Lincoln is almost 5 months old.. He gets two 15 min walks per day, two 10 min training sessions , lots of free play outside and with our other two dogs . He does take plenty of naps. I think he looks pretty fit . He is 16 in at the shoulder and 31 pounds .. What do you think ?
Hi @Jade How far are you walking in the 15 minute walks. If it's a dawdle, then sounds fine to me. I would be inclined to make the training sessions much shorter. If you can manage it 4 or 5 sessions sessions of 5 minutes or 4 minutes is much better for the puppy's learning. Ýou want to avoid piling one exercise on top of another exercise in one session. Do down in one session, and then play with your dog. Obedience training should be fun for you and the dog Don't do, for example, down, sit and recall in one 10 minute session session. Sometimes I just heel for 5 metres as I am walking from one room to another and then play with my dog. The session of actual heeling lasts 5 seconds. Other sessions are longer, of course.
Our 2 labs are 5 months 1 week old today, and they're both around 40 lbs. aside from bathroom walks, they each get 2 solo walks about 10-15 mins, and 2 group sessions in a 100x100 fenced grass space. Sometimes we do 1 on 1 w/ toys and training but weekdays the routine is to let them play there 20 mins after they eat for 30-60 mins then bring them in to nap. They seem a lot less destructive during the day with this compared to 30 min walks.
Yes I find that works best for Lincoln too. We break it up throughout the day and with a few naps in between he's ready to crash at bedtime and sleeps through the night without a peep.