How much is too much?

[Dogs6]

Now that I'm away riding horses most of the day the dogs aren't getting so much playtime and training so I've decided to put a lot more effort into their leash walks. I took my four for a quick 3 mile walk tonight and then topped it off with some flirt pole.

Since Aura spends most of her time crated when I'm not at home (at least until the yard gate is fixed) I want to walk her twice a day. So would it be too much for an 8 month old puppy to be walking 6 miles a day, plus some flirt pole and random playing with Diesel and the others?

 

[Paige]

I'll admit I never really restricted my dogs at 8 months old. I let them dictate as much as they could handle. Spanky was much more GO GO GO than Bandit and less likely to take a break, but Bandit was also not as sound as Spanky. He would rest when needed. S till does.

I don't know if that's good advice or not but she sounds like she already has plenty of rest and down time. I'd just make sure she gets warmed up and has a cool down period before being crated so she doesn't lock up or anything like that.

 

[Dogs6]

Thank you! Aura sounds quite like Spanky, even now she's wrestling with Diesel.

I'm planning on walking her once at 9am and then again at about 6pm so she'll have plenty of downtime. I always give the dogs some off leash free time to relieve themselves and play and warm up before and after a walk. Plus my mum and dad take the dogs out through the day and let them play with supervision but Aura's too "busy" for them to want her loose in the house when I'm not there. I'm hoping that upping her exercise will help her settle in her crate. As a rule the dogs are never crated more than 3 hours at a time if someone's home. I feel guilty for letting the horses take over but I'm trying to get them all sorted out in the morning to free up some more time for the dogs. I timed myself today and it only took 4 hours in the morning and 45 minutes at night to deal with them. If Aura would stay away from them (and they wouldn't attempt to kill her) I could bring her over to the yard with me to chill but there's no signs of that being a possibility yet.

 

[Tim Graham]

Keep walking until they tell you to stop!

 

[Teal]

I've never limited my pups once they're older than 6 months, as far as walking and playing. The only thing I limit is when we flirt pole, but I don't have young dogs leaping in the air for it or anything.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I feel that it depends on the surface you're walking on and the pace. If you're on grass/dirt/sand/soft ground and her movement isn't restricted to one gate that's perfectly fine. If you're on concrete and she's walking at the same pace the whole time, I wouldn't walk that far. Not with any dog, much less a growing adolescent Lab!

 

[Paige]

I think with any kind of crate/downtime the dog will be fine. If oyur dog isn't soley exercised on cement it's all good. I know for me any kind of high impact on cement hurts and it bothers my dog too (who isn't the most sound). However, he can frolic with the best of them on softer footing.

 

[sassafras]

Personally I've never really restricted exercise like free play and leash walks.

 

[yoko]

I never really restricted it the only thing I did was make sure Yoshi was walking on grass/dirt instead of the concrete.

As for the amount of exercise I always just let her tell me when she'd have enough instead of having a predetermined 'this is too much' set.

 

[Dogs6]

About half the walk is on concrete but the othe part doesn't have a sidewalk so she's mainly walking on the grass verge. She is restricted to the one gait though because I walk quite fast and she's on a leash. Although at the start and end she does get that off leash time.

I don't let her jump for the flirt pole. What I usually do is place her in a stay, walk as far away as possible, release her and then repeat

The only problem in I have with letting her decide her limit is that her mother wont stop no matter what. I'm worried Aura might be the same and I don't want to push her too much but I still want her to get the exercise she needs..