# Puppy Exercise



## colpa110 (Jul 5, 2011)

I got a little bit told off by my dog trainer for the amount of exercise Ted gets - as well as being a dog trainer she also co-owns a Hydrotherapy pool and says that she has seen many dogs that have had problems due to over exercising at a young age ( how can she be sure this is the cause??)...she is a very experienced doggy person and I respect her advice but below are a couple of quotes from John Burns, the owner of Burns dog food which pretty much states the opposite. It's the one thing I find quite tricky...a long enough walk for Betty but not too long for Ted ( I dont really have the time during the week to walk them separately and love seeing them out on a walk together anyway) What does everyone think??

Quote 1)

EXERCISE Give the puppy plenty of exercise. If you choose an energetic dog be prepared to take the puppy for walks, no matter what the weather and at least twice a day. The puppy will be able to have a good run, burning off any excess energy. The puppy will then return home and be more satisﬁ ed to have some dinner and settle for a while.Many new owners of large breed puppies are told not to ‘over exercise’. There is little scientiﬁc evidence to prove this. In fact exercising large breeds can help strengthen muscles and soft tissues, aiding the prevention of bone and joint disease.

Quote 2)
Exercise and the growing dog
Some health care professionals advocate that puppies should not be exercised 
as this will damage the developing bones and joints. This makes as little sense as recommending that children should not have exercise until adulthood. Exercise promotes good muscle tone, and well-developed bones and joints as well as providing social interaction. As mentioned above, developmental defects of the skeleton are caused, not by exercise but by poor diet.


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## flounder_1 (May 12, 2011)

I've always thought the same as quote 2 Colin. I never worried too much about it. Lolly would let me know when she was tired and had had enough. 

I'm sure there will be many more experienced dog owners than me here that can advise you more though.


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

Well I am in the exercise camp! Puppies need exercise to build strong, ligaments and muscles to hold everything where it should be. Being from a racing background I will say that our greyhounds we allowed freedom and exercise to play and run as they wanted but they are not allowed to race on a licensed racetrack until they are 15 months and not allowed to actually race until 18 months, this is to protect an immature body, however track running puts a whole different stress on a young dogs body rather that just running as and when they please. So I think confusion arises from exercise I would class as 'work' and normal exercise.
Lack of exercise while developing causes as many problems as over exercise.
No one knows exactly what causes hip displaysia but vets seem to have latched on to over exercise when infact its probably a combination of several factors.
I would just carry on as usual if I were you.


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

its always possible to over do it, and you always will over do it at one some point, but its all about reading your pup and knowing what he she can handle, puppy's are like children they will let you know when they are fed up. 

always remember how ever far you have walked you need to walk the same distance to get back home. 

you know your puppy, if your pup is still bouncing off the walls then they could do with more, if they done more for the rest of the day you may have over done it a little, but in a couple of weeks they will be able to do that with ease.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

I found it quite hard too when Bonnie was little knowing whether she could keep up with Dexter or not. I used to take a ball with me sometimes for Dexter so he would run more than her and sometimes my daughter would take him out on her own to the woods for an extra run around.


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## Turi (Jun 28, 2011)

We never followed the 5 minutes' walk per month of age rule - Saffi would have been climbing the walls. 

I think you know when your dog has overdone it or, if they're more tired one day than another.


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## Rufini (Sep 9, 2011)

Turi said:


> We never followed the 5 minutes' walk per month of age rule - Saffi would have been climbing the walls.
> 
> I think you know when your dog has overdone it or, if they're more tired one day than another.


We were the same with Vincent, initially we started out like this but it was soon very clear that he wanted to run around a lot more than 15 minutes! Since he was 6 months old I've taken him ouit for an hour to two hours a walk at the weekend. He loves it!


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

As you know Colin, I try to not over walk my puppies when young but at the same time I dont carry a stop watch on walks either ... I have a few ways of doing this, pick up and carry my puppy for part of the walk so my adult dogs get a good run and puppy gets a rest, or I have a shorter walk with all my dogs then take my adult dogs out for a another lonber walk without puppy .. I do treat each dog as an individual and go with the flow a little bit ... walks and runs are so important for exercise and mental stimulation .. another topic with conflicting advice :S


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## Sam1 (Mar 6, 2012)

When I had two dogs a few years ago, I did the same as jojo, carry one for a rest etc...or walk separately. 
We are taking max for his first walk and I too was a bit worried but I guess a good sniff round and romp on the park should be enough for now. I think I'll carry him for some of it too....because I love cuddles!


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## tosh (Feb 10, 2012)

We were following the advice in the books the first few weeks but have realized Mitzi needs to burn off more energy. She was starting to get more nippy and now with the slightly extended walks going from 15 mins to her current 45/60 mins she seems much happier and calmer!


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