How much exercise?

Me again! I seem to be asking a million questions at the moment!
Loki is a 5 month old springerxcocker - full of energy and fearless!
He has two walks a day, generally one is about half an hour long and the other is an hour (sometimes a little more.)
He goes off lead whenever we can and plays with any dog of any size often getting tumbled head over tail and running back for more.
He's just developed a limp which I am taking him to the vet to look at tonight, but it made me wonder if I am walking him too much for his age, or if its okay?

Yes you are walking him for too long, the rule of thumb is 5mins per month of age.
I would cut down on his exercise and play some brain games with him to mentally tire him.

So that's 25 mins? Is that for the whole day or per walk?

Yes, you are giving him far too much exercise for his age.

I would do 25 minutes once a day, off lead to burn his energy off, and then do a shorter controlled lead walk later in the day. Obviously you can combine this with some training and play around the house and garden.

As he is now limping, I would rest him a couple of days; no walks, just out for toileting in the garden. I'm assuming he is putting weight on it? and doesn't appear to be in pain? I see that you are taking him to vets tonight which is fine, but odds are he or she will just say to rest him for a few days. It might even be worth canceling your appointment, giving him a few days rest, and then going to the vets if the problem persists. Hopefully it is just a strain from being over-worked that will clear up by itself in a few days.

agree way too much exercise,i dont even exercise my springers that much but do alot of brain exercise, they love finding stuff as well

I find it interesting that you are all saying that this is too much exercise. Tia had loads of energy as a puppy, but i was worried about over exercising her. I asked my vet how much I could walk her and he said she could walk 2 to 3 miles at a time and this was when she was 4 months old!

Most vets don't have a clue when it comes to things like exercise and behaviour, unfortunately. So I would always take any 'advice' such as how much exercise to give a puppy, or how to deal with behavioural issues, etc., with a massive pinch of salt. Health of animals is their field; I obviously trust them in that respect, but not others.

However, there are differences between breeds and how much exercise to give as puppies. For example, I was very careful with my Lab as a pup because as a breed they are prone to genetic joint issues. With breeds like the Lab, it pays for the first year or so to take it easy and not over exercise as you risk making any potentially underlying joint issues worse. My other two breeds on the other hand are relatively healthy breeds overall (in terms of joint health) and I wasn't as strict.

I thought vets were the best people to advise about exercise because over exercise causes health issues? Am I expecting my vet to know too much?

I personally wouldn't expect vets to be too hot on the needs of all individual breeds. There is no blanket rule when it comes to exercise and all breeds vary quite considerably in that respect.

I think it is more a case of doing some research on what is recommended for your individual breed and then making some adjustments based on the personality of the dog.

I found it more difficult with Tia being a crossbred - no standard guidelines and no experienced breeder to turn to. I just wish I knew about Dogsey back then!!