puppy walking how much how far

[otto]

Hi folks
As you know we have had otto for nearly 3 weeks he as had his last injection on tuesday so its time to take him for walks just need to know how long how far should we walk him.
He has been outside but only on the green by ours .

Regards

Paul

[Tedsmum]

Hi Otto
how exciting for you, finally you can take your baby out into the big world.
The official rule is to give 5 minutes exercise for every moth old your dogs is. So for 3 months it would be 15 mins. This is probably ok as a rule of thumb in the beginning but I personally found it was not enough for my pup when he got a bit older. Throwing himself around after a ball is obvoisly different from just stolling by your side so it does depend on the intensity of the exercise too. I would use your own judgement and if in doubt err on the cautious side.
Good luck and enjoy x

[otto]

Thank you tedsmum otto is 10 weeks old so i should walk him for about 10 mins then .
That dont seem much lol.

[jesterjenn]

Originally Posted by otto

Thank you tedsmum otto is 10 weeks old so i should walk him for about 10 mins then .
That dont seem much lol.

That's correct. That rule is for onlead exercise though.

If you run him offlead, he will stop when he is tired on his own, but if you are running him with older dogs, we very aware of when he starts to show signs of tiredness as he will go through his tiredness.

You can do the lead walks more than once per day, it is just so they don't over-exercise their young joints.

Also, no going up and down stairs or jumping for the first 12 months as this damages the joints too.

[Triksta]

Echo is 16 weeks today so in theory should have 20mins but I take her for twice that usually though that is 99% walking as I put her on a lead when anyone comes within 50 yrds as she doesnt seem to understand that not everyone wants to say hello to her and as fpr coming back once distracted... lets just say theres still work to do. Because iof that she only briefly runs to catch up if she has stopped fro a sniff. Even after that long a walk she gets home and ends up tearing round the house like a loon with my 5yr old son still

I think common sense is the thing, dont let them run too much and no jumping

[hermykne]

Hi Can I just ask would the 5mins guideline be until 12months?
plus i am a little confused, is walking on the lead considered part of this time or is it specfically for playtime chasing ball whatever in the garden?

we walk Reuben maybe 2/3 times a day 20mins, there and back.
and he gets a fair amount of playtime in the garden , short periods - as the kids very quickly get fed up with him! still nipping!and his training time too thou thats not every day (eek)

he is 4months.

Hmm, Zee at 9 months is over-exercised then according to those guidelines.

I have walked her less than I would Remus who is 2 yrs and he gets 6-8 miles a day and some of that I run with him (no running with Zee).

I cannot logistically walk them separately unless my OH is home, so I've reduced Remus's walk duration. We do 30-40 mins 3 x per day. The first walk is a lot of off-lead, 2nd and 3rd ones are 50/50 lead/off

How can you tell they're getting too much exercise, physically? Zee never stops, she's like a duracell dog.