Goldendoodle puppy (how much exercise for my puppy)

Hi all. Just wondered what your thoughts were. I have a 15 week old Goldendoodle and have been walking her after work for 30 mins to a hour most days. This involves 5 mins on lead and the rest free in fields/woods. After reading about hip problems etc in retrievers/poodles concerned that I have been doing too much with Amber. Any thoughts?

A Golden Doodle - not heard that one before! LOL, i'm guessing that is a Poodle x Golden Retriever from the post?

With exercise the rule of thumb is 5 mins for every month of age with on lead work. So 5 mins on lead and 25 mins off lead should be fine. Watch out for stairs and dont let her jump in and out the car though.

Oh and Welcome to Dogsey! X

Thanks for your advice. Was thinking of getting a stair gate to stop her going upstairs at home but she's getting so big she'd be able to jump over it in a weeks time. Never seen a dog grow so quickly. Quite scary!

It usually recommended to walk for shorter amounts of time when they are little, perhaps a short 5 - 10 mins on lead in the morning, the same at lunch time and then a little off lead time in the afternoon? ... But there are better more qualified people who will be along shortly I'm sure to offer all the right advice...

Welcome to Dogsey

Hi & welcome to Dogsey

I think the main thing is that 'enforced' exercise should be limited until bones are properly formed...this means short on lead walks and limited games/walks where you are forcing the pup to keep going. Also you should try and avoid too much impact e.g. things like jumping.

But as long as you're sensible on your walks, personally I think your schedule is fine (but I'm no vet).

Thank you. Feel better already. I'm quite pleased about this really. She was beginning to wear me out!!!

But the other thing is that it doesn't always need to be physical exercise to wear them out - mental exercise can be just as effective - a bit of training, a bit of 'mind' games such as 'find it' etc. You'll probably both enjoy those as much and she should be more settled afterwards.

She starts puppy training classes in 3 weeks time. Although she's mastered sit, lie down, paw, cuddle etc already. Stopping her from jumping up with huge wet paws seems a bit tricky though and she is proving to have a deaf ear when she feels like it!!

We have a dog gate, rather than a traditional baby gate to stop the Boxers. It's like a normal baby gate, but is about 4ft tall Dog Gate (link)

What sort of poodle was it as there will be a big difference between the requirement and care needed for a Miniature poodle cross and a standard poodle cross, the latter will be a big active dog and will require lots of mental stimulation whilst growing but carefull exercise. The Miniature will not be such a problem but will still need loads of mental stimulation.