To much to young

Hormonal Filly

Hormonal Filly

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We had someone new come along to the shoot on the weekend with a Springer, quite a big dog.

It worked all day, from 9am to 3pm so a super long day.

Our dogs are fully grown and get completely knackered after a long day working.

I asked how old the Springer was afterwards, to my amazement, just 6 months old! He had over 6 hours exercise.
Its not worth saying anything, some old fashioned gundog people have no thoughts towards the dogs.

Poor pup could barely keep his eyes open.

Isn't the rule 5 minutes for every month of age? :(
 
Ah yes, this is something that interests me... my rule of thumb has always been that they are old enough to do a morning or a quiet day on the second season they are alive (so they’ll be 18m-2years).. I may take them a handful of times max then leave it until the next season...

Someone who recently acquired a dog off me said she takes hers as soon as possible... her cocker went out at 12 weeks.. she didn’t say what it did tho. It’s not just the physical aspect of it, it’s the mental aspect too.. you can ruin a good dog by rushing it.
 
Depends on the dog mentally - one of my first Springers won his Novice on the day he was a year old, he had been shot over and picked up by then but only in short bursts. Current competition dog won his Open his weekend exactly a year to the day he was first shot over, he's 2.5yo now.

I expose them to game as early as possible but only in short bursts!
 
Our 6 month old Labs spent less than an hour in a dog-field session retrieving a ball this morning and have been fast asleep since lunchtime.
However I do wish posters wouldn't 'excuse' thoughtlessness/selfishness by calling it 'old-fashioned', it isn't it's thoughtless or selfish or both.
 
Thats a very long day for a pup who hasn't finished developing and growing yet. Our Peril is 2y 6m and doing her first beating season this year. We only got her in July last year and she hadn't been introduced to the gun then so she has spent a year going out picking up when OH goes vermin shooting three times a week. She has built up her fitness, and been allowed to develop muscle without overdoing it. A normal non working day is around 11 miles for her and her Fitbark registers around 25-30 miles on a full days beating. She is as fresh on the last drive as the first. She has been beating all day today but will still do 11 miles tomorrow on her off day. She has amazing stamina but was allowed to grow up slowly and steadily.
 
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I'm not saying I agree, but for some people, dogs serve a purpose and the dogs get started young and do what's required and then they finish young, for obvious reasons. The owners aren't interested in a dog that's going to live into double figures, they just want a dog to do the job, whatever that might be, until it can't any more and then get another one that can.
 
I actually have a bit of a difference in opinion to many.

I don't condone a six month pup doing six hours BUT I certainly do far more with my puppies than many people would say was appropriate.

At 12 weeks my BC x was easily doing a 30 minute walk. By six months she was out riding for 1.5-2 hours at a time. We play lots of fetch.

I appreciate she won't make real old bones. My last BC type went at 12 with the same lifestyle. I get that if I kept to the five minute rule, didn't play loads of fetch, didnt spend years with her charging after a horse for hours and just did gentle exercise then she might make 16. But I don't think dogs look to the future. I prefer to have a dog with a shorter life who has had the best time with a lifestyle that most dog owners can only dream of their dog having.
 
Peter7917 said:
I actually have a bit of a difference in opinion to many.

I don't condone a six month pup doing six hours BUT I certainly do far more with my puppies than many people would say was appropriate.

At 12 weeks my BC x was easily doing a 30 minute walk. By six months she was out riding for 1.5-2 hours at a time. We play lots of fetch.

I appreciate she won't make real old bones. My last BC type went at 12 with the same lifestyle. I get that if I kept to the five minute rule, didn't play loads of fetch, didnt spend years with her charging after a horse for hours and just did gentle exercise then she might make 16. But I don't think dogs look to the future. I prefer to have a dog with a shorter life who has had the best time with a lifestyle that most dog owners can only dream of their dog having.
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For me, it's not so much the dog making real old age, but the element of pain the dog will be in, in later life....some people think an 8 or 9 year old dog being stiff and hobbling or lame is normal, I don't. In fact a lot of people don't seem to notice their pets are lame at all.

And then there are people saying 'oh but he still loves doing XYZ'...no that's the dog's natural drive carrying it through pain, they're stoic like that.
 
CorvusCorax said:
For me, it's not so much the dog making real old age, but the element of pain the dog will be in, in later life....some people think an 8 or 9 year old dog being stiff and hobbling or lame is normal, I don't. In fact a lot of people don't seem to notice their pets are lame at all.

And then there are people saying 'oh but he still loves doing XYZ'...no that's the dog's natural drive carrying it through pain, they're stoic like that.
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I think the same however can be said for a dog of any lifestyle. A friend of mine kept her staffy alive until he was 17. For his last year he couldn't even go for a walk, would trip over all the time, his body would shake. I stopped going over there because it was just so awful to witness. They would say 'oh he still wags his tail and enjoys his dinner' so overlooked the fact he was obviously suffering.

I'm a firm believer of not letting dogs or indeed any animal, fester in the same way we force humans to. My last dog was still walking for a decent walk each day at 12, but her NSAIDS just weren't preventing her discomfort in the evenings anymore. We did hydrotherapy with her etc but I won't have a dog in discomfort. I'm sure there are many people who would have just kept her going for another couple of years with the attitude that she was still going for a walk and running about so the unsettled discomfort in the evening is acceptable, but I don't believe in that.
 
I guess the same argument can be said of a highly competed pony. Even broken at 4, if they have done fifteen intense years of ridden work, jumped high tracks etc then they are more likely to be an 'old 19' compared to a pony who perhaps has been a gentle hack all his life.
 
Peter7917 said:
I think the same however can be said for a dog of any lifestyle. A friend of mine kept her staffy alive until he was 17. For his last year he couldn't even go for a walk, would trip over all the time, his body would shake. I stopped going over there because it was just so awful to witness. They would say 'oh he still wags his tail and enjoys his dinner' so overlooked the fact he was obviously suffering.

I'm a firm believer of not letting dogs or indeed any animal, fester in the same way we force humans to. My last dog was still walking for a decent walk each day at 12, but her NSAIDS just weren't preventing her discomfort in the evenings anymore. We did hydrotherapy with her etc but I won't have a dog in discomfort. I'm sure there are many people who would have just kept her going for another couple of years with the attitude that she was still going for a walk and running about so the unsettled discomfort in the evening is acceptable, but I don't believe in that.
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I've never had to have a dog on meds or hydro in later life, I think that's the difference. The first day my 14 year old dog struggled to get up, we called the vet.
All my dogs have/have had extremely active lifestyles and almost all have competed in high impact disciplines - but you don't send a baby into a boxing ring or make it run a marathon so I don't know why people do it with their dogs.

Genetics/breed and luck permitting, if you (anyone, I mean) are careful with exercise, weight, nutrition and, where applicable, supplements, in the formative years, you can save yourself a lot of bother later on.
 
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What about hounds? Aren't they commonly PTS at around 7-8? Is this to say that they have worked too hard and cannot make old bones? I'm not actually trying to make a point, its generally my curiosity. I know many spaniel type for instance at that age who would still be fine to work all day long. Or is it something to do with the breed that they just can't stand up to the work by that age?
 
I don't really know enough about hounds, but my trainer always used to site them as a classic example of natural selection!! They're born, they work, they die, they eat what they're given, if they're not up to it for any reason, they are removed from the gene pool. Canids in the wild don't tend to live very long at all in comparison.
 
It’s difficult for me to comment as I don’t have puppies ever - but I do have the cast-offs where a greyhound has been asked to do too much too soon and has got an injury as a result...

I would never ever deliberately allow a puppy or young dog to over-exercise, knowing it would compromise that dogs health in later life completely unnecessarily. That is the epitome of poor dog ownership to me.

Neither do I keep dogs going at the end of their lives for my sake. Ever.
 
Aside from anything else, how do you work a puppy? Is recall, sit, leave etc all incredibly well established at 6 months? Nope thought not. We have been training and working gundogs for around 45 years and they have never gone out before 18 months of age and then only in bite sized(not literally) chunks...half a day maybe two drives, some on a lead.
Totally agree with spottytb here 18 months- 2 years as a minimum.
Just ignoring Peter7917 comments....not worth the effort really.....
 
Well they are. So I do a lot with my dogs. They want for nothing. Most go in their teens. They have physio hydro a decent diet. They aren't locked in a yard in the rain ignored. They aren't neglect cases. I can't believe how vile u lot can be if someone has a different view to u.
 
They are insured, well socialised, never left in the day, but I'm the worst possible dog owner because I think my nut job bc needs more than 5 mins per age. I've never cried more than I have today
 
Peter, if you are confident that your dogs have the best possible care you can give them, it doesn't matter what anyone else says, does it? It's not worth crying or getting too ;) sweary over. Nobody has said you're the worst anything.
Some people are just concerned that it too much exercise might be a bit much for your pup, there are plenty of brain training exercises you can do to take the wind out of their sails/tire their brains out.

I've had comments here over the years that have stung a bit, not everyone keeps their dogs the same way, we can't all agree, I try to take the points of others on board, people are very passionate about pet ownership, that's life.
 
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