How far should i walk my puppy

[twiceover2]

I am not an expert on this, just going by what my vet told me, but here are some info sources:

Advice from John Houlton, Dipl. ECVS, Chairman of the World Veterinary Orthopaedic Congress 2010:

"As far as I know there is no published evidence on the relationship of exercise and developmental musculo-skeletal disease in dogs......................................

Ah thanks - I've seen those sources before (the Woodhavens site is in my favourites as it has lots of info on canine reproduction etc) and thought there might be some new published research out there which I'd missed. With HD, research is continuing all the time but I think we were talking more generally here rather than about HD specifically. I do agree with you that it's not a good idea to let any puppy get fat but I'm going to stick with my usual regime of allowing our pups to free run and play in our large garden as much as they like but only shortish lead walks until they're older. It would be good to think all owners had common sense when it comes to puppies and exercise but sadly they don't so it does no harm to discuss this from time to time & as with any subject to do with dogs, opinions will vary (even amongst vets)

As I say, I am not an expert on this - these are just articles I found online.  I was going off my vet's advice and how she explained it to me.  I agree that it is useful to discuss things and then it is up to each to make their own decision.

[black taz]

i must admit that before joining COL i had never heard of the 5 minute rule, and i know that i walked my collie cross much more than that when she was a pup.  However, she was already 11 when i had Taz, so Taz only got slow walks when he was a pup and probably not too long (as Kelly refused to stay at home ).  However, when i had Kira (lab) i did try and limit her walks to prevent too much strain on her joints. 

Better safe than sorry, but as with everything the odd longer walk shouldnt hurt (unless it is hours of course)