More Puppy Walking

[Phil]

Morning Chaps,

It was Brin's first walk yesterday. We got further than I expected but it's a whole new world out there to sniff and eat!

Quick question. I read (I've done alot of reading about dogs since we got Brin!) somewhere that you should walk your puppy for about 5 minutes for every month old he is. So Brin's 11 weeks so we walked him for about 15 minutes. Is this per day or per walk? We'd like to walk him first thing (this morning was in the pouring rain!) and at night but can we do 15 minutes for each walk?

Thanks again.

Have a great Christmas and a good New Year.

Phil.                    

[Dessie]

Hi Phil

Personally I would only take him out for 5 minute walks maybe twice a day until he is six months old, but this is me personally.

Just don't over exercise him however tempting it is to just walk and walk and walk  :wink:                    

[Katina]

Hi Phil

Personally I would only take him out for 5 minute walks maybe twice a day until he is six months old, but this is me personally.

 :shock: My lot would have driven me _complitely mad_ if I had taken them out only for so little time   (My problem is that I don't have a garden, so I have to take my dogs out to the woods to run and play)
Ada has been for long walks since she was 3 months old (and when i say long i mean more than half an hour).  All the others have been toddling along the walks since I got them, which means from 7 weeks onwards. I always keep my pups off the lead (well I live in a very nice area with lots of woods) so they exercise all they like. If they seem tired, I of course take them home. Despite me being cruel   and over exercising my dogs, they grew up normally and are very healthy. One thing I have noticed is that they look like bodybuilders compared to most cockers I see. The judges in the shows keep admiring their muscular condition.
Nowadays our walks are much longer, around 2 hours.
But, people do call me crazy  

So I would say Phil, that you're fine walking the 15 minutes, twice a day.                    

[Dessie]

Hi Katina

You are lucky - if I did that with Douglas he would of been even more skinner than he was this year.  Sebastian & Douglas are very active when out and about so if they were walked from when they were tiny puppies they wouldn't of had a decent amount of weight on them.  I've only now managed to get Douglas up to 2 stone in weight  :wink:

I was always taught by my Cocker Elders that if you walked puppies to far from an early age they would get really leggy  :wink:  Of course this is an old wives tale but in hindsight you wouldn't take a toddler out for long walks would you  :wink:

JMHO                    

[Katina]

Dessie: If you really want musles to a dog then the excersise should be aerobic (running after a ball uphill etc) not on the lead (if you do very long walks but on the lead you actually do harm, just like you said). I have a friend that breeds and trains greyhounds and i've been told this by her   (and you should see the body on her dogs  :shock: ). Just look at some athletes for instance, there's a big difference in sprinters and the ones that run marathons  :wink:                      

[shonajoy]

Hi Phil

Personally I would only take him out for 5 minute walks maybe twice a day until he is six months old, but this is me personally.

Just don't over exercise him however tempting it is to just walk and walk and walk  :wink:

Oooh, Dessie, thankyou! I'm so pleased to hear this, since my cocker pup seems to be the laziest ever.

Yesterday he sat down just outside the house, and whined, then when that didn't work, he lay down! He literally is a 5 minutes max boy, I'm so surprised by him. He spends most of the day in the kitchen, basking in the heat from the Rayburn.                    

[Phil]

He literally is a 5 minutes max boy

I think Brin's going to be the opposite. We could have stayed out for hours last night. Mind you, we could have been out hours and still only gone about 20 yards! If we only took him out for 5 minutes at a time we'd never get of the drive. This morning he wasn't quite as enthusiastic but I think that was the streaming rain! The hair dryer was a new experience which didn't go down too well either!                    

[Dessie]

Dessie: If you really want musles to a dog then the excersise should be aerobic (running after a ball uphill etc) not on the lead

Katina

You should see the muscle on all my Boys :wink:  There favourite pastime is digging for rabbits so their shoulder muscle are probably a bit too much  :wink:

What I was trying to say is that Douglas didn't have any body ie no extra fat, plenty of muscle but not much else.  Now with the extra fat and good muscle tone he looks so much better.  

If you want to keep weight on your dog and build up muscle I was told that you should lead walk not free run  :roll:                    

[Tjarda]

Hi,

My little cocker doesn`t put much weight on either. From the day I had Gwenda, I let her walk off lead in the park and probably much to often and much to far. When she was 8 weeks old I used to carry her to the park and then let her play. And I have always let her play and run alot during our walks. But I have to say that I have always been a bit scared that I`m overdoing it, but my vet reassured me. She is now 7 months old and we go for a 1.5-hour-walk (always off lead) with lots of playing with other dogs twice a day and in the evening when its dark we go for 15-minute-walks on the lead. She has always been very energetic, she could play for hours If I didn`t stop her. I used to put her in her crate after a long walk so she had to rest. She is also getting pretty muscular. My vet  told me she was in excellent shape.
But I have been wondering wether the fact that I`ve been walking her this much, has anything to do with her weighing only 8.5 kilos.

Tjarda                    

[Dessie]

Hi Tjarda

I would say that the amount of exercise you are giving Gwenda would be the reason why she is only 8.5 kilos.  This is why when I have a pup they are only walked for around 5 mins a day until they are 6 months, I have three so the pup has plenty of exercise playing with the other two.  When they get to six months I would increase the exercise to around 30 mins but no longer      

I found with Douglas that he wasn't gaining weight although he has a very big appetite, and then put it down to the fact that he was burning it all off on his walks.  He tears around the place like a lunatic and is always ahead of the rest of us on walks.  This year I really cut down his walks as I wanted him to body up (this is very important for me especially as I show my dogs and having a skinny dog in the ring is a big no no)  :cry:  

I'm pleased to report that after 4 months of reduced exercise (although I'm sure when he does go for his walk he really makes up for the fact that it is the only one of the day and tears around more  :wink: ) he is now up to 2 stone and has remained at this with increased exercise  

You could always reduce her exercise by a bit and see how she does, and also look at the protein content of her food.  

JMHO                    

[Katina]

Dessie: sorry it took me a long time to reply, as I was away for the hols. I didn't mean to imply that your boys don't have muscles, sorry if you understood my text like that . My lot also likes to go "rabbithunting", mind you when they found one alive, they came running back home and looked really scared  :roll:  
Mine are probabaly too "skinny" then, as they have no extra fat on their bodies, and I like to keep it that way (cruel me ). Despite the lack of fat they have done remarkably well in the showring .

Tjarda: when looking at how much your cocker weighs, you should also take into account that some are lighter in bone than others, so even if your cocker weighs less than some others, she is not necessarily too thin .                    

[Dessie]

Hi Katina

It is different here in the UK to Finland as the Judges like the dogs to have plenty of weight on them and whereas Douglas had plenty of muscle and was always in good hard condition he didn't have any extra body fat  :wink:  They like the puppies to almost have a slight roll when moving in the UK.

I hope this explains things a little better.                    

[Katina]

Yes, I thought it would be something like that , so  I do understand your point.                    

[Daisydoo]

Hi

Oh dear  :oops:  I have just joined the board and read this posting - have recently been chosen by Daisy - my gorgeous mischeivous 11 week blue roan as a home for life - and fear that having started her adventures in the outside world I may have been overdoing it !!
She has been out and about for a week and met all my friends dogs - playing in fields, houses and gardens - and is superb on the lead (believe it or not)- doing an average of 45mins/an hour a day (and loving it )
I am now worried that I may have been overdoing it although Im sure Daisy doesnt think so - she is always up for more ..
We do have a large garden in a deserted almost village lane - perhaps I need to curtail her activities more to this - Help !! :?