Yeh i saw that after i posted!! Sorry!

Hi Matt the 5 minute rule is I think mainly concerned with on the lead walking . A puppy can run around and play at home and when it gets tired it will just flop down and go to sleep . When out walking it won't do this and will continue to walk until it is very tired. This can put a strain on joints and affect the growth plates.

My son recently acquired a Springer puppy and I told him about the rule, he mentioned it to his vet who said he wished more people would observe it because he sees so many dogs with joint problems some of them caused by people over exercising their puppies.

Exercise
Puppies are active and will seem never to tire – however we must not allow them to over
exercise on their growing bones and joints. We would advise that your puppy gets about 20
minutes of exercise twice daily until about 6-8 months old. This is particularly important in larger
breeds that can be predisposed to joint disease in later life. Large breed dogs should be restricted on
stairs and from jumping up as this puts stress on their developing hip joints. Small breed dogs
should not be allowed to jump down from furniture as they can fracture bones in their forelimbs

when they have open growth plates

http://www.goodcompanionsvets.co.uk/...nformation.pdf

It saddens me to see so many puppies walking for so long.
I have recently been through all this with my son and now his young lab has developed a limp from over doing things and he still can't see it .

Puppies don't need to go for long walks to wear them out. Its mentally they need wearing out.
I agree 15 mins is not long enough to tire a puppy and so I would take mine out for an hour twice a day but that was NOT walking.
We would go in the car to the supermarket have a 15 min walk round then sit on the bench outside so everyone could come and fuss pup, they interacted with children, adults other dogs noisy trolleys cars, bikes , motorbikes etc as they went past.
Mentally they would be exhausted and sleep when we got home and socialisation is the most important thing when they are young not being dragged for miles on a walk.
We would also walk or drive to a nearby park and again sit and interact with all that come by.
There are so many things you can do to keep your puppy happy and content that does not involve causing them problems later in life if you just use your imagination.
You have years ahead of you to walk miles with your dog so don't rush into it now and cut those years short. Do what your pup needs most and get it out there learning and socialising.

Another 5 minute rule here.Silvana is 13 weeks tomorrow and has 15 mins on lead walkig a day.Initially she had this broken down to 2 shorter walks,but now has the longer walk once a day.She also runs around the garden - usually after our cat a few times a day and will go out in the van,shopping etc for socialisation and stimulation.

1. Woody would be bored of just sitting in a van or at a shop and saying hi to everyone.
2. When we take him out for an hour or so, it's a 3 minute lead walk to the park and then he sniffs and runs about there.
3. I just cannot see how 20 minutes a day would ever be enough for him. We mentally stimulate him all the time with games and treat finding and meals in Kongs, as well as all the puppy training I do with him daily. Even with all this 20 minutes just would not be enough.
4. I am very conscious of his exercise and the "impact" side of things, but am also well aware of my own puppy and his needs.

I will however speak to the vet today and see what she says. It's a very controversial issue isn't it. I'll do some more research today.

Sorry a pup of 12 weeks old should not have more than 15 min road work a day if you are wishing to do the best you can for the dog, running round the house and garden is fine and you can allow as much of that as the pup wishes to do but do not encourage the dog to do it nor get the pup up to play when it is resting.

At 13 weeks old the pups growing points and joints are like jelly and any shock or twist will cause problems with the growth and the onset of problems latter in life. It may also cause distortion to the limbs by 18 months old, a problem that cant be corrected although growing plate damage can be corrected by an operation if it is noticed early enough, before the dogs bones have finished growing. The long bones stop growing first, but grow the fastest and it is important to protect them.

At 12 weeks wild dogs would only just be emerging from the nest and would never be taken on a hunt, they stay at the nest site with a nanny till they are fully mature, play is OK but flat out exercise is not.

Wow...I am also shocked to here that some 3-4 month old puppies are getting 2 hours of exercise. That is awful. I'm sorry, but a developing puppy should not be getting so much exercise at such a tender age.

I fail to see how anyone could think this is appropriate for a 12 week old puppy.

We stuck to the five minute rule for both of our lurchers, and neither was permitted to be up and down the stairs until they were around 6 months old, either as advised by my vet (and I've since heard our trainer passing on the same advice to new puppy owners). We did loads of training in the house, which wore them out much quicker than walks on the lead, and they had lots of play time with toys such as stuffed Kongs. We had a few minor destructions, but mostly during the teething stage - we never had dogs who appeared under exercised/stimulated, and especially with ours being cross-bred we didn't know exactly how they would turn out or how big they would make, so we decided that being over-cautious while they were growing was in their best interests.

How long has this 5 minute rule been in place? We've had gun dogs and hounds all my life and they've never had this little exercise and have been absolutely fine.

Also, do you really mean, by strictly following the 5 minute rule that this is relevant irrespective of whether they are a Great Dane or a Chihuahua?

This morning I did 10 minutes training with Woody, then he had a play, then he slept, then he had lunch, then he slept, then we did some training just before going out for a 3 minute walk to the park, some more training in the park and some ball fetch games (we were out for about 30 minutes).

When we got back I let him out into the garden and gave him a kong. He is now being destructive and has eaten the kong within about 5minutes.

I just do not see, bearing in mind how much energy he has left, how this was sufficient exercise for him.

I've googled the effects of long walks on puppies limbs but cannot find anything very specific or relevant - does anyone have any useful links?

Also, and I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, how is a calm, controlled, long walk any worse than him tearing around the house jumping off furniture etc to expel his excess energy?