Is too much exercise NOT good for 5 month old pup?

**4theloveofzoe** · 10-12-2005, 07:59 PM

Today, we have taken Zoe on 1/2 mile walks 5 times today, and then in the late afternoon we walked about 1 1/2 to 2 miles.

She's a lab/spaniel mix, and I'm pretty sure that she has some "Pointer" in her too. Because when she stares at people, her body will get this stiff appearance, and her tails points straight out. lol

EDIT: What kind of dog/puppy food do you feed your dogs/puppies?

Right now we're feeding Zoe Purina Puppy Chow with mother's milk added.

**Jessika** · 10-12-2005, 08:06 PM

The rule of thumb, so I've been told, is that 5 minutes of exercise per month of age, not to exceed twice daily. So for a five month old pup, 25 minutes of exercise twice a day.

It can be VERY stressful on growing joints and muscles for a young pup to get TOO much exercise. I would just take it slow for awhile!!

As for food, I don't recommend any purina product. Full of fillers and by-products. You will see better results with a slightly higher quality food (even if you just switched to Purina Pro Plan, which still I don't recommend, but it IS better than Puppy Chow). I feed and STRGONLY recommend Nutro Natural Choice to my pups. Since they've been on it, they have THRIVED. Beautiful soft and shiny coats, and always full of energy LOL Even Charlie's dry skin condition went away on this food! I swear by it.

**Vette** · 10-12-2005, 08:08 PM

Im not sure if this true or not.. but ive heard puppy food can cause largre/medium sized breed puppies bones to grow to fast.. and as the dog ages it literaly has growing pains.

**4theloveofzoe** · 10-12-2005, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jessika

The rule of thumb, so I've been told, is that 5 minutes of exercise per month of age, not to exceed twice daily. So for a five month old pup, 25 minutes of exercise twice a day.

It can be VERY stressful on growing joints and muscles for a young pup to get TOO much exercise. I would just take it slow for awhile!!

As for food, I don't recommend any purina product. Full of fillers and by-products. You will see better results with a slightly higher quality food (even if you just switched to Purina Pro Plan, which still I don't recommend, but it IS better than Puppy Chow). I feed and STRGONLY recommend Nutro Natural Choice to my pups. Since they've been on it, they have THRIVED. Beautiful soft and shiny coats, and always full of energy LOL Even Charlie's dry skin condition went away on this food! I swear by it.

Where do you get that food at?

**Tollers-n-Dobes** · 10-12-2005, 08:38 PM

That's probably a bit too much exercise for a puppy of her age, especially since she's not used to getting much exercise at all yet I'm sure. Once she's an adult that'll probably be fine but for now try to keep it a bit lower

I also feed my dogs the Nutro's Natural Choice (lamb & rice), that's all Tango can eat without getting sick it seems and she aswell as my Dobes do really well on it. You can get it at any pet store I'm sure, I get mine from Petsmart. I'm constantly getting comments one how beautiful their coats also. The same company makes puppy food but she's not really considered a large breed so try to stay away from the food made specifically for large breed dogs and stick with the regular puppy food if you think you'd rather feed her the puppy food instead of adult. I have barely any experience with puppy food as it's been forever since any of my dogs have eaten it, so hopefully someone else can give you their opinions. Good luck with Zoe! Sounds like she's going to have a wonderful home with you

**Jessika** · 10-12-2005, 08:38 PM

Any Petco and Petsmart near me sells it. I'm sure they have a store locater on their website... yup, here
http://www.nutroproducts.com/dealerlocator.asp

**4theloveofzoe** · 10-12-2005, 08:52 PM

Okay... I did a search for a store near me and I found one. IN THE SAME town. lol

Thanks everyone!

I'll donate the bag of dog food that I already bought to a local shelter. At least it's food, right?

**Kirbys Mom** · 10-12-2005, 08:56 PM

well i will start my chihuahua on purina puppy chow, nutient formula since thats what the breeder uses.

**sammy101** · 10-12-2005, 09:57 PM

I agree,that may be a bit too much exercise for her age.I think once a day should be fine for now.
Mine are on Pedigree,and are perfectly fine on it.Healthiest dogs i've ever seen.

mine dont like Nutro at all

**wolfie** · 10-13-2005, 09:06 AM

I agree, it's probably a little too much exercise for a young pup. But she'll enjoy it when she's older! I don't know where you walk her, but it's best for a puppy to run on grass or sand. Pavement is rough on a puppy's growing body.

I feed Daphne Purina One. They make a puppy food too. I know some people don't like it, but Daphne does excelent on in, it's fairly cheap, and you can get it at the market. The first ingredient is meat, which is better than a food who's first ingredient is corn or some other filler. Lots of dogs have adverse reactions to corn, soy, wheat..., and they don't digest it properly, so basically more fillers = more mess in the back yard.

**lv4dogs** · 10-13-2005, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by 4theloveofzoe

I'll donate the bag of dog food that I already bought to a local shelter. At least it's food, right?

Nutro is an AWESOME food!!!

I'd keep the bag you have as you want to gradually switch the puppy over to the new food to avoid an upset digestive system. Slowly add a bit of the new food to the old & slowly start to take away the old food, this should take about 2-3 weeks to complete.

And being a medium/large size dog and at 5 months I'd say it is safe to say that you can stop feeding puppy food. Adult food is fine.

**wolfsoul** · 10-13-2005, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by wolfie

The first ingredient is meat, which is better than a food who's first ingredient is corn or some other filler.

Actually, the first ingredient IS a filler -- they say "lamb" but not "lamb meal." If it only says Lamb, then the ingredient is 70-80% water, fat, and oils. If you actually count the meat instead of it's water weight, it drops down approximatly 5-6 ingredients on the list. So the meat in Purina One is actually the 5th or 6th ingredient, not the first.

I reccomend a RAW diet.

These are some good sites to look at:
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/sampleraw.htm
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/...et_care/118561

Most people do not want to deal with the hassle of preparing a RAW diet -- for those people, I recommend a prepared one that you buy in stores. Alot of people are iffy about feeding their dogs raw meat. So for those people I recommend Innova EVO or TimberWolf Organics Wild and Natural kibbles. They don't contain any grains, and grains are something that dogs are not really meant to eat -- I think these kibbles are awesome. But there are some other good high quality kibbles out there.

I really recommend not feeding puppy food to a large breed puppy -- it has way too much calcium and too many nutrients - it makes the bones grow too fast and the puppy can develop severe bone and joint problems. It's why my RB GSD pup had to be put to sleep.

Here is the Whole Food Journal list of good quality dog foods. I disagree with a few of their choices, but in general these are the best. It hasn't been updated since the beginning of this year -- I'd really like to see the updated list.
Artemis
Azmira
Back to Basics
Bench & Field Holistic Natural
Blue Buffalo
Burns
California Natural
Canidae
Chicken Soup
Drs Foster & Smith
Eagle Pack Holistic
Flint River
Foundations
Fromm Four Star
Go! Natural
Innova
Karma Organic
Lick Your Chops
Lifespan
Limited Diets
Merrick
Natural Balance Ultra
Newmanâ€™s Own Organic
Organix
PHD Viand
Pinnacle
Prairie
Prime Life
Royal Canin Natural Blend
Solid Gold
Timberwolf Organics
VeRUS
Wellness
Wysong

New to 2005

By Nature Brightlife
Canine Caviar
Cloud Star
Evolve
Nutro Natural Choice Ultra
Premium Edge
Wellness Simple Food Solutions

Good luck, I hope to see some more pics of Zoe.

**finn's mom** · 10-13-2005, 10:28 AM

Yeah, as you've already heard, that's too much for such a young one.

But, it's good that you're asking about it, to make sure. I didn't let Finn really go at it til he was about a year old, as far as really jumping a lot and running full speed ahead.

As for food, I personally feed Finn a raw diet. He's in excellent health, doesn't vomit, doesn't get diarreah (unless I don't feed him bone for a day or so, then his stool is looser), has really white teeth...I will say that I obviously think it's the best way to go for pets, or else I wouldn't feed it to mine. But, if you don't do your research and aren't comfortable with it, I don't recommend feeding that way.

As for man made foods for pets, I think wolfsoul has given you an excellent list of foods to choose from. You want to look for meat sources in the first five (at least the first ten) ingredients...the way it goes is this (from best to worst)...

chicken meal
chicken
chicken by product meal
chicken by product

and, you can substitute the word "chicken" in that list with everything else (fish, beef, lamb, etc...). As wolfsoul already stated, if it just says meat, beef, chicken, etc...it's mostly water, fat, oils...You want to try to find something with "meal" following it...by products should be avoided if you can. That's basically everything else in the chicken (feathers, beaks, toes, etc...). Once you learn to read the ingredients, it gets pretty easy to figure out which food is better than others. Most of the food you can buy at your average supermarket is really not that good for your pet. I mean, if you just can't afford or get ahold of better quality pet food, it's understandable. I know there are pets out there that live full, healthy, long lives while being fed the worst diet available. I know people, though, that live long healthy lives and smoke and drink and eat horrible diets. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing.

I think it's good that you are asking questions, you will get a lot of advice and answers in this site. You just have to sift through the responses and choose what best suits your situation. Good luck!