How much exercise is good or bad for your puppy? We have recently got a Rhodesian Ridgeback. We have large parks near by, but we have been told too much exercise is bad for them. He is now 16 weeks old. How much should we walk him at this age?

my cousin had a ridgeback from the rspca and was told the y don't like to much excersise (when they got him he was 6 years old)

Are they not a hunting dog?

Too right they are!! They are a hound, and the breed standard says that they should be "capable of great endurance, with a fair amount of speed".

Like most active breeds of this size, the amount of exercise given should be built up gradually, starting from two or three 5-minute walks a day at 15 weeks. At six months or so two twenty-minute walks (with some free-running) will be needed, then building up from there, so that by the time they are about 2 years old they should be almost untireable.