My puppy Suki ate our stairs! We replaced it with a ramp which seems to be easier for all of them!

We have an 8 year old long haired and he uses a ramp to get into our bed. He sometimes hates it, but that’s because he’s a lazy diva who thinks he should be carried everywhere! I would go ramp over stairs but depends on what your wiener would actually USE, which is the key. Best of luck!

My guy prefers ramps most definitely. He wouldn’t use the doggie stairs

If doggo doesn’t know how to do stairs, don’t teach them! Gate off the top/bottom and carry them up/down❤️

The experience of our Rescue organization, which spans literally thousands of Dachshunds, indicates that ramps are a bad idea. By providing a ramp, you are inviting the dog into the furniture.

Start with and stick with this rule: No jumping onto or off of furniture. Lift them onto your lap and then put them back down on the floor. Most back injuries happen because this rule is not enforced. Their backs cannot handle the additional stresses that furniture jumping imposes. Sometimes Dachshunds injure themselves and have to be put down. We made them this way because we wanted them to hunt badgers in burrows. They are now prone to painful back and neck injuries, so we must protect them!! No Dachshunds on the furniture!!

Not a popular position, but this is what the facts dictate.

Good luck, LOL. I have a normal sized little pair of steps and they still fall off the side of it.

One thing, is you never know how big your pup will become. My boys mom and dad are 14lbs and 17lb mini longhairs….my boy weighs a solid and healthy 32lbs (he’s a tank), not sure how that happened, but what that being said. I prefer the wider ramp for him. Alpha Paw does make a “light” ramp perfect for couches that is 14” wide as opposed to 16”. I wouldn’t go much narrower than that, I think 12” would be pushing it, their funny shape bodies aren’t the best for balance on an incline. ��

Yep, both beds have a foam ramp up to them, and there's a floor cushion that acts as a step up for him onto the sofa.

Making him use them is the difficult bit... He loves a flying leap.

We have ramp for the bed and three different staircases for the living room. You can never be too careful in helping their little spines stay healthy.

Sure do! They’re EVERYWHERE! My favorite is the Snoozer scalloped dog stairs. The foam is thick enough to easily handle my 70 lb dog without too much squish, and my dachshund mix LOVES using it. We tried wooden ramps and those plastic stairs and hated both. These have washable covers too which is great in spring when it’s all rainy.

Edit: I know the title of the ramp I prefer has “stairs” in it, but they’re really just rolling bumps along a nice thick foam ramp.

I added some no slip tape in the middle for grip and made a HUGE difference. I have some older long dogs and helps with grip as that carpet will become slick after lots of use. I ordered 8 inch wide thick tape and it’s perfect

Yup. It’s a life (and back) saver

"...probably won’t be needed for quite some time..."

That little bugger is gonna attempt the stairs on day 1.

You're gonna want to get ramps now if you're ever going to want your doxie to use them. Start them young and give a little treat and praise when they use it to build the habit in their mind. I have a house of ramps and if there is more than 1 or 2 steps, I put a ramp in that location. Most of the ones for sale are cheap and not very sturdy. I'd suggest, if you have basic skills, to make the ramps yourself. This is what my couch ramp looks like. And This is the back porch ramp.

Stairs are actually very high impact on doxies if they're going down... going up isnt as much of an issue. We have ramps on any stairs that our weens use.

Highly recommend ramps or baby gates. Dackies and stairs are a big no-no.

Anecdotally: I lived in a two storey house once. We blocked the stairs with baby gates at the top and bottom, but there was still a reasonably high single step between two areas downstairs. I made a little wedge ramp literally out of styrofoam and tape 😂 The resident sausages learned very quickly to use it, as dodgy as it was!

Edit: wording.

I have a ramp that went down the porch stairs at my house! It was just a piece of plywood covered in fake grass for traction, maybe consider something like that for your stairs? I never had issues with it blocking traffic, it sat to one side and was removable if necessary.

Stairs are just as dangerous for a Doxie as a bed or couch. But a ramp is unnecessary if you just teach your dog not to go up and down stairs. It's super easy to not encourage a small dog to go up and down stairs, and tell him to wait whenever you encounter one during a walk and carry him down or up. Easiest thing to learn, and I would encourage it for every Doxie owner.

Carry them up and down the stairs

There was a good discussion about pet dogs for people who are wheelchair users a few months ago. I’ll see if I can find that link for you.

Meanwhile, I definitely would not get a dachshund because of the health issues regarding their backs. It’s easy to find information about this, but with a small dog, you are going to need to be picking it up fairly often and unfortunately, that can be dangerous for the dachshund.

But there are lots of small breeds which are sturdier and work well as pets for wheelchair users. As well as mixed breeds.

You will need to be willing to invest some time in training over the lifetime of the dog, but many people who are wheelchair users have pet dogs and most dogs learn to adapt well.

Has your partner had a dog before? And are they able-bodied?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, I would not recommend getting a puppy as the house training process is probably the hardest thing for wheelchair users.

Going to your local rescue organization and finding a nice friendly dog who is already Housetrained lets you skip that part of the process, and if it’s a good rescue, they can help match you with a dog that would be right for your situation.

I’ve always had dogs, sometimes several, both before and after I became a full-time wheelchair user, and I would find it hard to imagine my life without one. 🐶

I have a dachshund *cross*.

For all the reasons JD already listed, I wouldn’t recommend a full dachshund (they’re also prone to cancer).
I had my girl vet checked before we started training her.

I‘m still careful of how I lift her, and her hips are checked every year. We’ve been lucky.

She’s 11yo now. She has a permanent limp from a dog attack, but is happy. You can see me working with her [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/wheelchairs/comments/1kdwl7y/dog\_walking\_vid/)

I've got a 12lb chihuahua (rescue mutt, but definitely mostly chihuahua lol), and he's so skittish about wheelchairs and other mobility aids. we've spent a lot of time training him around them, and he's good about them until they start moving, and then it's like the vacuum is out- he's on a surface, ears pricked back, whining and uncomfortable. In your shoes, id go to the shelter with my mobility aids and look for an adult dog who is not fearful of you for the easiest experience

Found the thread on good pet dog breeds for full-time wheelchair users. 😎

u/JDolittle had some great posts in that thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wheelchairs/comments/1faksct/what_dog_breeds_are_decent_for_wheelchair_users/

hey there! we just had a dog come into our lives recently, and it has been a pretty seamless adjustment for me. in our case, doggo is an approximately 50 pound poodle mix; she came with our foster kiddo, and fortunately they did a great job of basic training.

as for interacting with the dog from my wheelchair: i have the dog sit before i do anything with her, then i clip on her leash. she’s gotten pretty good at recognizing what’s different about me walking her from everyone else; she’s never really tried to pull or bolt. it took all of about 30 minutes to train her to make sure the ball is either on my level or in my hand if she wants me to throw it.

i’m a bit concerned about a dachshund as a potential choice for several reasons, but mostly the one you mentioned. even with the agility and sensory perception benefits of “being a cat,” i’ve still pinched one of our cats’ tails at least twice so far. dachshunds are both low to the ground and have long floppy ears and tails; i don’t want to imagine how terrible that combination could be if someone decides to take a nap in an unexpected place 🫣

If your doxie is a healthy weight, strong, gets exercise, stairs and some jumping won’t be a problem. Our little one is 10lbs and she is very good at getting where she wants to safely.

Stairs would never stop me from owning a Dachsie. My home has stairs, but I have a militant attitude where stairs and my dogs are concerned. I have baby gates at the top and bottom and carry the wee ones up and down whenever needed. I also have Rottweilers, and have for decades. As puppy's, the Rotties are also carried by me up and down until their weight is beyond my ability to do so, and from then on I hold their collar and walk them up and down in a controlled manner for the rest of their days. None of them have ever had free rein to stairs. If you're not willing or able to keep a Dachsie from using stairs on their own though, I wouldn't recommend getting one.

I think you should select a breed of dog that is more suited to your home.

Three floors means at least two staircases. Falls down stairs are a major cause of injuries to Dachshunds. Their backs cannot handle the additional stresses that such falls impose. Sometimes Dachshunds injure themselves and have to be put down. We made them this way because we wanted them to hunt badgers in burrows. They are now prone to painful back and neck injuries, so we must protect them!!

A longer-legged breed would have little problem negotiating your stairs, but they would be a danger to a Dachshund.

I advocate for the Dachshunds, and hope you will take my advice and not put a Dachshund at risk.

Stairs are a no-go for doxies unless you will build a ramp that's not too steep for the dog or pick the dog up every time you go upstairs or downstairs.

They really shouldn’t be doing stairs because of the risks to their backs. We have a finished basement, and a second story, and it’s no big deal to carry our dachshund up and down. She has never tried to figure out how to use them, which is good! Ours weighs 12 lbs. It might be better for you to get a mini, but otherwise, I don’t think the stairs should dissuade you from a dachshund.

One thing I’d recommend is thoroughly researching the breed. They do have many quirks and traits that not everyone may love (stubbornness to the nth degree!). And their back issues definitely require vigilance. We have already had 2 IVDD scares with our girl, who isn’t even 3. Jumping on and off furniture is the biggest culprit. If you’re up for the challenges though, you’ll be rewarded in an abundance of love and laughter!

I have a similar style and I think these are a good hybrid especially for pups just learning ramps. Because they have texture and something for the dog to use to get up with. It’s also soft and shock absorbing going up and down. I like these better than stairs and can work in places where a ramp would not because it would be too steep. But that’s just my experience, I know a lot of people only use flat style ramps. But at least we’re all 100% team no jumping! Haha

I think these are fine they are kind of a cross between a ramp and stairs. I have these and ramps and mine runs up and down the same on both.

We have these exact ones and they’re great! As long as they actually use them! ;)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089GTSHVB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share[Steps ]

They look soft and more forgiving than stairs

We have these, and honestly my doxie gets up and down this better than he did the ramp we had previously.