Im not sure how much i should be giving Eva my 12wk old border collie, what the so many mins per week thing? At the moment shes having a 5min walk round the small block twice a day and sometimes a walk over the field. She also has the run of the garden in the day.

Hi
They say you should only excersise your dog for five minutes, times every month of its life so at 12 weeks eg 3 months =15 minutes 4 months 20 minutes. I would say at 12 weeks the main concern would be to socialise and not worry to much about the excercise your pup will get plenty of that in your garden at this age have fun

my biggies go out round the big block at night takes about 12mins, i was wondering if it was ok to take her with them yet. She does loads of socialisation, she goes any place i go thats doggie friendly.

Hi Again

12 minutes at night should be ok but I think common sense should prevail and if you have had her out twice in the day and again round the field then probably no.
I would only take a pup of 12 weeks out for two short walks of around 10 min hope that helps
There will probably be more knowledgable CD experts on later who will offer further advice
Good luck

A freind of mine has a 13 week old dalmatian and she walks it through the park with her other dally for at least an hour, I have tried talking to her but it goes on deaf ears. I have even offered to carry it for her but she insists it won't do her any harm to walk for this long even though she says it is running round the house and garden all day long when she gets home.

i think the problem is,like myself i always thought that a puppy needed plenty of exercise to tire them out as it were.you dont think it can damage them or enything like that.untill i came on here i wasnt aware there was a restriction on how much you can walk your pup.coz wen you buy a pup thats something breeders dont tell you! i think they should.coming on this site does teach you alot,and if i ever got a puppy ide know my limits!:) but not all people do and coz they were never told befor they think they know best!:( wat damage can you do to a pup by over exercising them?

I'm no expert but a puppy at that age its bones, joints are still growing etc. and this can cause damage by walking too far. 90% of this walk is done on hard ground aswell. It's like putting a 10 year old into a gym and letting him lift heavy weights every day for an hour, you wouldn't do it because of the damage it could do to his joints etc.
Someone will no doubt be along to correct me if I'm wrong.

Quite right, exercise is restricted in puppies so as not to put too much strain on developing bones and tissue.  Little legs can quickly go out of shape if exercised to hard before a minimum six months.

thanks for that ,i thought that was the reason but i wasnt to sure! :)

With larger breeds Rottie's etc off the lead excercise should be restricted up to eighteen months of age