This may well be a daft question, but here goes! Saba is now three months old, and I walk him on/off lead every day. Sometimes, we're out for 30-40 minutes, including stoppage time for sniffing, exploring, people watching and lead correction, and other times we're out for up to an hour, again including stoppage time. I also spend a short amount - 10 mins or so a couple of times a day working on the usual sit, stand, down, stay, non-biting reinforcement. Am I doing too much walking with him at this age? When we get home, he has a mad 10-minutes tearing around the house and garden before having a good sleep. In the afternoons, he's in and out of the garden, bringing me toys to play with, or as now, being a 'boxer dog' - having a lovely time with a cardboard box! I don't want to over-exercise him, but neither do I want him to be unfit or unhappy. Can any of you offer any wise words please? Many thanks
Hello there Most people refer to the "5 minute" guideline for puppies - this gives a guide of 5 minutes exercise per day per month of age. So that's 15 minutes for a 3 month old dog. The problem with this guide is that there is nothing behind it, so people interpret it in loads of different ways, and there is no evidence to back one view over another. People say it's 5 minutes per twice a day, or it only applies to lead walking, or it only applies to walking on hard surfaces, playtime with other dogs doesn't count, and so on. But no-one knows. It's best, I think, to take the overall message that keeping a young puppy's exercise very moderate is best, and I'd say you don't want to be doing more than you are, and perhaps could do less. I think dogs should have lots of things to do in a day, and I try to give my dog as much activity as possible - but this doesn't mean he gets to run around like crazy for hours. I count things like swimming, classes, training, outings to new places, visiting doggie friends or people friends, having a massage, learning a trick, playtime with me, and so on, all as things to do.
Here is a summary that might help you. As Julie says, the hard evidence just isn't there so we don't really know if the guidelines are necessary. I think it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution, when it comes to actually taking puppies out for walks where you are constantly moving forwards, and encouraging the puppy to keep up. No harm though in taking him to different places and letting him explore and watch the world go by.
Thanks for those tips. We're not walking solidly all the time we're out, as I like to let him have time to explore smells and observe traffic, people, other dogs etc. Fortunately, we live in a fairly flat area, so there are no steep hills, and he is not allowed upstairs at home. I have a new hip and dodgy knees so our walks are also guided my capacity for walking. In future, we'll stick to a gentle turn around the local park which is easy going and allows him to have a short time off the lead -provided there are no groundsmen in sight! Thanks again
I think what you're doing sounds fine. Taking him to places to calmly observe new things is a great thing to do - definitely don't reduce the 'relaxed people/world watching' side of things
