When can I take my dog on its first big long walk?

Hi Everyone,

I am very excited, I am soon to the be the proud owner of a rescue 8 month, just neutered Lab (thank you so much Dogs Trust Glasgow) and I want to know how long I should wait before I can start to plan to take him for his first big day out on the hills?

My previous dog Hollie was a collie/spaniel cross (rescue dog aged 3 years) who recently passed away at 17 who spent many active days out with me on the hills.

I understand I will need to work on basic training first and build trust, skills and confidence with short walks before any big day out. But if the dog will continues to grow and develop for a year and half should I wait until he fully matured before a big day is planned? And when will I know?

I want a happy, healthy, strong fit dog and I don't want to cause any harm so I thought I'd pose this question to the group.

Many thanks

Scott

 

17, wow. I'm sorry Hollie has passed away but you were incredibly blessed to have such a long time with her. More to miss, though, I know.

To get close to that again I think you should not be thinking in terms of a "big day" outing without gradually working up to the physical exertion required. A rule of thumb for puppy exercise is 5 min per month of age of forced exercise. Generally that's on leash, hard surface, constant pace, straight line. Maybe some I forgot. Off leash on soft ground so puppy can ease the strain on joints is usually unlimited but it sure doesn't mean a whole day on hills is ok. IN fact I found I had to limit off leash as well as my pup just did not know when to stop running. I followed the 5 min guide, roughly/loosely till a year old. I still took care to build up strength just as I would for myself.

Training classes will help, they build a bond, and they build strength and they tire a dog out, you too probably. Has your new pup been in a kennel waiting for you to come along? Likely won't be in shape then. Good for you for rescuing, I hope you enjoy many, many years together.

 

What's a good age to start training? Zoey is 4 months now. I was hoping to take her the first of the year...

 

I start training the day I bring my puppies home! Waiting until a year means you'll have bad habits to get out, rather than starting as you mean to go on.

 

Hi Scott and welcome! I'd just take it a day at a time, work up slowly. Short walks to begin with, gradually lengthening. By just over a year he'll probably be fit and strong enough to do long walks, but each dog and situation is different. Looking forward to hearing more about your journey together!

 

We build it up slowly. Keir is six months old now and has 40 minute free runs.

Yes, training from day 1. I do four ten minute training ‘slots’ through the day.

For recall I thoroughly recommend Total Recall, the book.



Welcome to you from Mags, Tatze and Keir from Manchester UK

Tatze is my pet dog, a black Lab and she's four years old. Tatze means 'paw' in German.

Keir is my fifth Guide Dog puppy, a yellow Golden Retriever/Flatcoat cross and he's six months old.

 

Hi Scott and welcome to the forum from the Beanwood Pack.

Great news you have a new hiking buddy, looking forward to photos of the your new lad. I adore long walks with our pack, there is simply nothing like it in the world .

With regards to your new lad, I would first ensure a full health check by your vet, as soon as he is home. Check knees, range of movement, hips and elbows. Get the vet to look at his gait, this will give some indication of any previous injury. Check for muscle mass, dogs can lose a great deal of muscle very quickly when they are surrendered.

Then take things slow, work on short training walks, spend time on building a great bond, work on staying close, checking in with you and incorporate flexibility training in the form of games, such as walking on a low log, turns walking the other way. Tuggy games are great too... especially attached to a pole. Chasing the tuggy low on the ground though.

Total Recall -by Pippa Mattison is a great book for training a recall, it has been my bible with our labs.

Finally, 8 months can be shall we say, an interesting time for labs! So take things slow, especially around other dogs. Make sure he has lots of positive experiences when meeting other dog walkers but don't overface him. What I mean by that is he doesn't need to meet lots of dogs, this may be quite stressful for him, so give him loads of space from other dog walkers, maybe let him meet with one in four dogs on a walk, with a quick hello, a reward, and a cheery goodbye!

 

Ditto all above. There are special puppy classes now, I could have started Oban at 10 weeks. When we got Jet in 1993 most classes here did not take puppies under 6 months old. Times have changed. Just as we now teach, with fun and games, our children earlier, so too with puppies. Oh, you will have so much fun, both of you, OP too.

 

Hi and welcome from me and 4 year old girl, Harley.
As others have said above, I would build him up slowly over the next few months as his fitness may not be as good as it should be. By doing this you should be able to judge how far he can go at a time.

Do you know why he was in rescue?

 

Thanks for the reply . Baillie was in the Kennels for all of 5 minutes before being offered to us, I was in at the right time at the right place. He was given up due to family pressures (three kids 5 10 and 14 and reading between the lines they can't manage a big puppy, their loss). The dog is in great condition and is very strong.

 

Yes, He was given up by a family of five with three children aged 5, 10 and 14, and they had him from about 6 weeks. They said to the Dogs Trust that their 5 year old child was now scared of the dog and it was knocking her over. Reading between the lines they don't have the time or patience to train a big puppy, but their loss is my gain, he is very strong and in great condition.

The Dogs Trust think he is just brilliant and would suit any home. Lucky me, he was with them for about 5 minutes before I spoke to the home about a dog that could possibly match the irreplaceable Holly, who was probably the best dog in the world and that is just a fact.

Looking forward having a dog with plenty of energy again.

 

Sounds like it was meant to be
I would still be a bit wary of taking him on long walks for a while as if they found him too much hard work he may not of had too many long walks before.
Look forward to hearing more about your journey with him.

 

Oh yes, I learnt the hard way and overdid it with one of my young fosters. The first hour was great, then he decided he had enough...the last mile took nearly 2 hours!!! Didn't take long though to get his strength back

 

First of the year meaning she'll be 5 months old. Hopefully that's not too late

 

We do a lot of hillwalking and long walks. We prepared Holly for this lifestyle In the same way as we'd prepare a child.

Up to 15 months old we did no long walks with her. This was to ensure that her joints formed properly and that nothing was strained while she grew and bulked out. After that we spent about six months increasing her strength and stamina with progressively longer walks. We built up from long country walks to easier hillwalks in the Brecon Beacons.

After that this super fit and energetic dog has been able to take anything in her stride. A weeks walking holiday in the Lake District is her idea of heaven.

 

It’s never too late - dogs are quick learners, follow the training articles on the main site here and you won’t go far wrong.

 

Hi and welcome from me too . I rehomed a very small dog almost nine months ago, our little Nelly . It was obvious that her back end muscles were rubbish due to inactivity in her formative years plus lack of decent food . It soon became apparent , and X Rays confirmed that she had low/medium grade luxating patella on both side but the left one being the worst . We set about very slowly building her up , she still takes the supplements as recommended by our Vet which is glucosamine and chondroitin combined , and we put her onto a high protein diet , then began to increase walks . At the time she was prescribed a fairly high dose of metacam , but rarely needs it now ! She is a very different little dog to the one we brought home, has excellent muscle mass front and back end ! Nelly can now manage good fairly long walks off lead , but we did take things slowly . With regard to training, our little scrap is deaf, just to add to it all, but with time, patience and rewards , she follows me everywhere, its never too late x

 

Very happy to report I have a big healthy bouncy ball of energy that has the 'sit' and 'paw' commands under his belt (collar) already.

Using bits of Carrots as training treats (loves em), I bought some and then found out they contain sugar and pack recommends only 1-5 per day for training?!

Updated Avatar for Bailey.

 

Yes, carrots do contain sugar, but far better than many commercial treats , so I wouldn't worry too much about it . I used to use fish skin treats for my late boy , and still use them for the little one ( but bash them with the rolling pin to make then manageable ) . They are very good for their teeth too and just about carb free .

 

Something that you might find useful (and fun) during your training.

We walk in the Forest of Dean a lot and often come across deer and wild boar. I've taught Holly to respond to a single finger snap as a 'look at me' command. I can then point to my feet (recall) or show her a flat hand (wait). This is very useful to get her attention without unduly disturbing wildlife, and allows me to get some nice wildlife shots before they see her and scarper.

It came in useful today as 6 fallow deer appeared about 50 yards in front of us. I didn't have my camera, but did get a chance to have a nice look at them.