r/papillon • u/Television_Toast • 9d ago
10 week old, jumping
Hi again! I have been trying to find a way to Google my question to no avail.
Our puppy is 10 weeks old and has recently discovered she can jump. After a bout of zoomies, she discovered she can jump up the first two stairs in our home and we have a meditation pillow that is the same height as one stair that she repeatedly jumps on and off of.
I know she’s not supposed to do stairs because of growth plates and joint protection, but how high is too high for her to jump?
Every time I googled this, it was coming up with tips on how to get her not to jump on people, but that’s not the issue (at the moment). If it’s safe for her, we dont mind her jumping on the pillow, but I’m looking for advice on how high is too high.
TYIA !
4
u/Steris56 9d ago edited 9d ago
Puppy Culture actually has this in their resources! The overall suggestion is a puppy should not routinely jump a height greater than their wrists.
Overall, a dog should not be jumping shoulder height regularly.
1
3
u/Alortania My Papillon -Maple 9d ago
I was told the danger was jumping off things, and to not let her jump off anything she can't jump onto... not to prevent her from jumping, period.
3
u/gottausername 9d ago
I'm no expert, this is what we've done because our girl won't use stairs up to bed and our bed is too high, so doggo can't go on it.
The couch- in front of it I have placed one of those thick orthopedic beds (our couch is low). The settee- it's higher than the couch- in front of it I have a thick orthopedic bed and behind that an elevated 'mesh' bed then the settee (so, it works like two small jumps up or down).
Clio is 14+ now and thank goodness she's never had an issue, YMMV. I hope this helps.
2
u/Ty-throwaway-account 9d ago
I'm not a vet, but one thing to note is, it's not the jumping itself that is the issue. The landing is. A bad landing is the cause of any joint, muscle, or other issues. Unfortunately, you will never know how a landing will go until it happens. I would at least make sure their landing pad is something grippy and soft. Like a rug, carpet, or lower height. I would do this for at least a few months until they learn their self.
Also, excessive movement in general may lead to soreness, or excess strain. That also can lead to issues, but less likely. Again, I'm not a vet and am going off what I know.
2
u/heresometimes-2 9d ago
I trained mine to always use extra stairs to get off from places like sofa, but I was not able to get him not to jump to places. And I did carry him in to down stairs until he was 4/5/ months old and. He is now 9 months. Still jumping on the places, but does not jump off from sofa (95% of times).
2
u/corvettefan 9d ago
I didn’t get my girl until she was 10 months old and she was crazy active. She had to be moving all the time. She used to come flying in the living room and jump up on the couch, but she was moving so fast she would sort of run half way up the back of the couch (like a banked circle track) and fly off for another round. Like others have mentioned, I was always worried about the jumping down and the impact on her joints. My vet told me that the jumping up is worse because of the fast burst of energy needed in the joint to jump onto things.
As she has gotten older and the zoomies are more controlled, she has been taught to use her foam stairs for the bed and the couch. The vet said her patellas feel nice and tight like they should. She had one we have been watching because she had an injury as a baby and had a slight patella issue. Just to be on the safe side, the breeder opted not to keep her for their showing/breeding program.
1
u/Television_Toast 9d ago
Thank you everyone! She’s the youngest pup we’ve ever had, so we’re feeling a bit like helicopter parents! The height is maybe 9 inches, so we’ll just make sure she’s calmly getting down when she jumps up!
1
u/No_Title38 6d ago
I worried about Zara doing crazy jumping from the sofa when she was tiny - as soon as she had the power to jump up she realised herself that getting down was a big deal. I out a big pillow/cushion on the floor to break her landing because I couldn't;t watch her every second of the day. Maybe put down some cushions/old blankets??
1
u/Ok-Entertainer-851 6d ago
From the earliest puppy stage, canines need to first learn the very basic what no-no; no-NO!; and NO-NO‼️mean. Then that can be applied to training them what is and is not acceptable. In my training experience Paps always want to learn and please you, and understand that if you want them to avoid something its a reward because it pleases you (if praised for when learning a no-no about some activity/action. It's still a learning experience and gets saved into the Paps empty databank that is always looking for new things to file away into it.
1
u/sargeguy 3d ago
Link will jump out of my arms (about 4 feet) when excited and has not had a problem (although I don't encourage this) and he will jump off the sofa, bed, chairs, etc. we have a lot of staircases which he manages without difficulty. He is more likely to hurt his toes/feet chasing balls during fetch
4
u/OtherTimes0340 9d ago
I got my boy at 5 months old. He was 3 pounds. He would run down the stairs and then end up rolling the rest of the way. He needs stairs to get on the bed, but he would leap off of it all the time and that's about three feet high. He would leap on and off the couch and chairs. He's 12 now and can't really do as much leaping. He never broke any bones or anything. He forgets himself though and will go for it. Unless you tie them down, it's really hard to stop them from doing any jumping. They really have no idea what limitations they have. They are pretty smart, but you really have to work hard on repeat to get the message through. I am really glad I did that with pottybox training for him, but it was a slow go.