Large breed puppy - exercise and injury risk?

Calling all large breed owners......

Duncan is now 5 months old and is becoming increasingly 'active'.
I know that care has to be taken when exercising young large breed puppies as they are more prone to injuries due to their big, heavy growing bones and muscles.

Trouble is....How do you stop them being puppies??

Bobby is always up for a game and they play together constantly but should I be stopping it??

I worry about Duncan but he is a puppy when all's said and done. He's just doing what puppies do.

Any advice very welcome

You can't stop them being pups but your can stop running up and down stairs, on and off furniture and playing with large heavy dogs, you can also control the amount on lead, and off lead exercise.

jackie has said it all....its just keeping it under control so they don't over do it while growing.
they will act like pups regardless of size i think the best way to go is keep the exercise under control so the playing they do doesn't push them over the top.
you do get hot sweats when they are playing thinking about their joints but pups need to play as well.

you could always do some extra training at home, that will keep your pups mind active too

It's really difficult. My hyperactive Dobie (7 months) had to go to the vet last week (again) because she hurt her elbow.

We call her ninja dog because as well as having the ability to steal things from right under our nose her latest trick is jumping in the air and trying to fly

Except silly pup landed on the tabe and £47 later and a week's rest she's okay. Got a check-up tomorrow but she was particularly hyper because she hadn't been out for a walk because she'd had an infection.

We tend to let her play in the field for a while as well as her walk - that way she's on soft ground and we sit down. She's on a 30 foot lead so she plays, lies down, has a drink and plays again. When she gets home she's sleepy but very happy. It's really hard because they're sooo big yet still babies - they don't understand that they might hurt themselves.

Good luck...

Thanks for the help.

I think I'm probably worrying for nothing. I don't allow the dogs upstairs anyway and I lift (well more sort of manhandle) Duncan out of the car so that he doesn't jump down.

He has a run about in the field in the morning when I go to check on the horses, so it's all soft ground, and I usually do some training and heelwork as a walk in the evening.

It's the playing inbetween that was worrying me

Thanks again........

Hi Gail playing is not a problem because when a puppy is tired it will stop playing of its own accord and flop down .
The recommended amount of lead exercise for your puppy at the moment is 25 minutes ( 5 mins per month of age ) but off the lead playing is fine

Sure you did not mean with other dogs did you Mini. particularly large adults.

...no sorry Pita, I meant playing alone, I should have made that more clear. Play with an older dog needs to be restricted.

The worst thing anyone with a large breed puppy can do is over walk them-hence the five minutes per month guidelines

I cringe when GSD puppy owners tell me their dogs just love their hours & hours of walking !

Free running & supervised play with other dogs is fine as like the others have said when a puppy is tired during play it will stop, but if you are lead walking it will try to keep up