How much exercise for a puppy?

[wolf_Q]

Keva is a little over 4 1/2 months old. Lately I've been taking her (with Nebo too) for 30-45 minute walks. She keeps up just fine and doesn't act extremely tired after (she has plenty of puppy energy to burn!) but I'm wondering if that is too much exercise for a pup her age? She also runs around in the yard with Nebo several times a day.

[Kfamr]

IMO, until they are knocked out sleeping, they haven't had enough excercise. :p

[Husky_mom]

IMO, until they are knocked out sleeping, they haven't had enough excercise. :p

LOL, yeah.....

puppies sure have a LOT of energy........as long as you don´t force them (which I´m sure you don´t) they´ll be fine.......

puppies are ot supposed to get heavy excercise after eating or drinking too much or jumping too much at younger ages cause joint damage and such, and just like humans you just can run with a full stomach it aches......

other than that it she´s happy let her run until she plops......LOL....

don´t worry you are doing just fine......loved the pics in the other thread, I swear she´s bigger by the minute....

[wolf_Q]

Well I think going for a walk would be considered "forced" exercise because they are on a leash. Not that she acts like she's forced or anything, she's the one howling her head off the minute she sees the leash and wanting to drag me down the road. ;) I make sure I don't feed them right before or after exercising (I wait at least 30 minutes, is that long enough?). I don't encourage jumping, but she jumps a lot when playing with Nebo. I just worry about any joint damage (yes, I'm paranoid).

[borzoimom]

Well I think going for a walk would be considered "forced" exercise because they are on a leash. Not that she acts like she's forced or anything, she's the one howling her head off the minute she sees the leash and wanting to drag me down the road. ;) I make sure I don't feed them right before or after exercising (I wait at least 30 minutes, is that long enough?). I don't encourage jumping, but she jumps a lot when playing with Nebo. I just worry about any joint damage (yes, I'm paranoid).
Jumping something she has to clear is one thing- jumping around on her own to work muscles= she would be fine-..
And we want pictures!! Or the Diva Femka will talk about her sulk.. lol..

[wolf_Q]

Jumping something she has to clear is one thing- jumping around on her own to work muscles= she would be fine-..
And we want pictures!! Or the Diva Femka will talk about her sulk.. lol..

Pics posted last night ;) http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=122488

[Husky_mom]

you are not paranoid, just a good mommy......

and by "forced" I meant you dragging them, not that other way around :p in which case THEY are forcing you LOL......

about the food/water intake not sure about times, but 30 min-1hour seem a considerate time span.......just like when youeat and have to wait to get into a pool thing.......

[borzoimom]

Good way to put it- I do a good solid hour..
And Wolf Q- the diva femka is satisified and she loved your pictures!!!

[KittyGurl]

I don't think you should be worried about to long of walks and too much jumping. This is what puppies do. They jump, run and just like to have some fun. They got lots of energy to burn, you know.
Just when your done with the walks, make sure there is some water for your dogs to drink. Jumping is just what puppies do. They are very, very, VERY hyper sometimes. Don't be worried or paranoid. This is what pups do :D

[.sarah]

For large breed puppies it's important not to put stress on the joints. Until the dog is fully grown they should decide how much exercise they get. So basically, you shouldn't be walking her at this point. When they are on a leash they follow their owner and don't stop until their owner stops. When you let her off leash, she can decide when she's tired, when she wants to stop for a break, and when she wants to run more.

[dragondawg]

IMO, until they are knocked out sleeping, they haven't had enough excercise. :p

Agreed.

My lab mixes I've walked from 2 months onward the 1 mile to the pond thru the woods. At least the 1 mile is what I walk, they usually have put in 3-5 miles chasing the scents across the trail. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving a large breed or any size in between as much exercise as they wish to help build muscle tone. As another poster mentioned one wouldn't want to give them jumping or agility training until they are full grown. Even then I have never encouraged my Labs to jump.

As for walking immediately before or after meals- absolutely nothing wrong again in giving the dog a mile walk on a leash. Food goes in, puppy boo-boos go out. Dog gets exercised, and is ready to settle down for the night afterwards. A win-win for human and puppy.

[bckrazy]

I would consider long walks forced exercise... especially on a hard, concrete surface in a repetitive motion. I would cut back on those & encourage more natural play exercise, until she's done growing.

I never walked Fozzie much before the past few months, because I worry about long walks putting a lot of stress on the joints. He still did plenty of on-leash work & obedience, just not very much walking for exercise.

[wolf_Q]

Would you really consider her a large breed? She'll most likely be 40-50 lbs full grown.

I called the vets office and she said that was perfectly fine, I didn't talk to the actual vet though, just the receptionist.


My lab mixes I've walked from 2 months onward the 1 mile to the pond thru the woods.

Are you meaning when the dog was 2 months--8 weeks? I can't imagine getting a pup to walk that far, neither Keva or Nebo would even walk all the way down the street on a leash at that age.

[borzoimom]

Would you really consider her a large breed? She'll most likely be 40-50 lbs full grown.

I called the vets office and she said that was perfectly fine, I didn't talk to the actual vet though, just the receptionist.



Are you meaning when the dog was 2 months--8 weeks? I can't imagine getting a pup to walk that far, neither Keva or Nebo would even walk all the way down the street on a leash at that age.
Yup- a 8 week old would not even have the concentration to follow that far..

[dab_20]

With Sammy, I just walked him around the block until he was about 6 months old. Then I slowly increased his walks, but made sure he didn't seem exhausted after the walk. He's not a large size dog, but I don't see how it would differ too much.

[Love That Collie]

I have heard that also about not letting a large breed do agility until full grown or at least a year old. Full grown for my breed is at around 2 years old for mental maturity and bone formation. But I have seen large breed dogs way under one year old doing agility on T.V.

Bailey will jump beautifully when prompted but Chloe is just a born jumper. Chloe is almost 8 months old and has been jumping over Bailey for a while now and he's tall. If he's in her way and she's got the "zoomies" (not often) she will jump him like a hurdle and not touch one hair on his back and she's QUITE a bit shorter than Bailey is. There's not a thing I can do about this. ;)

[borzoimom]

Rule of thumb with a large breed puppy- as much as the puppy starts- but its not forced until the growth plates are set.. ( forced meaning you make the pup walk for a long time..)

[.sarah]

I would consider long walks forced exercise... especially on a hard, concrete surface in a repetitive motion. I would cut back on those & encourage more natural play exercise, until she's done growing.This is what I was trying to say, only I was having trouble explaining it :o

Okay, no, I wouldn't consider her a large breed. Actually I consider all my dogs to be medium sized dogs. But Huskies are a breed that can have joint issues and because of that and also because she didn't come from a great breeder it would be best to be careful. I have never taken Buck for a walk and he is almost 13 months old. He does get lots and lots and lots of exercise every day (he has way too much energy!) but none of it is forced. I do take him places where he is on leash (to the store, to the park where he is eventually off leash, etc.) so he does have to walk but it is not like taking him on long walks. I just recently started walking Nova on long walks and she will be 2 next week. But she also has hip and elbow dysplasia, and if she didn't I probably would have started walking her younger, around 12-18 months. I just think that that time period (up to 18 months or so, 12 at the earliest) is a crucial time to let the joints grow and not put stress on them, and the best way is to let the dog decide when it's had enough.

Just my opinion based on research I've done. :)

[wolf_Q]

30-45 minutes is considered a long walk? If thats a long walk I should be skinny by now. ;) Thanks for the info everyone. She's a bit hard to exercise at home because she's not interested in fetching, the only exercise she'll really do at home is play with Nebo.

[.sarah]

For a puppy, yes, I'd say that's a long walk. What about swimming? Parks? Maybe you could get involved in an activity with her, like obedience or obedience classes, that will tire her without much exercise?

Buck plays with the other dogs a lot in the backyard, then I'll run around with him (and the other dogs) some in the house, and he swims almost every day, and we practice for our shows pretty often as well. It doesn't tire him out completely, he could go much longer, but he's also well behaved in the house so he doesn't go crazy with bottled up energy. I think the only time I saw him totally and completely pooped was at the end of our trip from camping and visiting Kay. That is the first time I've ever seen him fall asleep standing. Like ... he wanted to keep going, but he just couldn't. Haha

[wolf_Q]

She's in puppy classes but its only once a week. I don't have a pool for her to swim in, its too cold in any lakes right now...plus I don't think she'd swim anyway, it took Nebo until last year to decide he was brave enough lol. She'd have to be on a leash in the park so wouldn't that be a walk anyway?

She's not crazy or anything, actually she's fairly calm for a husky pup. She just looooooooooves to go on the walks, if she sees the leash she starts howling. I'm going on the walks mostly for myself, making the dogs happy is just my motivation, heh, I guess I'll have to just bring Nebo (hopefully the neighbors won't call AC from hearing her husky screams at being left home :o J/K)

[.sarah]

Honestly, if you feel it's fine, take her. Maybe just start her on a glucosamine/chondroitin supplements to support her joints. When I got Nova my vet told me that it's important not to stress their joints when they are young (I had asked about doing agility), and I saw the same things when I researched it. Low impact exercise and letting the dog deciding when they've had enough were what was reccomended most often by the people I talked to and articles I'd read.

It's my opinion that joint problems in young dogs is mostly genetic related, but if the dog's joints are already bad, forced exercise will make it worse. It might be a good idea to x-ray her hips when you spay her. If I hadn't done that I wouldn't know that Nova was dysplastic, because she doesn't show any signs right now.

[dragondawg]

Would you really consider her a large breed? She'll most likely be 40-50 lbs full grown.

I called the vets office and she said that was perfectly fine, I didn't talk to the actual vet though, just the receptionist.



Are you meaning when the dog was 2 months--8 weeks? I can't imagine getting a pup to walk that far, neither Keva or Nebo would even walk all the way down the street on a leash at that age.

Walk? Try running as in constant motion. Or jumping off the dock into the water at about 10 weeks. ;)

[CathyBogart]

Really VIGOROUS exercise is not recommended for growing pups. Leisurely walks, or even brisk walks, aren't exactly vigorous. Now, if you were running with her for a couple of miles a day, that might be tough on growing joints. :) I think an hour long walk would be fine, especially since she's not acting tired out by it.

[borzoimom]

I agree. I walk as long as its easy- ie not forced. Several short walks would be better than a long one. Remembering you have to walk back home again- .. Puppies have alot of exercise in the house, especially if you have other dogs. And not only is that play fun, it uses alot of different muscles without repetition.