Hi, Hopefully the right spot I know we all talk about the ‘5min. per month’ rule, but at what age to you stop applying this and build up their durance? Also how far can a dog walk (depending on terrain) without it impacting them? Reason being currently we walk for about 30-40min in the morning on a gradual incline one way and then obviously back the other side (Golf Course). Fairways we cover are approx. 3-4km in total. Now Vanilla is off lead, so she most probably covers a bit more, but it is in her time. She gets to sniff and wonder, then a bit of running back to me as I have moved on, bit of meandering next to me then back out for her own time etc. We then go out in the evening, which either consist us walking by the esplanade/beach for about the same time and covering a similar distance, maybe a fraction more. If that is not the case, then we go to the Oval, where she is off-leash the whole time and just play different games and wander around. On both walks we will do training either while out or when we get home, plus we sit or lay down to watch the stars (dark at moment) or anything else that might take our fancy. There is always water available for her, so I am not concerned about her not drinking enough. I want to start building up the distance and endurance, but also making sure that it does not impact Vanilla, she is 15months now. Partly asking as we are going on holiday soon, where we are planning on going for walks. But want to make sure that it suits Vanillas fitness and not ours. Thanks for any advice.
I followed the 5-min rule with my older two, but not so much with Luna, going for the common-sense approach instead. In any event, the common sense prevails, and I don't think you should start pushing them util they've finished growing. At 15 months, Vanilla will be coming to the end of her growth. I think this chart gives a good, common-sense approach to what you should be thinking about when: https://www.puppyculture.com/exercise-chart.html
Well your walks sound perfect! Gorgeous in fact Bramble is not a dissimilar age, well she has just turned 18 months old. All her walks bar just a few are off lead, with a bit of lead practice during the walks. I confess, in probably nor doing enough lead walking. Most of her walks from 8 months to about a year were from 30 - 45 mins, twice a day with training inbetween. Then increasing to 60 mins and 30 mins when Bramble reached a year interspersed with the odd longer walk. I do like to throw in varied walks, so she gets used to different terrain. We also do a lot of agility and flexibility training on her walks to help her muscles lengthen and improve muscle memory. For example, jumping on a low tree trunk and turning around...jumping onto a row of smaller tree trunks, turning around walking back etc.. At 18 months old we will be looking at longer walks with Benson, these are 2 hours plus. She is ready for them now. Benson goes hiking once a week with my dad, he is out for about 2-3 hours plus, and he adores these walks. I also think dogs, especially young dogs need rest days, just like humans. So if they have had a physically demanding walk, then the next day it's short training session with a short walk in the paddock to stretch their legs This helps muscles repair and build. Swimming on these days is particularly good.
Thanks to both. I thought there would be something to assist. We do enjoy our walks, and I am like you @Beanwood we don't do enough lead walking. So will have to increase that as need to get our heel work under control. Your idea of muscle memory sounds like a good idea. We have started to walk to different places as we do want Vanilla to get used different terrain. @snowbunny link is very usefull and overall I would always look at Vanilla when out on a walk to see how she is. Always is a mixture of the 5min plus common sense. Plenty of times where she has been tired before the 5min rule would have applied. I am sure I read somewhere that they stop growing about 18months?
At 15 months we reckoned that her bones had finished growing and she was starting to bulk out. We did some longer walks between 15-18 months to build up some stamina, typically 2-3 hours on easy countryside paths. By 18 months she was ready for anything.
Stanleys 14 months now and I think of him as typically good to go. But it probably depends on the walks you do etc. My good to go is a 3-4 mile walk with no hills
