Topic puppies and stairs
Do I have to carry puppies up and down the stairs?
Dr. Helga Eichelberg asks Professor Dr. Martin Fischer
Myth or truth? – Questions for experts
GKF Bonn, Info 36 from December 2012
I was recently asked how long I would be carrying my children up and down the stairs. I replied that I would do this until the ossification of the growth plates, i.e. slightly differently for girls and boys until the age of 16-19, when the skeleton has finally matured. Above all, the late maturation of the thigh does not allow any compromises here!
Of course, I also carried all my puppies up and down the stairs for the first year. Admittedly, I have had severe back pain for years, but what don’t people do for their loved ones? I’ve also read in about 1083 blogs that dogs’ muscles mature late, although I can’t imagine what “muscle maturation” means, but those who have written about it on the internet certainly can.
Richards and co-authors published an interesting article in 2010, which once again shows how dangerous it is to draw conclusions from oneself (humans) to others (in this case dogs). While in humans the main range of motion when climbing stairs occurs in the knee and hip joints, dogs solve this problem by increasing movement (especially dorsiflexion) in the hock joint. Gone are all the considerations about protecting the hip joint of dogs when carrying them up and down stairs. But hand on heart, do you know many dogs that later develop problems in the hock joint as a result of their stair-climbing youth or did this not have to be explained?
A note on growth: the time at which growth ends varies greatly even among littermates. Already 50 years ago, Weise showed that the first littermate was fully grown after 166 days, but the last one only after 220 days. However, the dog with the longest growth phase was not the largest animal; this was already fully grown at 177 days. The duration of growth is therefore not the decisive factor for the size of a dog.
A note on muscle maturation: In newborn puppies, 90-95 percent of the muscle fibers are still undifferentiated. The few fibers that are already differentiated are very large red fibers that disappear again after four to five weeks. By the fourth week, a gradual differentiation of the fibers can be seen and the usual red and white fibers appear. By the twelfth week, the distribution pattern of the adult dog is present. The development time of the muscle fibers is almost the same in the different muscles. It is not true that puppies have many white fibers and adult dogs have many red fibers and that muscle maturation takes up to a year.
A comment on the impact load: when galloping, cornering, jumping and in a variety of other load situations, forces occur that can be several times the body weight. Prieur (1980) measured a load on the hip joint of a 30 kg dog at a moderate speed of 7 km/h that was six times the body weight. At the same time, only 55 percent of the joint surface at the femoral head is utilized at four times the body weight (Lieser 2003). The dog’s body and its joints are designed to absorb even unusual force peaks.
If I question the opinions here about young dogs climbing stairs, then it is of course clear that there can be no other dangerous situation for the dog. A smooth, open staircase on which a dog – even if it is older – can fall is to be avoided like any traumatic situation.
In the foreword to our book “Dogs on the move” we wrote: “When knowledge is insufficient, opinions are formed.” Unfortunately, there is not a single study that has investigated the influence of stair climbing or stair carrying on the later development of the dog’s musculoskeletal system, so we cannot counter the many opinions with any reliable knowledge, but conversely, the opinions are also not based on any tenable findings. So everyone can decide for themselves how they feel about carrying their dog up and down stairs, but they are not allowed to lecture others – and there is also the “caring siege” (Heinrich Böll). In other words, caring is fine, but it can also be exaggerated!
Publication of the text with the kind permission of the Gesellschaft zur Förderung Kynologischer Forschung e. V. (gkf)
References
M.S. FISCHER & LILJE, K. (2011): Dogs in motion. Published by VDH and Kosmos.
LIESER B. (2003): Morphological and biomechanical properties of the hip joint (articulatio coxae) of the dog (Canis familiaris). Diss.med.vet. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.
PRIEUR W. D. (1980): Coxarthrosis in the dog part I: Normal and abnormal biomechanics of the hip joint. Vet. Surg. 9, 145-149.
J. RICHARDS, P. HOLLER, B. BOCKSTAHLER, B. DALE, M. MUELLER, J. BURSTON, J. SELFE and D. LEVINE (2010): A comparison of human and canine kinematics during level walking, stair ascent, and stair descent. Vienna. Journal of Veterinary Medicine Austria 97 (2010), 92 – 100.
Of course a puppy can go up and down stairs! It is important that he gets to know them, does not develop any fears and understands early on how to go up and down them. He must learn how to deal with heights and how to look down.
Of course, slippery and open stairs can be dangerous, even for older dogs!
The right amount of exercise is also important when climbing stairs. It is certainly not a good idea to let a twelve-week-old puppy run up to the fourth floor ten times a day. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with a few steps from the patio to the garden or outside the front door. As with everything, don’t overdo it.
However, it would also not be good to keep a puppy still all the time. The puppy’s joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments can only grow healthily with sufficient, well-dosed exercise.
Of course, puppies and young dogs should not go for an hour’s walk, run on a bike or chase after a ball, as this would overtax their growing bodies.
So, there is nothing wrong with normal stair climbing!
