even though it's been a long held belief ........ I strongly disagree with not letting a puppy climb stairs , science /physics contradicts any basis for the belief ...........climbing stairs is a great low impact exercise for puppies ....... down stairs is a different story , it's dangerous , it needs controlled , walk them on a leash so they don't run or fall down the stairs . as long as it's controlled stairs are great for coordination and muscle control , and low in impact ....there are way worse things than stairs folks do with their pups , fetch , hard running ,cutting ,chasing , flit poles .... the worst thing you can do for your pups hips is not exercise them properly ....... I believe it is undisputable that the better a pup is stuck together the better their hips turn out and the better a dog is stuck together the better they fare if they are dysplastic ..... it's better to exercise them when they are light in weight and keep their strength up with their weight gain ......... every ddb in the United States was dysplastic at one time , and i'm sure Europe too ........ the only one I ever had problem with was my first one , after that experience I learned how to raise them , as much low impact exercise as they could handle from birth , more than most anyone would recommend , it's worked on quite a few dogs for me ........