Hi everyone, This is my first post, glad to be here. I have been reading the forum for a while and have found answers to some of my questions. However, I am still unsure about how much excersize should Benji our new family member do. I searched for related topics but I have only found two on 'excersise', while I got 48 results for 'chicken wings' for example. So Benji is 16 weeks old now and seems to be in a very good shape. We take him for short walks 3 or 4 times a day. I have read that 4 months old puppies are supposed to walk for about 20 minutes a day (4x5 minutes). Now, this to me seems so little time. What is he supposed to do in the rest of the day when he is not sleeping? What is the difference between walking in the back garden (which is what he obviously does if we let him out) and walking on the street or in the park or nearby forest? He seems to be quite happy to spend 20 minutes per walk and he is not even keen to go home. Thanks
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Oops. My apologies. I have just discovered I got the spelling wrong. There are loads of threads on 'excercise', also on 'exercise', but nothing on 'excersise'. English is my second language and there is room for improvements. I will read through those posts.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Really glad you found the info you are after Please ask all the questions you want though - that is what the forum is all about
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? If English is not your first language you ought to know how impressed I am at how good it is! (I'm ashamed at how bad I am at other languages.... :.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Thank you Rachael and Rosie, well, I haven't found the answer yet, but I am happy to read through the relevant threads, now that I have found them My spelling is usually ok, as I started learning the language by reading a book. The first page took me half day to translate but by the time I got to the last page, I didn't need the dictionary at all. I was a bit surprised when I figured the right spelling, I don't use this word enough it seems
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? As for your question, Istvan - the five minutes per month guideline is really just a suggestion. He can play in the garden, and have off-lead walks, in addition to the 20 minutes of on lead walking. The thing is, he shouldn't be MADE to walk for more than about 20 minutes. He also probably shouldn't jump on or off objects (to avoid strain on his little joints), and it is also a good idea to avoid climbing stairs. I agree, a puppy needs to be running around, playing and learning, in order to be happy and to learn about his surroundings and how to interact with people and other dogs.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Thank you Karen, Yes, my dilemma was that if according to the theory 4 times 5 minutes for a 4 months old puppy is the 'allowance', then he can easily overdo this himself when he is awake and not kept occupied learning tricks by one of my kids. When we go for a walk, he sometimes lays down chewing on a piece of wood, when he does this, we do the same (except the chewing part) and juts have a chat around him on the grass. He normally starts wandering about after 5 minutes or so ( he is on training lead, 10 meters long) , so we just carry on walking then. If I think about yesterday for example, we went for 3 walks, morning, afternoon and evening, each of them was about 30-35 minutes with a 'do nothing' session in the middle. So I hope this has been ok, even if the whole duration of the walk is longer than 20 minutes, but the section between resting are no longer than 15 minutes? Sometimes he slows down, but we figured this is always on the last 30 meters before we reach the car, and if we turn back to the park, he suddenly looks refreshed again. We are fortunate to have a park, an estate open for public, a river and also the see, all max 10 minutes drive from the house, so he is on car training course in the same time, the drive is normally 5 minutes, perfect for him to get familiar with it.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? I think as long as you keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get over-tired, then what you are doing is fine. Also, do start letting him off the lead, not just on a long training lead, while he is little, because he will naturally follow you at this time, and it is great to start training his recall while he automatically wants to be with you! Later on he will get more confident, and will be less programmed to stick right close with you. So it is good to take advantage of this stage in his development to start practicing the recall.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Thanks Karen, Yes, I will keep an eye on him, also watch the time closely, as I am used to long walk, hiking and climbing mountains, so I need to force myself to keep it short. When I say he is on a training lead, I mean that the lead is attached but we don't actually hold the rear end. We throw it on the ground and let him walk freely. But the lead is there if there is something sudden (running child, etc) so that we can step in. He only goes 10-15 meters away from us and then checks where we are. We develop this habit by changing directions frequently, we wait till he choses a track at a cross section and we start walking the opposite direction as soon as he takes a few metres ahed away from us. I am also doing Pippa's recall trainig, conditioning so far, the first recall test is now very close, maybe this weekend. People mention walking on concrete vs walking on soft ground. What difference does that mean to the dog? Joints, nails?
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? At 4 months old I walked Harley to our local park (5-10 mins on pavement) then would be off-lead playing ball and letting her sniff around and play with other dogs or lie down, then walk home. This seemed to work well and wasn't too much for her. I agree with Karen......if you let him off lead now, he will follow you around and won't run off. What I done in the park was let Harley off lead, me and my daughter stand apart from each other and call her back and forth and treat when she comes......this has been brilliant start to recall. At 10 months, Harley's recall is fantastic
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Sounds like what you are doing is absolutely fine - being guided by the puppy when he wants to rest for a few minutes. Also I think that walking on grass rather than pavements is much better for him. Enjoy your puppy! Rosie (and Pongo)
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Maybe people only mention walking on concrete because it is a necessity for many to get to a proper walking area like a park? I thought it may have exercise purposes and some role in their development. I can understand if it is not necessary at all, I hate concrete and I am a human.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? I took my 16 week old puppy for a ten minute walk on a common, he followed a man round a pond and broke his elbow :'( The breeder was furious that I had even taken him out for a walk.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Oh, that is very unfortunate, poor puppy, how did that happen? I believe by 16 weeks old, pups have to be familiar with everything around them, which experience you can only provide by taking them out for walks and let them observe, so i am a bit surprised by the breeder's reaction.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Me too (surprised by the breeder, that it). Surely the puppy knows when it is tired (as long as it is not over-excited or being encouraged to do more than it wants to do naturally).
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Istvan, I had taken him to a little pond and he followed a man around it and then jumped over a tiny stream, about 6" wide and banged his elbow on the only stone there was :'(
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? There is no 'need' to walk on any particular surface but I think it's good practice to get your puppy used to a wide variety of surfaces, both indoor and outdoor - carpet, tile, timber, decking, paving, concrete, bitumen, grass, dirt....the more they experience they more adaptable and calm they will be with different environments when older
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? I hope he is fully recovered now Stacia and he is enjoying the outdoors. Thank you Rachael, I keep that in mind. Benji so far is familiar with grass, sand, soil, concrete, wood decking, vinyl, laminate floor, car floor mats, ponds, waves, burns, peebles, stones, bricks, tree trunks as a surface. I think our next challenge will be a moving surface, the elevator.
Re: Excersise for puppies - how much exactly? Istvan ,it's lovely to see see you here,sorry I'm late saying hi I'm glad you found some helpful reading in the Forum posts and please always free to ask questions,it's other members questions that help me learn too. Best Wishes Angela
