Stewie_the_Frenchie Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Hi guys, another one for the giant breeds (maybe not). Turtle is now 5 months old, yay! ;) In another month, my breeder's book says that I can start walking him for exercise. I was just wondering can anyone recommend how long for and how frequently? I have been really careful to not take him for walks until now and I'm really excited that I can finally take him for walks. I know that it's not advisable to beach walk him until he's 10 months, and as we are surrounded by sand (the Kimberley), I'll take him out to the gravel road. Anyhoo, any suggestions would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticks1977 Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I have read a bit of advice on this forum (going from memory here...) that 5 minutes of exercise per month of age is sufficient. I currently take Fraser - our chocolate labrador - for a 20-25 minute walk (depending on the amount of times he stops for a sniff!) and he seems to enjoy that. Usually after his walk he will walk inside, have a drink head to the loo and then lie down on his matt and have a nap. He still has not grasped the whole excitement behind when I say "go for walkies?" and he is starting to learn to go and get his lead when I mention to him "where's a lead?" sticks1977 ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Just wanted to say how gorgeous he is. Sorry, can't advise about the walking. A large breed pup is new to me, let alone a giant breed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewie_the_Frenchie Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 (edited) Just wanted to say how gorgeous he is. Sorry, can't advise about the walking. A large breed pup is new to me, let alone a giant breed. ha ha, no worries poodle wrangler...i'll always take the compliment for him! Sticks1977, that sounds like a great formula to use...i'll still wait till he's 6 months, but then 30 mins sounds good (it'll get my butt moving too! ) Thanks for that! ps. fraser is sooo cute, i've always loved chocolate labs...awesome name too Edited November 7, 2007 by newnewf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlelabrador Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Do you know why its 10 months for beach walking ?? I've been told its okay to take my 3 month old lab (after the last needles next week) to the beach, but for walking at home, only very short walks, like 500m or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevafollo Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 awww hes so cute...and have i mentioned that I LOVE his name!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 He is gorgeous!! lucky you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 (edited) Surprisingly there is absolutely no research on this so many experienced breeders/owners go on just that - experience! Your breeder might be a good place to start as they would have lots of knowledge plus I'm sure there would be a thread in the breed sub-forum for giant breeds. They do need some exercise to strengthen the muscles that support the joints but I've seen some awful examples in vet clinics of what happens when you over-do it. My personal approach when exercising my Dally has been very, very careful - joints and hips are just too precious to risk. At 12 months, he gets one night at show training (more mental stimulation than anything), 2-3 free runs at the beach per week (about 20-30 mins) early in the morning (to avoid idiot owners) and perhaps 2-3 short-ish walks (10-20 mins). The beach is fabulous because it's soft on their joints - walking extensively on roads/footpaths is not! This routine varies quite a bit....depending on how much mental stimulation he gets via shows and other training. When he was younger I would take him out to a cafe for an hour - the mental stimulation was fantastic and it was great for socialising.....needless to say he would sleep very soundly after that. It's really important to allow 'self-exercise' and learn to recognise when your pup has had enough. My pup never does so I make that decision for him! Also be careful about allowing full-on playing with other dogs (as opposed to controlled socialising) and chasing balls etc - all very bad for hips. I'm curious as to why you've been told no beach walking too - as I said the breeder probably has a wealth of experience to support their reasoning. Your puppy is gorgeous ETA: I thought it worthwhile to clarify that my pup is inside a lot and doesn't have free access to a large yard (just think of the destruction factor ) and is more likely to have a free run when he is going to be crated for several hours while I am at uni. Edited November 10, 2007 by The Spotted Devil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewie_the_Frenchie Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 thanks guys - for both compliments and advice, re: beach walks - the breeder thought that the shifting surface of sand would be bad for growing joints and bones in the giant breeds. my vet said there's a lot of advice out there but there's no guarantee for any of it, and even if I don't walk him on the beach now, he might still get dispalsia and if I do he might not. i think you just have to take what is relevent to your situation and go from there. thanks again guys, you're a big help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassie Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 PERSONALLY, I think a 30 minute walk for a 6 month old Newfie pup is too much. Think how far you can walk in 30 whole minutes, it's a long way! When I had my Saint pup, we were only walking him short distances every day or two, by "short" I'm talking literally just around our block, which is probably 600m in total. But yeah, speak to your breeder, as they will know what works for their own dogs best Good luck, and you've already heard it a hundred times, but he's such a cutie!!! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewie_the_Frenchie Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 thanks cassie - you always have good advice! that's true about the distance, when I go for a walk it is usually 30 mins and 3kms. that's quite far! i will test him out with a short 10min walk to start with i think, and see how he goes from there. i think it will really be about trial and error! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I limited my dog's running untill she turned 1 and now we go for long runs together... i was just thinking tho, in the wild, dogs would not be able to limit the amount of running they do depending on their age, so how come we do it for them? Obviouwsly there is the skeletal reasons, but they seemed to cope just fine in the wild or didnt they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicko Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 i love your baby! I never 'walk' misha, we go to the park and i let her off lead and she gets about a 15/20 minute walk/run and chasing Sunnie aroudn the park and then its a two minute walk home. I had never heard that about the beach with the uneven sand, very strange buut i know there is a lot of opnions out there. And i agree with cassie a 30 minute walk seems like a long walk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloebear Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 thanks cassie - you always have good advice! that's true about the distance, when I go for a walk it is usually 30 mins and 3kms. that's quite far! i will test him out with a short 10min walk to start with i think, and see how he goes from there. i think it will really be about trial and error! My puppy is also a large breed about 5 months old. Glad to hear that puppies don't have to walk 30 minutes or 3 km because I don't think I would make it, we will differently be starting off small and increasing with time, so I don't have to call a ambulance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I limited my dog's running untill she turned 1 and now we go for long runs together...i was just thinking tho, in the wild, dogs would not be able to limit the amount of running they do depending on their age, so how come we do it for them? Obviouwsly there is the skeletal reasons, but they seemed to cope just fine in the wild or didnt they? Rachelle, my personal opinion for what it's worth ...in the wild, it is a case of survival of the fittest so a lot of dogs don't survive long enough to have joint problems, and secondly, the ground we expect our dogs to walk on often has no "spring" in it (think concrete, bitumen) compared with soft ground with leaf litter. In addition we put different expectations on our dogs (e.g. dog sports) and they are often either flat out sleeping (while we are at work) or flat out running. Plus we have bred lines of dogs that have different frames (proportion and overall size) that puts extra strain on the joints. Just a few ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I limited my dog's running untill she turned 1 and now we go for long runs together...i was just thinking tho, in the wild, dogs would not be able to limit the amount of running they do depending on their age, so how come we do it for them? Obviouwsly there is the skeletal reasons, but they seemed to cope just fine in the wild or didnt they? Rachelle, my personal opinion for what it's worth ...in the wild, it is a case of survival of the fittest so a lot of dogs don't survive long enough to have joint problems, and secondly, the ground we expect our dogs to walk on often has no "spring" in it (think concrete, bitumen) compared with soft ground with leaf litter. In addition we put different expectations on our dogs (e.g. dog sports) and they are often either flat out sleeping (while we are at work) or flat out running. Plus we have bred lines of dogs that have different frames (proportion and overall size) that puts extra strain on the joints. Just a few ideas! They are all great ideas and many of which did occur to me, i guess none of which seemed so significant..ecept for the one about surbival of the fittest... i guess a dog who was not very durable would not have had it's lines carried on, as a pose to those who were very durable. The idea which you raised that i was most interested in is the breeding part... whether the changing shape of dogs to win shows, is having a negative effect on their durability? For eg the GSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 (edited) I limited my dog's running untill she turned 1 and now we go for long runs together...i was just thinking tho, in the wild, dogs would not be able to limit the amount of running they do depending on their age, so how come we do it for them? Obviouwsly there is the skeletal reasons, but they seemed to cope just fine in the wild or didnt they? Rachelle, my personal opinion for what it's worth :rolleyes: ...in the wild, it is a case of survival of the fittest so a lot of dogs don't survive long enough to have joint problems, and secondly, the ground we expect our dogs to walk on often has no "spring" in it (think concrete, bitumen) compared with soft ground with leaf litter. In addition we put different expectations on our dogs (e.g. dog sports) and they are often either flat out sleeping (while we are at work) or flat out running. Plus we have bred lines of dogs that have different frames (proportion and overall size) that puts extra strain on the joints. Just a few ideas! They are all great ideas and many of which did occur to me, i guess none of which seemed so significant..ecept for the one about surbival of the fittest... i guess a dog who was not very durable would not have had it's lines carried on, as a pose to those who were very durable. The idea which you raised that i was most interested in is the breeding part... whether the changing shape of dogs to win shows, is having a negative effect on their durability? For eg the GSD. I haven't read enough on this subject but I did come across a very interesting article (Amercian study) when writing a lit review on early age desexing. The distraction index (DI) is a measure of hip joint laxity and is a known predictor of hip degenerative joint disease (DJD) and thus hip dysplasia. The authors radiographically evaluated the hips of nearly 16,000 dogs of 4 different breed types and, for GSDs, the risk of having DJD was nearly 5 times the risk for dogs of the other 3 breeds (Golden Retriever, Lab & Rotti) combined. The authors concluded that GSDs appeared to be less tolerant of passive joint laxity than other breeds as they had a higher chance of DJD from any given DI. They hypothesised a number of possible theories: conformational characteristics of the breed (less muscle mass stabilising hip joint), a breed-specific genetic defect (in joint sense or proprioception), or the sloping posture. I'm happy to clarify any of those points if I haven't made them very clear. Sorry for going but it's all food for thought. I think also, that while none of the ideas I mentioned are significant on their own, it is a combination of factors that causes the differences. ETA: Another thought.....we have tended to breed dogs with more "puppy-like" personality characteristics.....thus we have dogs that tend to play harder and longer than a wild dog would....I think wild dogs would grow up pretty darn fast. Hope this all makes sense! Edited November 14, 2007 by The Spotted Devil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 thanks a lot for that SD, i will have to have a read of your post when i am not so tired and reply... it is a bit complex for me right now lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now