfortunately, we have several sets of stairs inside and outside our house.

We plan to get baby gates limiting the puppy's access to certain areas in the beginning. Should we plan on always carrying her up and down our stairs? We were thinking we could build some type of ramp from the deck to the back yard. Also, I was wondering about different size dachsies (standard vs. mini) and whether or not one might be more suitable over the other in our case. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/confused.gif

[Mark]

My understanding is that full flights of stairs can be very hard on their backs. I don't think the stairs alone can "cause" back problems, however, will enhance the chances of back failure if that particular Dachsie has an existing or potential problem.

We do not allow our Dachsie's (or the Catahoula) to traverse the stairs either up or down with the exception of the one step from the deck to the ground. They are simply not allowed upstairs or in the basement and it's been so long now . . . they don't even try. The thing that makes that easy for us is that the Master BR, etc. is all on the ground floor.

Anywhere there are more than several steps can be equipped with ramps, as some members here have done.

I don't know if that helps, but that's my take on the stairs question.

Mark

[OwnedByChaucer]

Heh, stairs. Now there's a discussion.

I live in a townhouse, so there are stairs. It can cause back troubles, but on the other hand, I've known many an old dachsie that ran up and down stairs.

I've been told that down is a bigger risk than up. I try to discourage down--and my male WON'T even attempt down, though he does go up. But, considering he's a 20 lb. dog, and these are not very steep stairs/high rise type stairs, he does go up. He doesn't really have to jump to do it though, the way a small mini would--it doesn't really look like his stride is much different than when he runs around.

My little female is STUBBORN, however, and she thinks stairs, both up and down are a game, we have gates, and we close doors, but she still gets her fair share of stairs (her favourite game is to chase her brother UP the basement stairs where gating is just not practical, and then run down, and leave him stranded at the top until a human comes to get him--wicked little creature that she is. *laughs*)--and can not be persuaded otherwise.

Not that we don't try and stop her, but she's WICKED fast and WICKED stubborn, so we don't always succeed--consider that this dog can get both up and down stairs faster than I can....especially up. down I often catch her and pick her up, but up, not a chance.

Both our doxies "play hard" though, so both are pretty fit and well muscled, which works to their advantage. We don't want to restrict them from doing everything either as we like to let them "be dogs" and have a fun life. (we live like that too, so it's not much of a stretch). Some people are more in the "restrict everything" camp, but I try to just keep it to a minimum (i.e. the couch and bed are a lot bigger leap than the winky little stairs, so I get more worried about that...)

[Shelbie]

Yep, we live in a town house too (one flight of stairs to the living room and one to the bedroom). Shelbie is allowed to scamper up the stairs but under no circumstances down. In fact, I was horrified when horrible neighbour, see previous post, encouraged her to come down them when husband had accidentally let her in to see our kitchen. I always carry her down (like a rugby ball tucked under arm and other arm supporting back legs). If your living room is up a flight of stairs you'll find it really useful when people call as you don't have to "field" a dachshund-shaped "bullet" speeding out of your front door!! The lady I got Shelbie from asked about the house before we got her and she was quite happy about the stairs....good luck!

[dox_no3]

I would think that jumping down from furniture would be the worse of the two, chairs and stairs but I think you could decide beforehand if you wanted to restrict jumping/going down from both and figure out how you were going to "enforce" it.

We seemed to have missed our chance to train Bugsy not to go down stairs but he hasn't had any problems.

I've recently noticed that when we come back from a walk he is so excited after we dry his feet in the basement that he sometimes goes up the stairs TWO-at-a-time! I was shocked the first time I saw him do it. Couldn't believe his little mini body could reach that far. He doesn't do it all the way up but for a couple of the 'leaps'.

You could check with a vet/good breeder about recommended regimes for prevention care. E.g. We give Ester C daily for back care and so far no problems. (1.5 yrs. old)

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Julie & Bugsy
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[LisaH]

Our mini dachsie, Annie, is also allowed to go up stairs but not down. I'm relieved to hear that "down" is supposed to be the worse of the two--makes me feel better. When we got Annie, I figured I wouldn't teach her either up or down, knowing that stairs could be a problem. She eventually went up the carpeted stairs to the 2nd floor herself, but won't go down any stairs unless there are only a couple.

I too use the rugby-ball carry when going down the stairs! When we first got Annie, our neighbors solicitously inquired whether she had a problem with her hips, since they always see me carrying her up and down the stairs to our back yard. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm35.gif" border=0>

[Oscar's Mom]

Oscar is a tweenie, 15 lbs. We have a full flight of stairs in and out of our house, we always carry him. Its really not a big deal to carry him.