The only place I currently have a baby gate is at the top of the stairs from the deck to the backyard. Huey has never gone down these stairs nor has he ever tried since we put that gate up before we ever brought him home. Those stairs are very steep and regular deck stairs-open front and back. I woukd definitely use a baby gate at the top of the indoor hardwood stairs if Huey was on any activity restrictions or injured, because he runs down those so quickly (which scares me to death) cause half the time he is in such a hurry to see whatever he is going for outside the front door that he falls down the last couple of steps or jumps too far over the last 2 or 3 and hits the front door...dingbat...
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When we first got him, we had one of those metal folding pens that that open up into a fence-like wall that we used to block off certain areas of the house as needed, like when he decided the leg of the dining room table made a good potty...we blocked off that room until he was retrained. Open floor plan-baby gates don't work so well.