that's awful.

I use it has a guide rather than a rule. Today I walked about ten minutes to a neighbour's house across a field and down a lane, then stood for quite a while on her drive chatting whilst my puppy played with leaves, said hello to her (again), lay down and watched a cat, etc., then walked the ten minutes back across the field. He is 14 weeks old.

I was horrified to read that one of his brothers has two 1.5 hr walks on the beach every day!

Some people really are thick and do not engage their brains. Poor puppy...probably not been further than the house and then suddenly dragged for miles.

I saw a bloke that lives down the road from me riding his bike on the pavement with his Lab puppy running alongside it. The puppy was probably about 14 weeks old. No idea how far he had been but it really wound me up.

Rosie is 19 weeks now and has approx 20-25 mins walking and the rest of the time is carried. The walk is a mix of grass and pavement walking. Grass is on long line, pavement is normal leash walking. Within that 20-25 mins we have sit downs - sometimes up on my knee, others she has a sniff around (depends where we 'park')

When we get back she usually has a long nap before playtime and zoomies begin .

She's a Border Terrier. The walks have only just extended from 15 minutes. It's pretty easy with her because, although we are always out for a minimum of 2 hours, she is easily carried and tolerates it very well.

we were half way up snowden with the paps and there was a 4 month old rottie cross coming down yikes!!

A lot of people with Bernese do not walk their dogs till around 6 months of age due to the bone development issues. They take them out and about to socialise for a little time and I mean a little time and some interaction but that is it. This is the advice of the founder of the breed in GB. They were intorudced here in the 70's she went to Switzerland and researched the breed thoroughly and then had to jump through hoops to get them recognised by the KC.

We are advised no rough housing with other dogs and off lead is better than on and on soft ground like fields no pavement walking for a good few months. Dillon gets 15 mins at the moment once a day and the rest is play in the house or garden. He can stop when he wants. He seems like he could actually do with more than 15 minutes but I am taking no chances.

Seriously?? surely that is entirely counterproductive given that good, slowly developed muscle mass protects joints. I don't see how that could happen if they are never exercised for 6 months.

I can't help but think that some of these breeders increase the incidents of developmental joint problems if this is some of the advice they give out.

can i just ask, with this rule, is it 5 minute per month per day? so the dog only gets 15 minute walk a day? or could you do 15 minutes, then say in the afternoon do another 15 minutes?

I personally think this is a bit OTT, the pup still needs to develop muscle mass, no exercise at all could be just as bad as too much exercise. Why no playing with other dogs, he needs to learn social skills too?

That doesn't mean they get no exercise a lot of breeders and this lady in particular were/are lucky enough to have space and other dogs mostly Bernese to interact with.

I like you was astonished at first till I read the whole book and realised what she said made a great deal of sense in this breed. Not all the breeders recommend this but they do recommend a lot of the points made in this book but they know the majority of us do not have the luxury to exercise in our own large spaces. It does make you realise the necessity for caution though.

Allowing them to play in the house and garden is sometimes enough and does build up the muscle have you ever seen a Bernese pup play ? It is the walking without breaks and pushing the pup to far that has the detrimental effect on the bone and can lead to serious issues when they grow older. That is also why it recommended they walk on soft ground for the first few months not pavement walking. The pounding damages the soft bone where as soft ground slowly builds the muscle and protects the bone at the same time.

I myself do no thave the luxury of huge space where Dillon can exercise at free will so I have to use the space outside my door but make sure it is no longer than the 15 mins and if he slows down I slow down and of course I have to make sure there is no rough housing whether he starts it or someone else does.

He gets lots of play in the house and garden which is all helping build up the muscle.