Puppy and stairs! How do I get him to understand he isn't allowed upstairs?

Akribos
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Hi everyone,

My partner and I adopted a little Jack Russell cross Brittany Spaniel two days ago. He was born on 19th June (making him about 10 weeks old) and was living with his mum, a sister (from a litter of five), another dog, and a cat before we took him home.

On our side, this isn't our first dog. We lost our previous one nearly a year ago (a Pyrenean Sheepdog who lived to 15) and we have a small deaf cat who is about 3 or 4 years old (we rescued him as an adult).

We are using positive reinforcement, or at least we're trying our best, as we know he's a very high-energy breed. During the day, everything is going well; he is very bright, learns quickly, and things are going quite smoothly with our cat.

Commands like "sit", "no", and "bed" are currently being learned, as is walking on a lead. We are waiting for him to be fully jabbed before taking him out for proper walks, so for now, he has stayed in the house and garden.

Anyway, sorry for the long introduction (I'm new to the site!), but I wanted to get to the first problem we've encountered: the night-time.

We live in a house with an upstairs and we want to make that floor out of bounds (not to mention the fact that it's not recommended for puppies to go up and down stairs). The problem is, the little lad panics, howls, and cries as soon as we go up to bed. Again, nothing unusual for the first few days, except that he tries to follow us up.

We have a flimsy stair gate that worked for our old dog, but he just makes short work of it and manages to get upstairs anyway. And that's the point where we aren't sure how to react.

We've tried saying "No!" from the landing or once he's reached the top. We take him back down, either by carrying him or by the scruff, to lead him back to his bed. But nothing works. He howls, screams, and cries, to the point of having diarrhoea, and then he dashes back up again wagging his tail (whether from joy or stress).

The goal is to avoid him continuing this or associating it with a game at all costs. We don't know if we're going about it the right way. Originally, we planned to ignore his crying for a few days to start building his independence, but we didn't imagine our gate would be so useless. Even though he'll rarely be home alone for more than a few hours (my partner has a very light work schedule), we don't want him to become hyper-attached and suffer every time we go out.

Last night, I finally gave in and slept on the sofa, ignoring him completely, and that calmed him down. But it's not a long-term solution.

I'd really like some advice:

What are we doing wrong?

Is it too soon for him to sleep away from us?

Is it normal for him to be this attached to us after only 2 days?

What should we do when he comes upstairs when we've forbidden it?

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Adrien

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    • ?
    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    No, it’s not a bad thing to submit to a hierarchy, regardless of the puppy’s age. It shows they’re picking up on dog social cues, that they understand the power dynamics and the energy of the situation. If they choose to be submissive, depending on the circumstances and their temperament, it just means they’ve made a choice that feels right for them. It also helps them learn how to adapt within a pack.

    You’ll just need to make sure that the others—more dominant dogs, for example—leave them be as soon as the puppy submits...

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    Akribos
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    First of all, thanks for your replies! Changing the date isn't an option as we're travelling for a fairly important appointment, so we'll be staying there for the weekend. I realise now that I might have been a bit harsh in how I described those dogs. They aren't monsters; it's more that their training is pretty much non-existent—they haven't mastered walking on the lead, they jump all over the sofas, they play constantly, and so on. They’re not exactly the best role models for our little one. One of them is a fairly dominant male who still has a lot of accidents in the house. It's definitely possible for us to do the introductions elsewhere, in a field near the house, but are you suggesting that we shouldn't go into the house at all? Ultimately, there will be four adults for three small dogs, so I think we’ll be able to keep things under control if there’s any trouble. The dominant male (a Lhasa Apso) isn't particularly big, and the other is a small terrier-type cross. Our puppy seems quite submissive by nature—at least he was with his littermates. You mentioned the puppy being 'put in his place'; I agree that’s likely to happen, but is it really a bad thing for a puppy to be introduced to a hierarchy so soon? Thanks again!
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    Emla
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    I agree with Ulthia.
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    ?
    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    In any case, if the meeting does go ahead, don't let your puppy handle the situation. You’re the one who needs to take the lead—not the other dogs, just you and you alone. I reckon that’s the only rule for making sure it goes well, although given what you’ve described, I’d still wait a bit 😉

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    ?
    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    Well, if the other dogs aren’t exactly social, I’d say—though it's just my opinion—to wait a little while. Your puppy is right in the middle of their socialisation period, and a bad experience or one that isn't managed properly could really affect your little one. This is unless you're confident enough to act as a proper pack leader, positioning yourself between the other dogs and your pup to make the others show some respect. My parents have 'spoilt' dogs (which I don't agree with!), so I waited until my little one was really confident in himself before doing the introductions.
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    Akribos
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    Hi everyone, After a week, the little pup is settling into his new life really well. He’s completely house-trained during the day, with just a few accidents at night, but that’s only to be expected. We’re managing to walk him off-lead in secure areas and on-lead in busy spots to get him socialised. Now comes the time to introduce him to the other family dogs. My in-laws have two dogs, and the whole pack will be spending quite a bit of time together, so we’d like the introduction to go as smoothly as possible. The slight worry is that their dogs aren't exactly 'well-trained'; they pretty much rule the roost at home and aren't necessarily very sociable. Not to mention that the rules at their house are very different from the ones we’re trying to teach our puppy. The meeting is taking place next weekend at their house, and our little guy will be just 3 months old. Does anyone have any advice to make sure he doesn't get traumatised? Thanks in advance!
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    Akribos
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    Hi everyone, and thanks for your replies!

    Last night, we tried going without the stair gate (as it’s useless at the moment) while we wait to buy a wall-mounted one. The little guy came upstairs a few times to cry and whimper outside our closed bedroom door, but it was much less than the night before and nowhere near as loud.

    My partner ended up going downstairs to finish her night on the sofa, though, once we realised the little one was constantly going up and down the stairs.

    Overall, the night went much better than the previous ones. I got up earlier this morning before heading to work to play, go for a short walk, give him his dry food, and let him do his business. Aside from a few excitement wees when we woke up, he’s already pretty much house-trained.

    He is a bit of a shadow, though! I’m trying to teach him not to go up the stairs, just like with the rooms that are off-limits, by doing a few exercises. He understands quite well, except when he loses sight of me—then he comes rushing over. I suppose that’s normal, though; we just need to help him understand he doesn’t have to follow us everywhere like a... little dog :)

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    Tania28
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    Yes, put a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs; personally, I’m quite wary of letting a puppy climb the stairs...

    In our house, spending a few nights downstairs on the sofa really helped to settle my puppy: she didn't make a sound after I went back up to the bedroom, because she knew she wasn't on her own.

    We actually only put the gate up much later, as she didn't try to go upstairs when she was a pup.

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    J
    Jazz17 Icon representing the flag French
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    It sounds to me like this little puppy is having a perfectly normal reaction! As mentioned before, he's only just left his mum and littermates and needs to get used to his new surroundings. In fact, you've instinctively found the solution that calms him down, which is spending the night by his side on the sofa.

    I did the same with my little Bichon girl when she first arrived, sleeping downstairs with her. I just had to reach out my hand so she could feel I was there whenever she woke up panicking in a strange place. She felt reassured and would go straight back to sleep. This only lasted for five nights, and after that, I didn't have any trouble or separation issues when we slept upstairs; she never tried to come up and we didn't even need a stair gate...

    Like Aby, I'm not a fan of using crates or playpens to restrict their living space...

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    Docline
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    To stop my dog going up and down during the day, I use an old child’s cot headboard as a barrier in front of the stairs; it has a rail that makes it really easy to slide in and out of place. The most important thing for having a well-adjusted dog that knows how to behave is to immediately start socialising them with all sorts of other dogs—you just need to avoid areas where there is a lot of dog mess. The vast majority of "problem" dogs are those that weren't socialised at the right time. The windows for these early learning stages are quite short, and if you wait, you can expect a real uphill struggle with your dog...
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