We've been building our lab up slowly using the five minute rule and he's nearly a year so nearly at an hour. I was just wondering about what other people tend to do with their walking schedule. He has only been getting one walk a day whilst building up but do your dogs get a few shorter walks a day, or one long one? Just interested really. Thank you
We mix it up with Stanley. Through the week he gets 3 45 minute walks. One on a morning, one at lunch and one on a night. On a weekend he generally only gets one walk a day - but a longer one. Usually about 1.5 hours or a good run about on the beach etc.
We do 3 walks a day on most weekdays (morning 30 mins, dog walker approx 1 hour and evening approx 40 mins). Our walks are a combo of on and off leash, dog walker is on leash only. On weekends/days off we typically do an hour or hour and a half hike/trail walk off leash and maybe a short 15 min evening walk on leash in our neighbourhood. We also do training, playing ball in the yard etc on top of walking. Our dog is 2 and we’ve been doing roughly the same schedule since she was approx 11 months old.
My 16 month old gets 3 walks/runs a day. She does an hour and a quarter one first thing mostly off lead, an hour one mid day/early afternoon and a 15 minute one early evening. She probably covers 7 miles in total. This is 7 days a week so her routine (may occasionally miss one). She’s been doing this for several months now and is always ‘up’ for her walks.
Rory is 4 and he gets 1 to 2 hours at 1pm and 1/2 in the evenings Week days. Weekends he gets a 1/2 hour morning walk and a longer pm one but not always one in the evenings.
Cassie needs an hour to an hour and half physical and mental exercise daily to keep her happy and relaxed. I've been lucky that most of her exercise since very tiny has been off lead, obviously building up the physical side to what she gets now. She's 2, and I'd say she's been on this regime for a year. It includes her training classes, and mostly but not always a longer walk in the morning and a short 10-15 minute in the evening, just depending on what we are doing in a day.
Mabel gets a morning walk for about 45 mins. Mostly off lead usually in the countryside she also gets another 45 mins walk after 2 o’clock again off lead. Saturdays she normally has one longer walk usually along the river, we stop for lunch or coffee and she has a lie down and Kong. Sunday’s she has an hours walk in the morning and training in the afternoon. She also has brain games and other mental stimulation. I also incorporate some lead walk on pavements perhaps to the local markets or dog friendly shops to help with her surface phobia. Luckily we live near some of the tourist hotspots of Warwickshire so there is plenty to see and do.
Sam used to have about 45 minutes in the morning , off lead and then around an hour to an hour and a half every afternoon , off lead . The afternoon session incorporated ongoing training plus retrieving, as well as just chilling out !
Xena gets 70-80 minutes in the morning, a play session in the afternoon, and a short 20 min evening walk (evening walk maybe 3x per week because of childcare issues). She used to get two walks per day religiously but my husband's schedule changed and she's had to adapt.
My Labs needed less exercise than the German Pointers. Rourke has about 20 minutes off lead in morning and an hour plus off lead in afternoon, seems to be enough for him as he sleeps peacefully all evening.
My two have anything from 30mins - 1.5hrs free running in the morning, Ash will have a lead walk around the town about twice a week, and they both have countless play sessions throughout the day in our fairly large garden. Then there are odd days when they're not taken out at all, apart from the garden.
Lilly is almost 8 years now. She gets 30-35 minutes in the morning - on a long lead - and then normally 40-50 mins off lead in the afternoon/evening. Weekends may just be one longer 60-90 minutes in the woods or beach off lead. Some days if we are all working she might just get the one walk in the morning. A neighbour will let her out for a pee break if we are going to be later than normal, but she has the bladder of a camel and a very laid back approach to life. This might be more likely in the winter months when a walk in the dark (no streetlights) and mud (always ) hold no appeal to dog or walker. A higher energy dog would be eating the skirting boards without the evening walk probably. Lilly is a star x
We are usually at some training day event at least 3 days a week (one weekday, and weekends), and on those days, my dogs just get walks in the breaks from training for wees and poos and general relaxation. They don’t get a walking schedule in addition to training, on training days, no matter how energetic or not that training is – it usually is quite energetic though. The other days, my boy gets 40 minutes in the morning a mix of lead walking and off lead games, and an hour in the afternoon – which is typically mainly training. My girl gets an hour: 15 minutes free time, 45 minutes training. She gets training at home too (when my boy is off on his morning walk with OH) because she has more stuff to do still in the initial ‘kitchen/garden training’ stage. We fit in what swimming we can, for fitness, through the week when time allows and this is generally extra. Charlie might also do water treadmill to keep his muscle tone high (he had joint problems in the past). If I’m massively pushed for time, they get just an hour off lead together in the afternoons, just walking. I don’t like to do that too often though because wandering around aimlessly for an hour, looking for opportunity to get into mischief, wreaks their training. They get endless 10 - 15 minutes 'chore walks' to the post box/dry cleaners/pets at home/round-the-block-because-Charlie-won't-poo-in-the-garden type stuff.
Maisy (13 months) has a 45-60min walk in the morning, usually half on lead in town and then off lead in the park. Lunch times she wakes up and we play/train. Evenings now it is lighter we have 60-75 mins off lead in the woods. When it was darker in the evenings we did 45-60mins on lead round the village. This time has gradually increased as she got older, probably 10-15mins less a few months ago.
