One Long Or Several Smaller Walks?

[poodlefan]

Charlie can't handle a long walk and we don't push him.

Huh?

I thought he had a stroller now? :rolleyes:

[TC001]

I have a 5 mth Lab, he seems to be walking/pacing a bit quicker than I walk. Sometimes I will almost break into a little jog. Do I correct him and slow him down to my casual pace?

[poodlefan]

I have a 5 mth Lab, he seems to be walking/pacing a bit quicker than I walk. Sometimes I will almost break into a little jog. Do I correct him and slow him down to my casual pace?

Simple answer - do you wish him to dictate pace or do you want to do it. He's only going to get bigger.

Teach him to walk on a loose lead regardless of what pace you are doing.

[W Sibs]

Charlie can't handle a long walk and we don't push him.

Huh?

I thought he had a stroller now?

i just saw the pun!

He does have a stroller!! A very cool red one.

I only take the stroller out when we go somewhere that's an all day thing (eg, pet fairs and other stuff like that). Normal daily walks, I make him walk himself to build up muscles and exercise to keep his weight down... he can handle 15 minutes.. 10 minutes if we are walking up and down hills.

Edited December 7, 2010 by CW EW

[Loopy Lola]

Depends on the dogs really ......... I love long walks on the beach as does the GSD , but my big boy doesnt cope with it so well and does a sit down after half hour . Even when we walk him to school on a cool day ( only 15 mins away ) , he nearly always sits for a rest halfway home

[DerRottweiler]

I go for a short sprint session each night, only goes for around 15-20 mins, but much more effective/tiring then say 1 hour or more of walking lol.

[dee lee]

I'd prefer one really long walk if I had the luxury of time and a choice.

I love a long walk.

In reality we get a 45min-1hour exercise session early, followed by some incidental walking later in the morning before I go to work.

No time for night/evening walks, mores the pity.

These days its all about time management, not enjoyment.

[poochmad]

If time wasn't anissue, we would do longer walks, i.e. 40mins or more.

As it is, we currently do a short walk every day and take them to an offleash park (usually no dogs there) where they run around until they stop. This generally takes an hour. If their friends are there we will stay until they flop down or until our belly's grumble, whichever comes first and this results in the timeframe being from 1.5 hrs up to 2 hours.

ETA that when we go to the dog park we walk there which is half hour there and back so the dog's get a big walk on the weekend (along with the off lead run).

Edited December 7, 2010 by poochmad

[Mason_Gibbs]

I only do about a 30 minute walk in the morning and then we do obedience in the evening, or sometimes some obedience before or during the morning walk, weekends and one day a week I let him offlead with my friends dogs for about 1 to 1,5 hours.

[koalathebear]

Ideally I like to do 2 long walks (1hr +): one in the Am and one in the PM, with several shorter walks (15-40 mins)througout the day.

I think I'd lose my job if I did that. My current job is 9-5.30pm-ish and way better than my previous job which was about 9am to 10pm/11pm/3am ... but still ...

[kiesha09]

I feel guilty after reading this thread! My two get one walk a day at night that is between 30 mins and an hour depending on what I'm up to. Same goes for the weekend really. In summer all walks are pretty much offlead and in winter all walks are on lead during the week and offlead on the weekends.

[SparkyTansy]

If were no constraint, I would ideally do two long walks for the Weimaraner and medium to longer walks with my ES twice a day.

With time constraints in place, however, we try to do a short morning walk with the ES and a long evening walk with the Weimaraner. With one of the setters having HD, and the other being a lazy bugger, this seems to suit them fine. In summer I have more opportunity to swim the HD dog. The weimaraner gets 4-6km walks + free run daily.

[TC001]

I have a 5 mth Lab, he seems to be walking/pacing a bit quicker than I walk. Sometimes I will almost break into a little jog. Do I correct him and slow him down to my casual pace?

Simple answer - do you wish him to dictate pace or do you want to do it. He's only going to get bigger.

Teach him to walk on a loose lead regardless of what pace you are doing.

how far in front do you let the dog before corrections?

[Staranais]

One longer walk - preferably days long! My girl loves hiking. :D

Walking for less than several hours just doesn't really tire her out at all, unless I stop & do training along the way, or take the tennis ball flinging thing.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Staranais

[dee lee]

I have a 5 mth Lab, he seems to be walking/pacing a bit quicker than I walk. Sometimes I will almost break into a little jog. Do I correct him and slow him down to my casual pace?

Simple answer - do you wish him to dictate pace or do you want to do it. He's only going to get bigger.

Teach him to walk on a loose lead regardless of what pace you are doing.

how far in front do you let the dog before corrections?

As long as he is not pulling on the lead.

If he pulls and you let him, you are teaching him that he can pull to get where he wants. When he weighs up to 30kgs you will regret that!!!

If you do a search, there are quite a few, very helpful, threads in the training forum about how to et your dog to loose lead walk- well worth checking out sooner rather than later.

[all that glitters]

One longer walk - preferably days long! My girl loves hiking.

Walking for less than several hours just doesn't really tire her out at all, unless I stop & do training along the way, or take the tennis ball flinging thing.

LOL far out I'd be lying out cold on the ground at the 1hour and 5 minute mark! :laugh:

I'm so glad my shepherd is a laid back one, she'd be happy with even just 20 minutes but I make sure when we walk its 45minutes + cos I think it's better for us and tires her out so that she can sleep til we get home in the evening. I like easy dogs cos I'm lazy

[fainty_girl]

A morning and evening run off leash at the park would be ideal for my dogs, but it is about a 35-40 minute round trip to their favourite park, so I wouldn't want to drive that twice a day. When time is not an issue we stay at the park for about 70 minutes, but at the moment with work it is more like a good 45 minute run and swim for the dogs. This does tire them both out and keeps them happy, but ideally I would run them for longer in the evening if the sun was out for longer!

[Adnil444]

We do just over an hr walk/run each weekday morning and about 45 mins in the afternoon. On the weekends, I put on my bumbag and hat, and we can go for several hours. We also go to leash free parks as well. I'm always on the look out for new walks/routes to take. The longest walk we did was 3 hrs on the weekend. We were certainly tired - medium pace all the way. I must say that since I've taken up jogging in the mornings as well (one of my dogs needs to be on lead on our morning walks so I took up jogging to increase her exercise), I've lost several kilos which is rather nice leading up to Christmas, which no doubt I will put it back on!!

[halfthewords]

Double post.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Hanna Gibbs

[halfthewords]

My work schedule has been flexible for the last few months, but when I was working 7 days a week (both part time jobs), I would take my dogs out first thing in the morning for about 1.5 hours to an area where we would walk for 45mins, 30mins at the beach, and 15 at the offleash oval. Carl swims even in winter so he's usually splat after that.

Since it's hotter, I usually take them out for 30-40 mins in the morning to an offleash area where they can stretch their legs/burn off excess energy. My Min Pin really doesn't run much which is why I tend to walk long distances on leash. She has a luxating patella so I prefer her not to be hooning anyway. In the afternoon, we either do a 45min walk, or an offleash area. Tonight we went to the beach - super nice and warm.

I'm housesitting two dogs at the moment. My own 4 are all very fit and can keep up for hours but one of the other dogs is a Chihuahua and his short legs can't keep up. Total pain because the other dog, a foxy x, is so full of beans. I throw the ball for him as we walk to tire him out, which works well.

In cooler weather and when it gets dark earlier, I sometimes take Carl for a run after work. Depending on what he did in the morning, he keeps up pretty well.