Well I'd rather spend the extra on fuel and drive for 10 mins or so than spend 45 mins to an hour walking on the pavement with lorries and cars thundering past to get to the woods if I'm honest and there are plenty of tarmaced surfaces in the woods if we want to walk on them. I don't mind getting the dremmel out to do their nails and I check their paws and pads over at the same time.

This philosophy is related to all giant breeds not just Bernese, the original way of rearing giant breeds(especially ones that still work doing the job they were developed for)is to allow the puppy to develop naturally, to be a puppy with free range until nearing physical maturity when the training for work beginning. Having seen BerneseSwiss breeds)(& other related on Swiss farms at all ages, it was noticable that the youngest were "lounging"around doing not a lot.

The giant flock guarding breeds are bonded with a young animal of the stock they are to guard from puppyhood until at least 6/9 months of age.

The growth plates of all breeds can be adversely affected by forced over exercise before closure & this does result in joint/leg problems for the dog

I stick to the 5 min rule with road walking/forced exercise.

Mine rarely/ never walk on roads/pavements/drive to the places I like them to go.
They learn how to walk and cope with the world as pups but then we go on the walks I feel they get the most out of - and I am lucky enough to be able to drive.

I used to do the same because it was easier to chuck them in the car and not have to bother with lead walking. Sometimes I'd take them out in the car twice a day, which is just lazy considering the places I was driving to I could easily walk to in 10 minutes or so. It is probably the reason one of mine in particular is so bad on the lead.

In August I decided I was going to stop being so lazy and use the car for different walks (ones not easily accessible by foot or too far to lead walk) only once or twice a week. It is a bit more of a hassle but my purse thanks me for it.

Fair enough if you that far away from any open spaces.

I was just lazy when it came to driving my lot. Shamefully, I would even drive them to the end of my road sometimes to avoid lead walking.

Walking at a fair pace it takes approx 20 mins to walk a mile, so it's only about 3 miles which isn't that far and it's only about 10 mins in the car and my garden does back onto a largish park but I prefer not to walk there as it's too small to spend a couple of hours in. Plus of course I'd rather spend 2 hours in pleasant surroundings rather than spending that time walking there and back down roads that do have pavements but have 60 mph speed limits.

I'd definitely do the same in that case, I'm sure most with access to a car would. Too much pavement walking is extremely boring!

I'm with you on this one Trouble, I'd far rather enjoy a nice walk, on soft going, enjoying the glorious countryside views for an hour or so, than pounding away on a pavement (which I don't have anyway!). I've either got to walk along a very busy A-road to get somewhere in the rush hour, OR, very narrow country lanes, with lunatics driving up there, so I have to leap into the hedge, to get to where I could have gone in the car myself, so it makes sense for me. I sometimes just cross that busy road to get to a footpath when I'm on foot coz it's very near to the house, but I don't like standing in the middle there with those big lorries and motorbikes zooming past I have to say, and seeing as my main walk is done during rush hour, that just doesn't make sense to do it, so that's left for when I'm short of time but later in the day.

I have to say, when forced, I do enjoy the odd walk around my village, but only when it's too hot to walk in open spaces, coz we have lots of big trees lining the roads, nice little shaded footpaths etc.

When I'm biking up on the downs, I use some of the south downs way tracks which are hard surfaced, some even tarmaced in places now, so that keeps nails down, but then I also have a pair of nail cutters.

Horses for courses, but I have to think of MY ageing old joints on hard surfaces too, so pavements are pretty much out for me, I've never done them with any of my dogs. Previous dogs have always been thrown in the car and taken up to the stables, where they were free to run or come out on a ride with me in open countryside, it's the way I've always done it and I'm happy with it.

I wish we never had to walk Whisper on a pavement but goodness knows not all of us are that lucky!

We do go out in the car sometimes but not every walk. It would hardly be practical to take Whisper out in the car at 6:30 in a morning either. Plus I don't drive - so when my beloved isn't around I simply don't all have the option of totally avoiding pavements - I wish I could afford to live with fields on my doorstep but I can't and am fairly sure am not alone in that.

Haven't had a pup yet but whilst being sensible is obviously vital - I do think that a fair few of us will have to pavement walk at some point.