Too much exercise for a puppy (giant breed) ?

Recently a guy with a gorgeous Leonberger puppy has started coming to our local park. I got chatting with him and was surprised to learn that the puppy gets around an hour and a half of exercise daily - is that not too much? The pup is 14 weeks.

The owner also lets the puppy play with a lot of older, bigger dogs, mine included! The older dogs are all totally friendly but inevitably they are of course stronger than the puppy and I've winced a few times, watching the Leonberger puppy land with a thud!

Just wondered if there's any risk to the pup from all this exercise? And if yes, what's a nice, tactful way of saying it to the owner......!

Hi,

Yes way too much exercise.
I walk my Giant breeds as puppies at that age for around 10 mins only. They can free run as much as they like as it means they can flop down when they like but on a walk an hour and a half he is going to have problems very soon if he doesnt adapt his exercise routine.

tell your friend moderation at this age is key. too much excercise and it will affect many things including joints and growth.
short bursts are ok, so perhaps walking for ten minutes then having a rest and repeat. It's just strenuous constant excercise especially on such a big boned, heavy breed.

It's good to hear he is getting the pup out and socialising it well with other dogs, but yes agreed with the above post. No longer than 30 minute walks for definite at first, building up gradually.

Definately too much exercise.

15 minute a day rule really should apply if you do it one go for the day or split it doesn't matter. Free running is better as the puppy can take a rest when it likes. Running around with other dogs is ok if controlled but you have to step in and stop your pup gettting rough housed.

The puppy is more likely to end up with joint problems the way he is doing things. I know it is prevalent in the large breeds but managing exercise when they are young helps reduce the risk.

Oh dear.... way too much exercise.....

You have to be so careful with them at this age, as I know to my cost! I have been taking my four month old puppy out on his own to avoid 'rough housing' problems but unfortunately another youngster ran into him from behind at full speed and bowled him over, chipping a piece out of his rear knee. He's had surgery to pin it back on and will hopefully make a full recovery but it's not the sort of thing you want a young puppy to have to go through.

Is he just standing around letting the puppy play/rest as it when it wants to?

That way of exercising is very natural and usually ok to do for longer periods (although an hour and a half in one go is a bit much)

Forced walking onlead is much more of a concern, especially if it's on concrete because the dog is walking at a certain pace constantly. If he is offlead then he will run..stop.sniff...sit down a bit...sniff...roll around..play....run...stop etc

If you look at the research, vets are finding an increase number of problems being caused by people now not walking their pups enough so that they are developing enough muscle and are overweight.

It's really hard to know what to do for the best I think!

Not everyone believes in the 5 minute rule. I've mentioned it to a few people with large breed pups here and got the reaction of "what rubbish!" Have to admit, I don't stick to it rigidly, if Spen is off leash I'm not clock watching and don't worry if we go over.

As Scout says, it seems hard to know what to do for the best sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I won't be taking Spen on a 5 hour forced march but I find it hard to believe that an hour of mooching around on the field off leash at his own pace is going to do more harm than a 40 minute road walk would.

I think sometimes a bit like children it over exercises the brain too and then they find it hard to settle when home and need to rest.

It really is down to personal choice but I do adhere to what our breed experts say for Bernese but that doesn't mean everyone has to do that for their large breeed.

I always stick to the rules set so if in the future there are any problems I know if anything goes wrong it is not down to my mismanagement. I am especially cautious with Dillon having had problems with Ollie. Ollie's problems were not down to mismanagement but I still feel guilty sometimes and question could I have done anything different. I know I did go by the book with him as well and for that I am grateful as I know I did nothing wrong with regard to his rearing. That all his problems were down to quite possibly genetics or bad luck. Had I not stuck to the rules for my breed I could have had him for a lot less time.

Many thanks guys

This Leonberger puppy is very keen to play, which is great - but it means she doesn't really 'rest' as such during the hour and half at the park, not that I've seen, that is.

I will try to have a very very tactful word with the owner.......!