advice on puppys first walks please

lily my 12 week old jrt will be allowed out in 11 days when she is fully vaccinated. she will 14 weeks then and i wanted some advice on how far (or not) to walk her in those early days.

i want to walk her round the roads at least once a day and then down to the beach for another walk. obviously i don't want to overdo it and at the moment she seems to have boundless energy!

are you carrying her outside now?

you can aslo walk on pavements where there is less risk of contamination

otherwise you will miss a good proportion of her critical socialization period.

oh yes. she has been outside every day for a stroll up the road in my arms. i have also been taking her to the local pet store as there are always lots of people, dogs and noise in there too! she visits friends with other puppies at least 3 times a week also plus i take her to friends with small kids. she is pretty chilled out about all of it!

my vet told me not to walk her outside until a week after her second jab. i am just unsure how far i should walk her when the time comes. would 30 minutes be too much in one go or ok?

I have always had large breeds where you apply the 5 minute rule, i.e. 5 minutes lead walking per month of age, so to me 30 minutes sounds excessive for such a young pup

ok thank you. i didn't mean i would walk her for 30 minutes, that's why i was asking for advice. so going by what you say, 10 minutes a walk should be fine to start with?

I'm not sure if it is the same with little dogs, but I would think from the sound of it yours has only got little legs and would tire very easily?? Offlead exercise is different because when they have had enough they can just fall in a heap and have a sleep and then be up and away again, but walking on a lead they don't have that choice, so I would be careful. With my 2 I kept to the rule till they were about 13 months and very gradually increased what I was doing with them, also if they had a long walk one day I would only do a short one the day after and stuff like that. I know how tempting it is though to take your little one walks to meet everyone, but at least you can pick yours up and carry them if they get tired, I would have had to hire a crane

yeah she has got little stumpy legs. (her nickname is lilypig cos she looks like a little piglet!)

i know what you're saying about offlead and i play with her every day in the garden. she has learnt to fetch her ball and will happily do so for about 10 minutes and then flop down.

i reckon no more than 10 minutes is probably the go then. and yes, i do have the added bonus of being able to carry her if needs be. no crane required!

Our little Yorkie is about 16 weeks. A 15-20 minute walk for her is plenty a day. I say 'walk', but we don't get or go particularly far. Don't forget that little dogs get plenty of exercise just mooching around the house and garden. So, I don't really walk her for exercise, just for socialization.

thank you. i think it will be the same for lily, more a socialization thing than exercise at this stage. she lives with 4 cats (one of whom plays with her alot) and dylan my collie, plus the playtime she has with me and my kids!

she is unfazed about most things at present, including the humdinger storm we had the other night, and i would like to keep her that way. she's been very receptive to the dogs she has met so far but i'm aware she needs to start the whole 'hello, who are you, ok bye' thing that you can only get from being on walks.

I have never worried about over doing it. If they seem to tire, I just pick them up and carry them until they get too squirmy.

I disagree with your vet. Puppies need to get out, but it must be done very carefully.

The period between 6-12 weeks is a dangerous time. One sniff where a sick dog relieved itself in the last 6 months can bring on parvo or another life threatening disease. Fail to expose it to strangers, including men, women, children, noise, etc. and you could end up with a misfit you can't take out in public. They also need continuing contact with other dogs, but it must be limited to ones you know are getting good care.

http://www.apdt.com/po/news/docs/Messer_Nov06.pdf