Hello everyone

I have my new pup who is 10 wks love him to bits, hard work though when you’re trying to do everything right…..he s at the bites stage now so I’m having to keep my other dog out of the way unless they are both tired as he s biting him hard and my older dog won’t tell him off..

What I wanted advice on please is how much exercise for a 10 kw pup? I know the rule of thumb is 5 mins per month of dog? But is that on a lead or just loose in the garden? I’m letting him run about on the lawn as it’s flat and safe but he really runs & runs..  what is too much?

I also won’t let my older dog loose to play with him outside yet as he s too little little and May get knocked over…when would you say it is safe to do this generally? Giddy dogs

Thanks in advance

He can have as much free play in the garden as he wants; it's the formal lead walking on hard surfaces that needs to be controlled to a sensible level (we don't allow young children to run marathons!)

Oh that’s great then thank you

As Jeangenie said free play is unlimited, formal exercise stick to the 5 minutes per month of life rule. As for letting your older dog play with puppy, I've never kept mine apart, every new puppy gets dumped in with the oldies and they're together 24/7, mostly supervised of course but not all the time. This is a very old video, even the puppy is no longer with us but it shows a young pup learning the rules of play from the older ones, pup gets knocked down several times, no harm done

Thanks very much , lovely video, your collies look very agile though and lightweight my dog is a big heavy clumsy cults I’m worried he might stand on my pup but it’s a pain separating them all the time, maybe I’m being a bit over cautious so will try to mix them more under supervision…once the biting stops there won’t be a problem I’m sure

The 5 minute rule has no basis in reality.  There is no scientific evidence for it, but there is evidence that it could actually be too little - in a study done on young beagle puppies, trotting far, far further than our pet pups ever would was found to improve joint health, not damage it.  Too low an exercise amount has the opposite effect.

So, don't worry about it.  Obviously don't run marathons but walk to signs of fatigue rather than arbitrary numbers: if pup doesn't want to keep going, or if pup is starting to act up - jumping at you, biting the lead etc then they've probably had enough, physically and/or mentally.  Focus on experience rather than distance/time.  Walks at this age are about exposure and exploration.

With young Basset at least,  we went by for the first 6 months or so, no 'organised' walking - especially not on hard ground.   Just ambling around while also learning about walking on a lead.  After that, limited hard grouind walking so hopefully by the time the hound reaches a year, he remains sound.  There always has to be a fine balance between doing too little and too much, especially with a big heavy boned Basset.