I didn't realize this was going to post as one huge paragraph. Sorry! i don't expect anyone to wade through this... please feel free to just ignore this rant i posted. I wasn't sure where to post this... hope this is ok. Hello all, I used to lurk here a few years ago and I have always respected and appreciated the great advice provided here. I’m not new to owning a dog by any means, but this is the first time I’ve owned a puppy… we’ve always adopted adults. There’s so much potential in this little guy and I’m feeling the pressure not to mess it up in these key developmental stages! He’s a male black Lab/Samoyed mix, about 9 weeks old, a little over 20lbs (big boy!). We got him from a shelter, but he had been with his mother up until 7 weeks (I know this is a bit too early to leave his mother) Please bear with my long questions: 1.Feeding - he’s currently on Purina Healthy Puppy, as that is what he was on at the shelter. The directions call for ½ - 1 cup a day for his age and weight. We feed him 4 times a day, a little under ¼ cup each time, one of those is in a puppy kong, frozen. He doesn’t seem hungry in between feedings but he will take down the whole server really really fast – does this seem like enough food? I feed my other dog Canidae all life stages, which is what he’ll eventually be eating. They say it’s complete for puppies and adults alike, do ya’ll think I can transition him into this within the next month or two or should I keep him on specifically puppy food for a bit (either way, I want transition him off the Purina). 2. Stairs – he LOVES climbing up and down our stairs (our staircase has about 10). He does well on them, but I’ve read in a few places that this puts too much pressure on their joints at such a young age and can cause problems down the road. Has anyone heard that? I keep him in my sight constantly as he’s obviously still housetraining, so I’m constantly chasing him up the stairs, I’m just wondering if I should lead him down the stairs or if I should pick him up each time and carry him down. We put a baby gate up in front of the stairs sometimes, but other times we use the gate to keep the two dogs separate, which is when he heads for them. 3. We have a boston terrier/pit mix that’s she’s 6 and a stocky 35 lbs. She gets REALLY excited sometimes with the puppy and wants to play rough, running in huge circles and barreling towards him, he can’t really keep up, and we limit how much they play because I don’t want him to get hurt. They also wrestle quite a bit, and when he’s jumping around her, she’ll do quite a bit of posturing – standing up tall, ears back, shoving her butt into him – it’s not aggressive, but it definitely seems like she’s trying to establish that she’s boss. This posturing is expected and ok, right? Should I be letting them play like this at his age? If it seems like he’s had enough or if she’s getting to excited, we’ll separate them. 4. Housetraining. Both me and my s.o. work full 8 hour days. I have a neighbor that will come and let him out at least once or twice a day, or I will come home on my lunch break to let him out. I know that they say dogs can generally hold it for an hour for each month of age so obviously I’m not expecting him to hold it all day or even half of a day. We keep him in a crate (it’s big enough for him when he’s full grown), next to our other dogs crate. At night or if we’re gone for only and hour or so, I put up the divider so it’s just big enough for him to lay down, turn around, etc…, but during the day, because I don’t want him to be forced to pee where he sleeps, I remove the divider and put puppy pads on one side and his toys and bedding on the other. He’s only once gone in his kennel during a half day home, so far he has been holding it and going right away when we bring him outside. Is this method setting him up for failure? Do you think he can really hold it that long or is he being forced because he’s seeing the whole kennel as his sleeping area? He sleeps through the night without needing to go out and housetraining at all other times has been successful thus far. Sigh.. .sorry for this very long post, I’d love to hear your input. Thanks!