Keira25
Member
I had posted previously that we lost our Keira back in October. We are planning on getting another Newfie, but don't want to bring one home until the summer, when I am off. My husband is retiring in December, so there could be a few months where we'll have to figure something out. (He has generously offered to retire early!) This is of course assuming we can get a puppy.
I spend my time reading about Newfie puppies, and even though it was only 10 years ago that Keira was a puppy, I can't remember a frickin' thing! I keep on reading about not letting the puppy climb stairs until they are mostly done growing. I don't remember that from when she was a puppy. We live in a ranch, but the dog obviously has to go outside. Do people just use a ramp, or is this not a big deal for 3 or 4 steps? I get not over-exercising them, but I remember taking her to puppy class and they had "free play" where play got rough. I assume this is also not advised. The reason I am obsessing about this is because Keira had pretty bad osteoarthritis in her low back and pelvic area. Her hips were perfect, her weight was good, and she was fed really high quality food and supplements. I remember at an early age, maybe a year or 2, mentioning to the vet that she seemed to get up too slowly, and the vet said basically she was a big dog, of course she will get up slowly. It was only when she had an acute episode at age 7 that x-rays were taken and the arthritis was discovered. If this is something I can control in any way, I want to do it. So my extremely long-winded question is, what do people advise for stairs and exercise, and what can I safely do to expend a puppy's energy?
I spend my time reading about Newfie puppies, and even though it was only 10 years ago that Keira was a puppy, I can't remember a frickin' thing! I keep on reading about not letting the puppy climb stairs until they are mostly done growing. I don't remember that from when she was a puppy. We live in a ranch, but the dog obviously has to go outside. Do people just use a ramp, or is this not a big deal for 3 or 4 steps? I get not over-exercising them, but I remember taking her to puppy class and they had "free play" where play got rough. I assume this is also not advised. The reason I am obsessing about this is because Keira had pretty bad osteoarthritis in her low back and pelvic area. Her hips were perfect, her weight was good, and she was fed really high quality food and supplements. I remember at an early age, maybe a year or 2, mentioning to the vet that she seemed to get up too slowly, and the vet said basically she was a big dog, of course she will get up slowly. It was only when she had an acute episode at age 7 that x-rays were taken and the arthritis was discovered. If this is something I can control in any way, I want to do it. So my extremely long-winded question is, what do people advise for stairs and exercise, and what can I safely do to expend a puppy's energy?