Walking puppy

Just a quick question: i've read about the 5 minute rule for walking pups, and as Archie is now 4 months old, he gets a good run in the park (on a good day) for 20/30min and on a bad day he will get 20min pavement walking and some mad games in the garden.

I've just read somewhere that this 5min rule applies 3 times a day... should I be giving Archie 20min walk 3 times a day then? Judging by how tired he is when he comes back from the park I don't think he'd survive 3 walks a day right now!!

Am I walking him too little? I know sometimes we don't get enough time to go to the park but he does go out walking every day, and I always make the effort to run around with him at home if we don't go to the park... am I worrying about nothing again?

well you should never over walk a puppy! so what you are doing is finw tuti, just whens he fully grown i would up the walk a bit longer

as SM says better under walked than over walked at that age Finn only goes little walks a few times a day.

Thanks for the replies

I'm going to try giving Archie 2 shorter walks instead of one on the days we don't go to the park.

yw tuti, just gonnawalk my dogges now!!!!

Instead on focusing on the walks Tuti, try find exercises that will make Archie use his brain

Practice what you have learned so far and make it harder/longer as the weeks go by. Make sure he understands what you what and praise him when he does right.

To me walks are so overrated. I bet you Archie will find fun exercises just as fun and he will certainly be just as tired (actually more) after doing them.
And you will have something to show in class as he has been training what you´ve learnt so far

amts thanks I agree with you actually as I've been teaching Archie tricks now he's got the basic obedience. I find he's much more tired after a short training session than a walk, so I normally do many small sessions every day, hoping he'll go to sleep for long enough to let me study

I was just worried about him getting enough physical exercise, I know he gets more than enough mental exercise 'cos I push him really hard on the training and he's a clever boy I've been hiding his toys recently and he has fun scrabbling under the furniture

hi tuti, i agree with everyone else, better too little than too much. but the 5 minute rule does mean you CAN take him out on 3 seperate occassions if you want to.

i also think teaching him some new things at home are good as it will tire him out just the same, however i dont think it should ever subsitute a walk

Hi Tuti,

I think it depends what your living arrangements are. If, for example, you live in an apartment with no garden, you will obviously have to take him somewhere for decent exercise. But if you have a garden, he'd get more exercise and mental stimulation from 30 mins fetch and hide and seek in the garden than from a 30 min walk around the streets.

I completely agree with amts - walks are desperately over-rated. They're unnatural for a dog - I don't think any dog would, on his own, walk aimlessly around the block for exercise. Left to their own devices, they'd roam (at a lope not a walk), chase things, play with each other etc.

Physical exercise is important, but Archie will be getting more benefit from play and chase, than from a walk. He's at the perfect age for learning things so think up tons of training exercise for him. If you've got the space you could even set up a small, basic 'agility' course for him in the garden (as long as it's safe).

Remember he's only a baby, and a small baby at that - always, always under-exercise! While he's growing, as long as he's not piling the weight on and damaging his joints that way, even no exercise is better than over-exercise. Try and work out how much exercise he actually gets during a day - watch him and calculate how much total exercise he's getting, including play, training and general running about. I bet you find an extra 20 min walk a day wouldn't make much difference.

I'm not a big fan of walks. Mine do not get a walk every single day, and when they do, my 17 month old rottie still gets only 40 mins (max) of walking. But each day he gets between 4-5 hours of exercise, including training, fetch, tracking, agility etc. Despite the lack of walking, my vet (who's a bit of a rottie expert) reckons he's the most muscular dog he's seen in quite a while. It's far more important to mentally knacker him out than to stick to some sort of arbitrary formula for working out precisely how much walking he should do a day.

Just my two-penneth

Becs

Teagan doesn't get a walk every single day.
But we do things in the garden/around the house.
Mental stimulation tires her out no end!