How many times a day do you walk your dog....how long for?

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Patches

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I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to do housework of late! Not that I'm complaining about that part, although the hubby is!
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The in-laws (who live in the other half of our farmhouse) have Bess at six months old and I have Jasper who is 13.

Mother in Law won't take Bess for a walk off the lead as she's scared she'll run away, even though she has an excellent recall, so I very quickly took over walking her over the fields so that she had fun times at walkies.

Now, my problem is that I can no longer take the two dogs together. Jasper is an eejit who as he gets older is less inclined to come back once off the lead. He is completely ignorant and just runs with his nose to the floor....never looks back. I take him over the fields with an extendable lead (spawn of Satan invention I know, but he gets a bit more freedom). Bess used to run around with us, but for the last few weeks has started either jumping on Jasper or constantly jumping up to grab the lead and tugging it. She gets it wrapped around him and her. I have had him on a normal lead and she still tries to do it. Basically, the lead is fun for her.

Now, this isn't really my problem, as I have since been taking them separately. My problem is that with 10 walks a day (5 each for both dogs - the mother in law takes Bess for one extra walk before sunrise) over the fields, I just find I'm not in the house long enough to do anything else!

They are never let loose in the garden, as we don't want them pooping where the kids play, so it's always been "the done thing" to walk them over the farm.

So, how long should I be walking them for? I have worked out that I am spending 4.5 - 5.5 hours a day, every day, outside walking dogs!
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I have tried to hint to the mother in law that she could walk Jasper on his lead around the farm yard a few times a day to take off some of the strain but she's not interested. If he'd just come blooming back, I'd have no issues. He's always been the same since moving to the farm. He will run until he drops or jump in the nearest pond and swim laps of it after the geese or ducks until you can physically hook him out. Dog training won't work for him.....we've tried it all. He will recall until he hits the fields....then it's goodbye!
 
I never walk my dogs. I have absolutely no need to walk them
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Bess is adorable Patches
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. I saw the latest photos of her, super little dog!
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Have you tried a 50ft long line on Jasper?

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Tried it all. Don't suppose at his age he'll ever change. He was trained for beating with my ex-husband but hadn't done it for about three years when I met Duncan and moved on to his farm.

I assume the scents on the farm are just too much for his little mind and he can't resist. He was never a problem with regards to recall until moving here.

I don't mind that he has to be on a lead, I just can't walk them both together as all Bess is interested in is Jasper's lead and she knots them both up in it. Quite amusing really.
 
Genova doesn't get a run in the mornings so she's walked for 20 mins morning and 30 mins in the afternoon during the week and then 1hour+ at the weekends.

The others are taken out on daily exercise for 20 mins a day plus a good run in the morning and some get a run in the evening too.
 
P.s OMG just read how much yours are walked!! Aren't I glad Inuits are laid back dogs that don't require as much exercise as collies. How do you find time for anything else?

Not sure what the answer is for him, to be honest at 13 he's probably too set in his ways for any sort of training.
 
At this time of the year, weekdays 40 minutes at the very minimum, but that includes intense uphill yomping, they also get a quick burst in the evening and we now have a big exercise pen for emergencies.

Weekends up to 2 hours, summer, well, I go out in the morning and I come back in the evening
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P.s OMG just read how much yours are walked!! Aren't I glad Inuits are laid back dogs that don't require as much exercise as collies. How do you find time for anything else?

Not sure what the answer is for him, to be honest at 13 he's probably too set in his ways for any sort of training.

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I am just outside ALL of the time and, in this cold snap, I'm feeling it! I go outside to turn out and muck out at 6am. First dog walk for Jasper is just before 8 when I've finished. Then it's off to take the kids to school.

I get back from school and see to the hens and ducks before taking Bess for her first loose walk of the day. We're out from about 9.45 - 10.30am. Generally I fill up the coal skuttle and collect some logs at this point to take to the house. Collect Jasper for walk number 2. Get in the house about 11.20am.

I do a few dishes, put the washer on and head on outside again to feed the calves and walk Bess again at about 12.30pm. After she's been out, it's Jasper's turn again.

Time for lunch to be made, sit down with a coffee, light the fire as the house goes cold of an afternoon. Fall asleep on the sofa for ten minutes and then....ooooo take Bess again before school. Get kids, get horses, take the dogs again before dark.

I take them for the final time between 8pm and 9pm. They get 30 mins on a lead in the fields via a headlamp.

Duncan takes them for a final quick wee before bed, about 11.30pm.

Part of my problem, in my head, is that my in-laws don't think of Bess as a pet. She's a working dog and as such lives outside in a brick built shippon. I hate to think of her on her own outside (although she has calves the other side of the grills to her) so I like to take her for lots of walks and cuddles/play time. Jasper is entire, so I can't keep Bess in the house with him now she's getting to "that age". I guess he's too old to have them "whipped off" now. Not really sure why I never got around to it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love walking Bess. Infact, I prefer to walk her to Jasper as it's great being able to let her run free. She's a lovely dog. They do have her in the house after I've taken her for the first run up the fields, but she only stays in for an hour or two at the most. I just never bargained on the fact that if I don't take her, no one else will!
 
I try to walk the pup for 20-30 minutes morning and night,then a good beach walk twice at the weekends,Plus he comes to work with me during the week and playtime in the garden most days.
 
20 mins to half an hour in the morning, 40 mins to an hour at night. 2 hour walk on Saturdays and Sundays, plus stomping about on the yard and through the fields. He's only a mini dachshund!
 
At the moment Otto gets for around two 20 mins walks per day during the week, then one 40 mins walk and one 10 minute walk on week end days.

He does get to go outside every couple of hours though.

He sleeps the entire time he is in the house, but then he is only 7 months old. My Mum told me that dogs under a year should get around 5 minutes for every month they are old, so as not to knacker their joints. Not sure how true that is, but it certainly tires Otto out!
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So you mean a 6 month old puppy should only be walked for 30 minutes per day in total?

Bess would go mental if she only got outside for 30 minutes a day. Am I ruining her joints allowing her to walk for more than that? If I didn't take her as often as she is, she'd be leaping and bounding about all over the place all day long anyway.

Can't win really can you? If I don't let her run for longer each day she'll go insane and gets snappy but if I take her out enough to have her mind chilled I'm going to break her. Hmmmmm.....

She probably gets about three hours a day, in total. That's been built up slowly over the time we've had her. When she first came she only went in the garden/yard as she was just too little to run over the fields. The rest of time I spend walking dogs is with my old lad, Jasper. I walk him just enough so that he sleeps when left in the house alone for a couple of hours....otherwise he is prone to howling.
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I never walk my dogs. I have absolutely no need to walk them
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Bess is adorable Patches
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. I saw the latest photos of her, super little dog!
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Thanks Tia. I love her to bits. She's such an intelligent soul and a real "people" person.
 
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So you mean a 6 month old puppy should only be walked for 30 minutes per day in total?

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That's what I was told! But my Mum has a dog which she had to be really careful with his exercise as a pup, so she is extra careful!

Otto is a springer and he doesn't get much more than that per day and he is as chilled as anything in the house! When we got him at 5 months he hadn't had any injections so wasn't allowed out at all for three weeks!!! That was fun!
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I think dogs which are fairly mature and also have had it built up would be fine! When we got Otto we had no idea what he had been doing exercise why!
 
Crikey Patches!

I don't walk mine at all, they have access to a yard from their bedroom at all times, and if I am outside then so are they. Apart from going to the Vet once a year they never go off the property, or have a leash on.
 
I don't really walk my dogs, they just have the run of the yard and fields and are let loose while I do the yard and ride, although I do have 5 (a springer, 2 labxcollies, a GS and terrierxwhippet) and so they play and occupy each other. I will sometimes take them out hacking with me (only 1 or 2, not all 5!!) and they have a charge around the fields when I take horses in and out, check fencing/water troughs etc. They get locked up for the afternoon as the hens/ducks are let out, although the dog run is 1/4 acre and again they play with each other. They're loose again in the evening while I do the horses for the night.

Could you not just let your collie loose when you do the horses to run around herself, or would she come with you when you're hacking, I have 100 acres I'm allowed ride in and bring the dogs up there with me. I understand about your spaniel though, mine is now 13 and is deaf and quite dopey, she just follows her nose and can't hear you when you call her back. She doesn't need a huge amount of exercise though as she's quite arthritic and just potters around.
 
We do have Bess on the yard with us but can't have her loose when we're expecting visitors/liveries as she has a tendency to jump up people or run after their cars....or to run after the feral cats and get in with the calves and send them.... to Lord knows where in her mind, but she keeps trying!
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In the summer she's out and about naturally more. From Spring onwards she'll have a good couple of walks a day when she's fetching the cows up twice a day for milking. I would assume that she'll just potter about the yard between milking then.

She just seems to get so bored unless she's running free. She would stay in the fields all day if you let her. Boundless energy.

She will run after cars too, so obviously I can't take her hacking on the roads with me (and wouldn't want to anyway). I'm not sure she'd be much use hacking across the farm with me either. Everything that moves, she wants to round up! Bless her heart, it could be an interesting hack with her at Patches heels!
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OMG Poor you - I would just die doing that much dog walking per day. I would go insane with boredom!
My JRT gets one approx hour across the beach, woods and salt flats per day off the lead and one hour-ish up at the field whilst I do my horse, also off the lead. In the summer he gets to join me on a two hour hack a couple of days a week with my horse plus a long walk with me and hubby on the beaches at the weekends. In the day at home he may get 10 mins dog agility training indoors or ball and ring up and down the garden. He sleeps the rest of the time. Sometimes I think I don't give him enough exercise but with a long legged JRT they are never tired of running and catching bunnies and chasing pheasants.
He is hard work but I am 53 and creaky.
 
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