My boy is 6 months and 20 days now! He gets tired after going out on walks. No walks in the morning. It is about three quarters of an hour or so in the evenings, say a mile and a half. Which includes pulling , sniffing and greeting his daily mates. When I am talking with friends he sits on all four legs with his belly chest at the floor and front legs extended and pants. He pulls a lot tho. By the time we get back to the Lift, he lies down in the lift itself. But when he knows that the lift door is about to open he gets up immediately and boy the door is not even open yet, he puts his face out. Inside the house, he goes straight to his water pan, drinks and then lies flat. If he is awake he pants and if he is asleep, he breaths heavily. Is this normal behaviour or is my boy having some health issues or I am getting concerned unnecessarily? At night when he is asleep, I notice that his breathing rate is fast. Like 45 breaths a minute. I have not stop-watched it yet, but it is something like that! Sometimes his breathing is very normal like 25 to 30 breaths a minute. But I only wish it be always like that.
It sounds to me like he is hot too. He might be better with two shorter walks? If this has happened suddenly with no particular reason, I think it may be worth getting your vet to check you boy over. There may be something wrong with him.
Sound like he is getting too hot, and also needs to get a drink on the walk. When we go to one of our favorite off lead areas, Tilly will run for a while and then head for the creek and swim. Once she decides to swim I usually can't stop her. Of course she is pretty much deaf so recall is problematic anyway.
Mine goes on similar walks. He's now about 8 months old, but when he was 6 months we'd return after the 45 minutes or so and he'd still have enough energy to be doing Zoomies around the house - and this in the middle of an Australian summer. Personally, I'd get him the once-over by your vet.
I thought the general rule was 5 minutes per month. 45 minutes might be too long for him. Sparky is 11 months and we just started doing 1.75-2 miles a day about 45-50 minutes. By the 30 minute mark, he's already getting tired and follows very nicely at heel. Now that it's getting hot, I've been dividing it to two shorter walks now if I can.
We walk Mollie (seven months old) for 45 minutes off lead or 30 minutes on lead. Their bones are still developing at this age so longer walks are not advisable. .
Today we went on walk as usual. I made the distance short. He did not want to get back inside the lift. But what I noticed is that, he was laying down on his usual pose and when he saw passerby he started to rush forward. And when we walk he rushes towards passerby always! I have him on lead always tho. He did not get inside the lift. I waited for him to get inside the lift. All the time he was looking at me and panting. May be he was not ready to go back home. Back inside home, we had a friend visiting us along with her daughter. He did not go flat on floor as usual, but played with them for a while and then went to his water pan and now he is sleeping. I also noticed him cough once .
It sounds like you have a few things going on here. Lunging at other people isn't uncommon. It can be caused by excitement or by fear. In any event, you have to desensitise your dog to them. This means rewarding for calm behaviour. You start this at a distance your dog can cope with not lunging, rewarding him lots for looking calmly, and gradually decrease the distance. Not getting in the lift - does he seem a bit unsure? Lifts are funny things, and it's not unusual that dogs develop uncertainty towards them. My two older dogs will get in lifts, but they don't like them. My puppy couldn't give two hoots. Again, lots of rewards for being in the lift. If he's developing uncertainty about going in, whether because of fear or because it signifies the end of the walk, practice just getting in, feeding, and walking straight out again, so he gets good associations without it always meaning it moves or finishes the walk. Panting can signify several things - pain, anxiety, overheating... It's impossible to tell what the reason for panting is on a forum. If he is laying out flat on a solid floor, it could also indicate overheating. My puppy runs very hot and loves to stretch out on a tiled floor. Try washing his armpits and stomach with tepid water and see if that helps. If it persists, I really think you should visit the vet, especially if these are all new behaviours; they could all be linked to a single physiological issue.
Is he on a flat collar or a harness on walks? If he's pulling a lot on a collar it could be making his breathing worse. I would definately pop him to the vets to get checked over, especially if he is panting a lot even when not on walks.
Thanks Maya, I have put him on harness after noticing that he pulls a lot. I did not notice that initially. But the day I noticed that he was choking his throat, I immediately changed him to harness. But the harness we get here do not fit snugly tho. It is a size or two bigger for him.
