Puppies, how much is too much exercise please?

Enfys

Enfys

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I've read about over exercising young dogs, especially the larger breeds, but how much exercise is too much in your opinions?

Boston, my GSD, is now 8 months old and still growing like a weed and is pretty lanky. The Vet said he's fine and she would prefer to see him as he is.

He doesn't get walked as such, he spends 2 hours a day probably, out around the place with me just playing with his mate and bimbling about doing doggy stuff, and then another couple of hours throughout the day I suppose, again just trotting about doing his own thing.

Is this general bimbling too much for a youngster?
 
Hmmm I think the general 'rule' is something along the lines of 20mins plus 5 mins for each month or their life...

Sooo as he is 8 months - I'd reckon around an hour a day max on those rules...

HOWEVER I don't think 'bimbling' around would count... depends what he does when he bimbles and how rigourous the exercise was during the hour allocation!! LOL!!

I have been told that puppies shouldn't be 'run' but can run/trot around no probs?!
 
Bimbling isn't so bad and the general rule is let them sleep when they want and little hard galloping until over a year.
 
I was told 20mins was sufficient. I used to do a 20 min walk and then let him bimble around the yard to make it up to about an hour.

I found it difficult cos you want to get your puppy out socialising, but you have to limit their exercise. My dog was soooo boisterous and had trouble finding his brakes for about the first year hence his "play" with another dog usually involved him running flat out, not being able to stop and crashing into walls, other dogs, people ... you name it really!! So I had to really restrict his play cos I was so worried about his joints (his "brakes" are still a little haphazard).

Love the name of your dog by the way.

J x
 
I understood that the exercise limit applied to 'formal' walking exercise, as opposed to the exercise they give themselves playing in the garden and such like. I think the idea being that when they are playing and are tired they will just rest, whereas if they get tired out on a walk they have to carry on.
 
Oh dear, now I am feeling like a bad Mother.

Boss does play rather vigourously with Rip but it's only in 5 minute spurts, then they'll lie down on squirrel duty.......so they can chase the squirrels back up the trees. Bimbling, in his case, is a leisurely lope (he doesn't seem to walk come to think of it) to the fields, then around the house interspersed with long sessions of nothingness. He is fine in himself and the Vet thinks he is a fabulous dog and is quite happy with him, I do worry about it though, I just wonder if it's a case of too much info and not enough actual knowledge.
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Having had greyhounds and terriers for the past 15 years a GSD is a bit different.

Kibob, You have no idea how many names we thought of for this dog!
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Boston just kept cropping up, in books, on TV, the radio, Boston Pizza, there's a township with the name near here, and we've visited Boston (US) and loved that, so, Boston he became, his name is always commented on as it's not really very "doggy" but he has an Uncle called London and an Aunt called Selby!


Thankyou all for your time
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I didn't walk her, as such, until she was six-months-old. Between four and six months, I used to take her to the small dog park (an American concept), twice a day, and she'd wrestle/chase with the other pups. We also played tug of war and other games at home.

I started to increase the duration of her walks gradually, started agility classes when she was fourteen months, and she became my jogging companion at eighteen months.
 
Thats a good point - never thought of it like that. My poor dog having his neurotic mother dragging him away from his friends ... now I feel like a bad mother too lol (he is the ultimate clumsy boy though).
 
I think one of the worst thing for them is jumping - one of our previous dogs used to go to work with OH, and travelled in the front of the van. When he was about a year old he had problems with his front legs due, we think, to leaping from the van seat to the ground. Luckily the problem resolved itself when he was prevented from doing so.
 
Ours ahd 20/30 min on lead (more to let them know what iis was for then any real form of exercise) and did what they wanted through the day.
They would be active more or less the whole day,chasing butterflys, following us ect but could go to rest whenever they wanted.
Never had any trouble with hips in about 30 GSD's owned by the family.
 
Again, Thankyou. I am reassured, so daytime mooching is fine.
He loves the snow and has such a thick coat I don't think he feels it at all, just plops down anywhere for a rest, it's been glorious today so he's been taking it easy. Mind, I've seen him lying out there completely covered in snow too.
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He is very handsome
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Ilove GSDs Need to get myself another one.
A few short walks a day to socialise and become familiar with the big wide work, then just general garden mooching around, like TGM said I think the over excercise comes from walking young pups for miles without giving them chance to rest as they would with free play in the garden or off the lead.
He is a gorgeous boy
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I think its the galloping around at high speed that does quite a lot of injuries and playing rough with other dogs. For my larger breeds, I have had to be careful with their free play sessions in the garden as my rotti would often come in limping.
 
I honestly wouldn't worry about the skinnyness of him - my Malinois was really skinny when she reached about 6 months old and this continued pretty much until very recently. She has just turned 2 years old and is finally starting to fill out. She, like all my other animals, is fed ad-lib so I haven't been worried about her. Our vets absolutely adore her and say she is in tip-top condition!!
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She has always had full 24 hour freedom to outside and she runs around once in a while but to be honest most of the time she just bimbles too
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The only marked difference between your Shepherd and my Shepherd is that yours seems to have grown into his ears......and mine still hasn't!
 
My boxer did not fill out until he was 4. We have a multi dog household and just make sure that they only have short periods of 'forced' exercise until about a year. I don't worry about the play with other dogs as they just crash when they have had enough.
 
dont worry! if it didnt want to exercise for so long then it wouldnt! it wil fill out but they all go different and strange when there pups! if your feeding it enough (like the guided amount) then im sure it will be ok and fill out!! did that make any sense?! i hope so!
 
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