Can anyone please help?

Hello I have a 16 week old Labrador puppy and I keep reading conflicting dissussions about how much exercise I should be giving her.

I have a very small back garden so she does not get much exercise in the garden when she let out to go to the toilet even though she does race around the table and chairs like a dose of salts.
I have been taking her out for walks now for 2 weeks now but Iam not sure if Iam over doing with her.
I will normally take her out only once a day after 8.30pm when it is cooler, I am spoilt for choice when I take her out as their is a lot of open fields around me. Normally we will be out for approx 30/40 minutes, I take her out on a rover lead so she can roam about in the fields but she can't run freely.
Iam I giving her to much exercise?
should I let her off the lead?
When we are returning home she always pulls on her lead and then when back in the house she runs about like something possessed normally with a smelly shoe in her mouth, and she still wants to play.

Should I take her out twice a day for say 10 mins each time keeping her to the main path?
Or should I continue with what Iam doing?

I would be very greatful for any advice

Many thanks Zoe and Indi

Hi Zoe,

If you are taking her out on a very long lead than she is mostly self-exercising and enjoying playing in a larger area than your garden. The type of exercise you should avoid is keeping her on a sustained walk, no rest/no stop& sniff/no exploring, if that were the case than 30-40 minutes would be too long. In other words, for young puppies a walk is more about exploring the world and socialising than it is about needing the exercise. They generally will get all the exercise they need through play, even in a small garden.

If you keep in mind that the most important thing for you to do is avoid stress on her skeletal structure, that should guide you in terms of exercise. So, no jumping, limit or avoid going up and down stairs, and so on. Time is less of a factor, apart from not overtaxing a puppy. I have not had labs, but I have had GSDs. They needed to be a year old before they were actually taken out for a walk or run for exercise, not play.

At four months I would take my Cairn on nearly a mile walk (of the stop&sniff variety) - she was so excited by the walk that she would race around the house when we got back home with her squeeky toy. I used to think that her little brain was in overrdrive from the walk and she was trying to wind it down again. :-) Sounds like your Indi.

Stacey

Hello

Sorry to hijack your thread Zoe, but I too have a lab pup of 15 weeks and I too am uncertain as to how much excercise/training he should be having. We also have a v.small garden but luckily live v.close to moorland and a large park. When he was first allowed out at 12 weeks I must admit we were caught up in the joy of being outside with him and would let him run round/walk (at his own pace) for sometimes up to about 45mins a day. On the moors though I realised that the ground was too uneven and hilly and was probably putting too much strain on his joints and although we incorporated lots of rests I decided we should stop that. Now I take him once a day to the park (about 300 yds away) and play ball with him for about 10 mins followed by a walk round the block of about another 10 mins. On this walk I try to do the heel work, so am loath to let him stop and smell etc., unless it's to meet and greet other people/dogs, and he seems to be doing really well - but maybe because he's too tired to pull much after playing ball? I am anxious that he should learn to walk to heel because he's going to be a big dog and we can't afford to have him pulling us all over!! This is my first dog and I want to get it right - he's such a bundle of energy
and has been really quick to learn. He's from working stock, so I don't know if that makes a difference to the amount of excercise he needs or not.

As always I am very glad of any advice from those who know,
Cathryn