lengths of walks for a puppy?

oldie48

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Stanley is 5 and a half months and loves his walks. I have stuck to the 5 mins per month guideline with a bit extra as he's a small dog, so now we are doing 35/40 minutes. We do some training whilst we are out, sometimes he meets a dog who will play with him but sometimes not so he doesn't do a lot of galloping around on most of our walks as he sticks pretty close. He is always a bit reluctant to get back in the car and I know he'd like to do more. We have just got home and he's racing round the house with his toys. What do other folks do? He's a BT, taken for 2 walks a day with the second one being somewhat shorter.
 
Well....FWIW from someone with no particular specialist knowledge, our six month old terrier is doing quite a bit more than that - he's on three walks a day (two on lead, 30 minutes ish) and one hour off lead playing with a ball and charging around a local field with the other dogs. Anything less by now and he'd be climbing the walls - we do train him (obviously...) and give him puzzles but it doesn't seem to do the job of tiring him out (he just sprints up and down the stairs and on and off all the sofas, which doesn't seem ideal!). That was on the basis that he's pretty much achieved his adult size (he's as big as his mum and a bit smaller than his dad) by now and doesn't have a genetic predisposition to any particular joint problems. He's also recently been on longer hillwalks of up to a couple of hours with us, but it's all at his pace (off lead) with minimal charging around. The vet didn't seem to think there was a problem with his walks, and he never seems particularly tired when we head home.

This is an interesting previous thread on the subject - http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?447470-How-far-do-you-walk-with-your-puppy
 
On lead, the advice is 5 minutes per month of age. Off lead, up to owners to be sensible, I guess. I would do more stimulation/socialisation with him than actual walking. Brain training, teaching commands etc will tire him out. I used to have make mine rest in their crate or they'd have exhausted themselves. Could you do some find the hidden treat games?
 
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