Hi All we have a 6 month old chocolate lab/springer spaniel cross (although if you look at him he seems 90 per cent lab!). We've been careful not to walk him too long and hard given his age, but i was wondering if the occasional longer walk would be OK for him, and how long that might be? He has a lot of energy, and seems happy to do more, based on the difficulties in getting him back into the car!
My lab mix is 10 months old, and I’ve been taking her on “long” walks since she was 4-6 months old. How do define long? We were walking 2-3 miles a day at four months, and 4-6 miles a day at six months. She has so much energy that she would drive us crazy if she didn’t exercise as much. I talked to my vet about this when she was 3-4 months old, after reading some articles recommending only 5-10 minutes of exercise per month of age. He told me not to worry about it but to focus on how my dog responded to exercise. Her temperament is vastly better when she gets a lot of exercise. When she doesn’t, she gets in trouble, tears things up, bites more and drives us crazy. When she gets adequate exercise, she is calmer, sleeps more, is more affectionate and eats better.
I would love to hear more about this. Interesting to read the comments above. We have a 13 week old lab. We’re doing the recommended 5 mins a month (so e walk him 15 -20 mins) , but it does little wear him out. I know that’s not the idea, but he could do a lot more. Any further thoughts on this? Is it a hard line that needs to be taken for the dog’s health?
We’ve been following the 5 mins per month of age thing, religiously, twice a day. Our vet said that it’s okay to err on the side of caution as he is a big lad (and the vet won’t castrate until he’s 18 months old for this reason (growth)). I am interested to hear more about those who walk for longer as our lad would definitely walk for longer, if we let him, but I’m worried about hurting his growing bones!
Never heard the 5 minutes a month theory but it is ridiculous. Pay attention to your pup, let him sleep when he is tired. Take him out for walks or better yet, follow him as he explores. Do several short sessions of obedience training everyday.
There are so many rules and guidance things out there. I worry about “doing it wrong”! I used to train horses before we got our lad, and we had family dogs etc. so I felt pretty confident ... then I did six months of research on the breed and when he came home I was like a new mum - worried about everything! I do a lot of obedience training with our lad (5 to 10 mins a session every day). I try and do basic obedience for 3 of the 5 sessions, and then one new thing for the remaining 2 sessions. I also don’t count play toward his “5 mins per month of age” eg fetch or tug in the garden. We do play with him a lot (he tells us when he’s done playing). One of his walks are “nose led” ie he tells us where he wants to sniff, and the other is usually a circuit around the block. I vary the route every day. We also work with a dog trainer once a week. Clearly we love a good structure in our house!
The guidelines are there to protect your puppies undeveloped joints. Just because you get away with doing more and your dog is fine doesn’t make it right. Mental rather than physical exercise will tire a young dog much quicker.
Sounds like you are doing things right for your pup and are no stranger to dogs. Trust your instincts and read your dog. Don't hitch him up to the sled and make him pull you around all day an he will be just fine.
I everyone, I read this thread with interest as we have a fourteen week lab girl who is very active for the time she is awake. We are limiting her walks to just over the 5mins a month of age guidelines. I do worry if this is the correct amount of exercise then she must be getting many times more than that when the trotting round the house and garden, play and zoomies sessions are factured in. Should I be trying to limit her voluntary activity ? Regards
We have a 7 month old and walk him 2 miles twice a day so 4 in total. The majority is off lead so we practice recall, throw a kong, hide behind trees. He’s always keeping his eye on us ( until another dog comes along but that’s another story). We certainly know about it if he’s not been as far or if we’ve kept him on his lead because it just doesn’t tire him in the same way, he’s far easier to train when he’s tired too. We’re expecting a baby in May so we’re trying to introduce him new objects that he can’t have which is far far easier when he’s had a long walk and not over excited. We asked our vets in case we were over working him but they said as long as it was split into 2 walks and being off lead in fields means he can go at his own pace on soft ground rather than pounding the pavement for 4 miles in one go that it’s fine. If we do happen to do a longer morning walk we adjust the afternoon walk to be a bit shorter. He’d be the most destructive dog if he was only getting 35 mins exercise a day. All puppy training classes and socialisation classes we went to were an hour too so I’m sure they wouldnt risk putting all the puppies in any danger
We have been letting our 6mo old pup run and chase (or be chased by) other dogs off leash at the park. About 20-30m of running around at his own pace (or that set by another dog). He additionally has about a 20m walk on leash, where he may choose to run too for a very few short sprints on his own, leading. And then he also runs around the house. He has been getting about 13-14k steps a day not including the in house running around. Guessing a total of about 16-17k steps a day. Hopefully we aren't overdoing it.
